Bi-Weekly Mortgage Payments: Don’t Pay Fees

The "magic" of a biweekly (every two weeks) mortgage payment is that you end up making the equivalent of 13 full mortgage payments in a year rather than the usual 12, reducing the time needed to pay down the mortgage and cutting interest payments substantially.  But a biweekly payment plan from a bank often includes an up-front fee of several hundred dollars and monthly fees of about $10.

Don’t fall into the trap of paying these un-necessary fees.  Instead, simply make extra principal payments with each of your regular monthly mortgage payments.  You’ll accelerate the payoff and reduce interest as much as you want to with no extra fees (assuming your mortgage lender allows this, and most do).