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3–7 yr · What has this loan cost me by the time I leave?

Cost over the years you stay

A rate sheet answers a question nobody asks, which is what a loan costs over thirty years. Almost nobody keeps a loan for thirty years. This page asks the real question instead — what has this cost me by the time I hand back the keys — and answers it twice, side by side, for a held period you set.

Every figure this page produces is illustrative. The rate you type is an assumption, not an offer; nothing here is a quote, an application or a commitment to lend. The assumptions in force are printed at the bottom of the page.

What you are working from

The whole argument of this page. Move it and the answer below can change sides.

Structure AA conventional loan with borrower-paid PMI

Conventional loans have no programme fee. Leave it at zero unless you are modelling something else.

Structure BAn FHA loan at the minimum down payment

FHA charges an upfront mortgage insurance premium of 1.75% of the base loan amount, and it can be financed. USDA Guaranteed charges 1%.

Recalculates as you type. There is no submit button and nothing is sent.

At the year you leave Illustrative

$0

—

Structure A

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Cash down at closing
$0
Upfront programme fee, financed
$0
Interest paid to that year
$0
Mortgage insurance paid to that year
$0
Cost of the years you were here
$0
Balance still owed
$0

—

Structure B

—

Cash down at closing
$0
Upfront programme fee, financed
$0
Interest paid to that year
$0
Mortgage insurance paid to that year
$0
Cost of the years you were here
$0
Balance still owed
$0

—

—

Cost of the years you were here, year by year

Cash down plus interest plus mortgage insurance, accumulated. Both curves start at their own down payment on day one, which is why the cheaper structure at year one is usually the one that asked for less cash. Where the two lines cross, the answer changes sides.

Cost of the years you were here, year by year
Show these numbers as a table

Mortgage insurance charged each year

One of these lines usually falls off a cliff and the other one usually does not. Conventional PMI must terminate automatically at 78% of the original value; FHA annual MIP below 10% down runs for the life of the loan and only a refinance ends it.

Mortgage insurance charged each year
Show these numbers as a table

The two structures, line by line, at the year you leave

Every figure here is illustrative and moves with the assumptions in the panel above. The last row is deliberately kept out of the total: the balance is not a cost, it is what the sale has to clear before anything reaches you.

Line-by-line comparison of the two structures at the held year
LineStructure AStructure BDifference
Cash down at closingHanded over once, and gone.$0$0$0
Upfront programme fee, financedNot cash — it is added to the loan, so you pay interest on it for as long as you keep the loan.$0$0$0
Interest paid to that yearThe largest line on almost every file, and the one nobody adds up.$0$0$0
Mortgage insurance paid to that yearThe layer with an end date on one structure and not on the other.$0$0$0
Cost of the years you were hereCash down plus interest plus insurance. What the years cost you.$0$0$0
Balance still owedNot a cost. It is settled out of the sale — but it decides what you walk away with.$0$0$0
The winner changes with the held period. That is the entire argument.

There is no structure that is cheaper than another structure. There is only a structure that is cheaper over the years you are actually there. A loan that asks for less cash on day one and charges insurance for its whole life wins early and loses late; a loan that asks for more cash and drops its insurance at a fixed loan-to-value loses early and wins late. Every honest comparison has a year written on it, and every comparison without one is selling you something.

Which is why the first input on this page is not the rate. It is how long you think you will be there — the one figure a lender cannot know and you can at least estimate. Set it honestly, look at where the lines cross, and then decide how much confidence that estimate deserves.

The assumptions in force

  • Both rates are yours, not ours. Plinth publishes no rates. Two structures with different programmes will not in practice be offered at the same rate, which is exactly why the rate is an input on each side rather than one shared box.
  • The upfront fee is financed, not paid in cash. It is added to the base loan, so it never appears in the cash-down line and instead shows up as interest for as long as you hold the loan. FHA charges 1.75% of the base loan amount upfront; USDA Guaranteed charges 1%, set each fiscal year.
  • Conventional PMI is modelled against the original value. That is the test the Homeowners Protection Act uses for automatic termination at 78%. Cancellation at 80% on request, and cancellation based on a new appraisal after improvements or appreciation, are both real and neither is modelled here.
  • FHA annual MIP is modelled for the life of the loan below 10% down, and for eleven years at 10% or more down on a term longer than fifteen years. That single rule is usually worth more than the rate difference between the two programmes.
  • Property tax, insurance, HOA dues, maintenance and utilities are not here. They are real and large, but you pay them whichever structure you choose, so they cancel out of a comparison between two loans and would only pad the totals.
  • Closing costs and selling costs are not modelled. They vary by state, by lender and by the deal, and a guessed figure would move the crossover year without telling you it had.
  • Appreciation is not modelled at all. The balance still owed is a fact of the schedule; what the house is worth on the day you sell is not something this page is willing to invent.
  • Nothing here is a quote, an offer, an application or a commitment to lend.

No obligation, and no transmission

Ask a person about this

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