Home Equity Loan & HELOC Payment Calculator

Home equity loans and HELOCs (home equity lines of credit) are two versions of the same type of loan but with some major differences. Both are secured by the equity in your home, but the way you borrow money and calculate your loan payments are completely different. This Home Equity Loan and HELOC payment calculator is versatile enough to calculate payments for both types of loans. It can also calculate your total payments over the life of the loan, the total amount of interest you’ll pay, your loan balance at any point in time and provides an amortization schedule for paying off the loan.

To use as a Home Equity Loan Payment Calculator

(Need more information? See “About Home Equity Loans and HELOCs,” below)

Doing the calculations for a home equity loan is fairly simple. Since these are usually fixed-rate loans repaid on a regular schedule, all you have to do is enter your loan amount, interest rate and length of the loan, and the calculator will provide your monthly payments.

On the calculator, click on the “Payment” button, then choose “fixed-rate loan” under “Payment option.” Enter the loan amount, length of loan in months and interest rate, then hit “Calculate.” The calculator will indicate what your monthly payments would be.

You can also run the process backward, indicating the monthly payment you can afford and letting the calculator determine how much you can borrow. To do that, click the “Loan amount” button, then enter your desired monthly payment, length of the loan and interest rate. The calculator will show you how much you can borrow with that payment.

Wondering how much you can borrow and at what rates on a home equity loan? Start our mortgage quiz and get pre-approved today!

To use as a HELOC Payment Calculator

(Need more information? See “About Home Equity Loans and HELOCs,” below)

Figuring out the payments for a HELOC is more complicated. For one thing, HELOCs are interest-only loans during the draw period – you don’t have to repay any principle during that phase, but you must pay off any interest charges as they occur. HELOCs are also adjustable-rate loans during the draw, so you can’t pin them down to a single interest rate.

Because you’re also borrowing – and possibly repaying, though that isn’t required – various amounts of money during the draw, you may not have a set loan balance to calculate your payments against.

Once the draw ends, you don’t borrow any more money and begin repaying principle, usually at a fixed rate. So from that point on it works like a regular home equity loan.

This calculator lets you do several different types of calculations to help you figure out what your payments will be.

To determine your payments during the draw phase:

Choose “100 percent of interest owed” as your payment option and then proceed as above. The calculator will give you your interest-only payments for the loan.

To see how borrowing more money or a varying interest rate would affect your payments, use the sliding green triangles to adjust those values.

To determine payments for paying down the balance at a certain rate:

For you payment option, choose either 1%, 1.5% or 2% of the balance and the calculator will show you your balance for paying down your loan principle at that rate. Note that these may not fully pay off the principle by the end of the draw periods.

To determine payments during the repayment phase:

Follow the same steps as for a standard home equity loan.

Thinking about getting a HELOC? Get pre-approved today to get personalized rate quotes from lenders.

About Home Equity Loans and HELOCs

Both home equity loans and HELOCs are secured by your financial stake in your home – your home equity. You use a portion of your home equity – the share of your home’s value that is paid for – as collateral for the loan. As such, home equity loans and home equity lines of credit generally have lower interest rates than other, unsecured loans.

The differences between a home equity loan and a HELOC are in 1) how you borrow the money and 2) how you pay it back. With a home equity loan, you borrow a single lump sum of money and immediately begin paying it back in installments. Home equity loans can have either fixed or adjustable rates, though most have the former.

HELOCs are more complicated, but they’re also more flexible. They’re like a credit card secured by your house, with a few key differences.

With a HELOC, you’re given a line of credit that you can borrow against as you wish, up to a predetermined limit. There’s a certain length of time, called the draw, during which you can borrow against the line, usually 5-10 years.

The draw is usually interest-only, meaning you don’t have to repay any loan principle, just the ongoing interest charges on whatever you’ve borrowed. Once the draw ends, you enter the repayment phase, often 10-20 years, where you must repay what you’ve borrowed. The draw is always an adjustable rate, but the repayment phase is often fixed-rate.

Though the draw is usually interest-only, you can still make additional payments toward the loan principle during that time if you wish. This not only reduces what you’ll eventually have to repay at the end of the draw period (and lowers the monthly payments you’ll face), it also frees up more of your line of credit again. This lets you use a HELOC as a cash-flow management tool, borrowing and repaying as needed or able.

Both home equity loans and HELOCs are what are known as second mortgages, or second liens. This means they are subordinate to the primary mortgage used to buy your home. In the event of a default and foreclosure, the primary mortgage gets paid off entirely before any second liens are paid. This makes them slightly riskier than primary mortgages, so the rates run a bit higher than on a home purchase loan or refinance. But they’re still considerably lower than the rates on most credit cards or other unsecured loans.

How much can you borrow?

What you can borrow depends largely on the amount of home equity you have. Home equity lenders will generally allow you to borrow against 75-90 percent of the assessed value of your home for all loans combined, primary mortgage and a home equity loan/line of credit. This is called the loan-to-value ratio, or LTV.

