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I have owned my home for two years with a loan of $177,000.00. My monthly payments are $706.00 and I have an interest rate of 3.5%. I have just won a large sum of money and would like to use some of the winnings to pay off my mortgage, which currently has a balance of $173,000.00.
I understand that most of my monthly payments go to interest. What should my actual payoff amount be?
Congratulations!
Assuming that you have set aside money for taxes, etc. (granted, this is a fairly big assumption, so make sure to check it!), the first thing you will need to do is to contact your lender. Ask them to set you up to pay off your entire mortgage balance immediately and give you the exact amount and other payment details for this.
Do not make any extra payment without contacting the lender first.
If you simply pay a larger sum on your next mortgage payment, it's possible that the extra money could be booked against future interest and/or fees, which is not what you want. Talking to the lender will ensure that this does not happen, and will also ensure that you know what extra fees (if any) you will have to pay; for example, early payment penalties. You'll be able to get an itemized breakdown showing exactly how much of the money you are paying is going where.
However, absolutely do make sure that you pay any outstanding mortgage bill normally. When talking to the lender, it's perfectly reasonable to ask them to assume timely payment of the outstanding bill, or alternatively to cancel it and issue a new one for the entire balance. Either way, make sure you know what you are supposed to pay, when and how. The person you are talking to at the lender will be able to help you through the gritty details of this.
You'll then likely get a mortgage bill in the mail much like normal, except it will show a far larger principal payment in the breakdown. Simply pay that normally and ensure that whatever other mortgage paperwork is used in your particular location is handled appropriately. The lender will be able to help guide you through this; if you feel uneasy about it, or anything about the process doesn't feel right, I would recommend consulting with a financial expert or lawyer, as appropriate. Real-estate transactions shouldn't be taken lightly.
After your mortgage has been paid off, decide what to do with the rest of the money as well as the additional cash flow that previously went to mortgage (principal, interest, fees) payments. If you aren't sure where to put the money just yet, a good savings account isn't at all a bad place while you make up your mind.
Just to be clear, I want to address this part:
The balance is $ 173,000.00 I understand that most of my monthly payments go towards interest. But what should my actual payoff amount be? I have an interest rate of 3.5%
Your monthly payments primarily go to interest (if you have a 30 year loan, and are earlyish in paying it) because your payments consist of:
(1) is an amount that varies over the course of the mortgage, because the amount of interest decreases as the principal decreases. A simple calculation can show an approximate amount of this - for example, if you owe $173,000 at a rate of 3.5% (annually), then for a 30 day month, you would owe ($173,000 * (0.035*(30/365)) in interest, or just about $500 in interest (plus a small amount more as you owe interest on the interest, but it's meaningless here). So you have around $500 in interest due each month right now, plus whatever principal you owe - say $300 in principal, if you have an $800 payment (before escrow, insurance, etc.)
If you have a "no prepayment penalty" mortgage, as many do nowadays in the US, then you won't owe extra for prepaying: what you'll owe is the full amount of the principal ($173,000) plus whatever interest you still owe for the current month (maybe $500) and any escrow payment. You don't automatically owe the full interest for the entire mortgage (another $300,000 give or take) that you'd owe if you paid the minimum mortgage payment each month.
Now: a few details.
As others stated, the correct thing to do is to call your mortgage provider and ask for a payoff amount, and a date with that payoff amount. That will consist of:
(A) A dollar amount that's a bit over your current principal amount (if it's more than a bit over that, you may need to talk to a financial expert to see what's going on)
(B) A date which that is valid for. Typically a few days from now.
If you pay the amount in (A) by the date of (B), you will be paid in full and owe no more on your mortgage. Though you should of course verify this afterwards (sometime between the date of your payment and the date of your next payment's due date). You should receive an official payoff letter from your mortgage lender; ask for one if you do not, though it may take a month or three (ask them how long).
Once you've paid it off and verified the zero balance (actual zero, not $0.05, as that's still implying an amount due), you have several things to check:
Finally, again echoing what others have said: before you do this, make sure you're otherwise good financially. You owe taxes on the winnings, probably, so make sure those are paid for. And make sure you're entirely comfortable with paying the amount you're paying for your mortgage. 3.5% isn't a bad rate, and it may be simpler to not pay it off, and instead invest the amount and pay the mortgage from the investments. This isn't for everyone, but one thing it does for you is increase your liquidity while not "changing" too much from before, which can be a significant benefit to some.
I have just won a large sum of money
Since this is the PF site:
The balance is $ 173,000.00 ... But what should my actual payoff amount be?
If your balance is $173K, then that -- nominally -- is what your payoff will be. Call the mortgage company to get the exact dollar value.
Say your last statement was $173,000.
It would be this, plus interest - calculated on a daily basis (so will need to contact mortgage company), plus fees - e.g. Mortgage discharge fee and potentially ERC (early repayment charges). So you would arrange a redemption date in the future and they would calculate an exact payment figure.
Now since you've only had mortgage for 2 years, you might well have ERCs, so depending on this you might want to wait till they expire.
Also the questions posed by RonJohn are all good - make sure you put aside money for taxes and rainy day money etc. Remember -a higher percentage of lottery jackpot winners go bankrupt than regular people! (it's said, I can't find hard evidence, apart from a few famous cases)
The payoff amount will be the loan balance, on your monthly statement, but this changes as interest is compounded. Call the bank to get the exact amount, and arrange the payoff. Also, make sure there is no prepayment penalty.
Personally though, I would not spend my own money paying off such a low-interest loan early. Talk to a financial planner about investing that money, and living off the interest, and paying off the loans with that cashflow, without depleting the principal.
I'm currently quite involved in the home buying process, and one thing I've talked about with my adviser is paying off the house early. One thing you may not consider (I certainly didn't) is that if you end up paying much less interest, you may also not be able to write that off as a deduction from earned income, and will end up having to pay even more income tax on your regular (non lottery) income as well. I'd suggest fully calculating the check you're gonna cut uncle sam, and try out a few different options to see what nets you the most money over say a 10 year period. If you expect the estate to grow in value faster than the stock market, dump the money into the house so you can re-invest in more real estate as quickly as possible. What's more likely however is that you'd earn more on the money in an investment account, but there'll be some tipping point on how much to put towards each, so you'll have to reason it out.
Another approach to this that might save you a few $ here:
You owe $173k. Assuming you really have the money available (as others have said, beware of taxes! If you have a $173k mortgage it's very unlikely you're in a position to pay the taxes with other money) and there's no pre-payment penalty the first thing to do is to pay down a big chunk of it right away.
If you can log onto their website and schedule a $172k payment for tonight, that's your best bet. Second choice is to overnight them a cashier's check for $172k. The thing is you want to stop as much of the interest as you can as quickly as you can, then you can worry about getting exact payoff numbers when the interest isn't ticking up nearly so fast.
As for the leeches--any way to keep your friends and family from knowing you won? That sort of thing is best kept to you and your spouse. No need to tell them the mortgage is paid off, either--pretend things are normal.
It depends on the terms of your mortgage, but in most cases any payment to the mortgage account that is in excess of interest currently owed is applied against the principal.
So, in other words, if the current principal of your loan is $173,000 and you pay that much into the account, then the loan will be terminated.
You should probably verify this with your lender because some mortgages have penalties for early payoff. In such cases you can still pay off the loan, but you will then own the penalty as well, if there is one.
