Whether you’re behind on your payments or you’re up to date on your payments, did you know that even if you throw a few hundred dollars extra at your mortgage a month, you can save thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the loan?  Well, most Americans think that they are stuck with their mortgage for 30 years but this isn’t the case.  I’m going to give you some simple steps on how you can pay down your mortgage debt.

Start throwing extra money at it – As I already mentioned at the beginning of this post, you can throw as much money as you want at your mortgage each month.  As long as you’re applying it to your principal, you’re taking away months off your loan.  Throwing a $100 extra at a mortgage at $250,000 can save you 4 1/2 years on the mortgage.  $100 doesn’t sound like a lot but this can save you thousands of dollars!

Set up automatic bill pay – If you’re having a hard time saving your money, the thing I like about a mortgage is that once the money is with the bank, you’re not going to be able to dip into your account and spend it.  This is why you should set up automatic payments that send that extra money to the mortgage company.  Not only are you going to spend less money, it’s going to pay your house off even quicker!

If in debt – negotiate – When you’re finding yourself having a hard time paying the mortgage but you have money coming in, don’t fret!  There are plenty of things you can do because the bank most likely won’t want to take over your home.  Instead, call up the bank and work something out.  Sometimes they can set up a different plan or there could also be a big possibility that you can re-finance.

Paying off your mortgage debt can be stressful but then again, it can be an exciting time.  You have to think of the future and how you can have a mortgage-free home.  Since most people have a mortgage bill as their highest bill, this would be a great bill to get rid of altogether.