So if you have a $400,000 home and the lender will allow an 80 percent LTV, that means you have up to $320,000 in primary mortgage debt and a home equity loan/HELOC. So if you owe $250,000 on your mortgage, $320,000 – $250,000 = up to $70,000 available for a home equity loan/line of credit.

Home equity loans and lines of credit generally have certain minimums, often $5,000-$10,000, that you need to borrow or is the smallest line of credit they will set up.

Qualifying for a home equity loan or HELOC

The main qualification for a home equity loan or HELOC is having home equity, described above. Credit requirements are somewhat stricter than on a mortgage to buy or refinance a home; many lenders require a FICO score of 720 or higher, though some lenders will allow scores of 660 or below. Expect to pay higher rates and face tighter LTV limits on lower scores.

As for income, your monthly debt payments, mortgage and home equity loan/HELOC included, should total no more than 45 percent of your pretax income.

With most home equity loans and HELOCs, there are no restrictions on how you use the money. You don’t need to demonstrate a need for the money or justify it to the lender; you just have to qualify for the loan. Some special loan programs for things like medical expenses or home improvements may be an exception, though.


Other Mortgage and Financial Calculators

In addition to the standard mortgage calculator, this page lets you access more than 100 other financial calculators covering a broad variety of situations. Choose from calculators covering various aspects of mortgages, auto loans, investments, student loans, taxes, retirement planning and more.

What is a home equity loan payment?

Put simply, a home equity loan is a type of loan in which you borrow money and then use the equity of your home as collateral. The value of the loan is dependent on the value of your house. With this type of loan, you get a fixed-rate interest which is typically a bit lower than most other loans.

Are home equity lines of credit (HELOC) the same as home equity loans?

While the home equity loan offers you a lump sum at once, with the home equity lines of credit you keep getting access to your loan funds as you please. HELOC loans usually feature hardly any closing costs, and they also have variable interest rates.

How do I calculate a Home Equity loan payoff?

Using our calculator to do your home equity loan payment calculations is pretty easy. The home equity loan has a fixed interest rate, so all you need to know is your loan amount, the fixed interest rate, and the loan term. Input these values into the loan calculator and it will provide your monthly home equity loan payments.

How do I make a Home Equity Line of Credit calculation?

Calculating your HELOC payments is a tad more complicated than home equity loan calculations. The two major reasons for this are the fact that you don’t have to repay any principal during the draw period, and they have interest rates that are adjustable. The HELOC calculator offers three different calculation types:

  • To determine your payments during the draw phase:

Select your payment option as “100 percent of interest owed” and then proceed using the method for regular home equity loans. The calculator will show you your interest-only loan payments. You can also adjust the values to see how borrowing more money or a varying interest rate would affect your payments.

  • To determine payments for paying the down payment at a certain rate:

Select either 1%, 1.5%, or 2% as your payment option, and the calculator will show you your balance for paying down your principal at that rate.

  • To determine payments during the repayment phase:

This is the most straightforward calculation mode for the HELOC. All you have to do is follow the same steps for calculating a standard home equity loan.

How is HELOC interest calculated?

The balance of a home equity line of credit payment could change from day to day, depending on the draw length and repayments. Because of this fact, HELOC interests are calculated daily instead of monthly.

For example, a 7% HELOC has its interest for one day as 0.000192, which is obtained by dividing 0.07 with 365 (days of the year). To get the daily interest for that loan, you multiply 0.0001192 by the loan’s average daily balance. Assume that the average balance is $150,000, the daily interest becomes $28.77.

How much can I borrow for a home equity loan?

To find out how much you can borrow for your home equity loan, divide the outstanding balance of your mortgage with the current value of your home. This gives you your loan-to-value ratio. More often than not, you can borrow up to 80% of your home’s value in total.

What is a monthly equity payment?

Equity payments are due monthly, and each payment includes repayment of a portion of the principal and then payment of the interest on the remaining balance. Home equity loans have fixed interest rates, so you typically know what your monthly payment is. Our home equity calculator is a useful tool to determine what that number is.

Should I use HELOC or a Credit card?

Like credit cards, home equity lines of credit are a revolving line of credit. The idea is to take a loan based on the value of your home but to take only small portions of that loan as the need arises, instead of taking one lump sum. HELOC interest rates are never fixed, but they are generally lower than what you tend to get with credit card loans.

How long is a HELOC draw period?

Your HELOC draw period is the length of time you have to draw funds from your HELOC loan. It is usually a fixed amount of time, but each draw time varies between lenders. It is recommended that you find out the draw period that your lender operates with before beginning your HELOC calculations. But generally, HELOC draw periods can last for up to ten years.

Are home equity and HELOC loans amortized?

Yes, home equity loans are fully amortized. Always. Every repayment will always involve a portion of the principal and the interest. HELOC loans are not fully amortized. They only allow you to make interest-only payments during the period of the draw.