How to read the yearly mortgage table

Each row is twelve payments: principal, interest, the balance at year end, and interest added up from the start.

What a row contains

Year 1 is months 1 through 12. Principal is the sum of principal paid in those months. Interest is the sum of interest charged. Balance is what remains after the twelfth payment of that year.

Cumulative interest adds this year’s interest to every year before it. By the last row it is the interest for the whole term, on the scheduled payment, with no extra principal.

The last year can be short

If the term is not a round number of years, the last row has fewer than twelve months. A 30-year term is exact: thirty rows. Changing the term rebuilds the rows.

The payment in the final month is only what is left, so the balance on the last row is zero.

Use it beside the offer story

The table is one loan, the one in the main rate and term. The offer comparison is a separate hold-period cost for two rates. A year row will not by itself tell you which lender is cheaper once fees differ.

If you need the interest for seven years, add the interest column for the first seven rows, or use the hold on the comparison, which already stops at the month you set.

This explains how WiseCalculator treats the numbers you type. It is not a lender’s offer and it is not advice for your loan.