Mortgage Calculator

A mortgage payment is the amount of money you pay towards your mortgage–typically on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Mortgage payments are made up of mortgage principal (the mortgage amount, or the amount you borrowed) and interest (the interest the lender charges you on the principal) payments. When you start paying your mortgage, a larger portion of your payment goes towards interest. But, as you pay down your mortgage, the interest portion decreases so more of your payment goes towards paying off your principal. 

The principal is the amount you borrow (mortgage amount). For example, if you have a $500,000 mortgage, the principal is $500,000. The lender charges interest on your principal, adding to the amount you owe.

You’ll have to take several things into consideration to calculate your mortgage payment: the price of the home, your down payment amount, the mortgage term, your interest rate, and your mortgage payment frequency. The Scotiabank mortgage calculator can help you get an idea of how much your mortgage payment could be. It’s important to remember that your mortgage payment doesn’t include property tax payments or creditor insurance payments.

The mortgage amortization period is the actual number of years (mortgage length) it will take to repay a mortgage loan in full, based on the interest rate for your current mortgage term.  

This may go beyond the term of the mortgage contract.  The mortgage term refers to the period of time over which the interest rate, payment and other mortgage conditions are set. 

For example, mortgage agreements often have 5-year terms but 25-year amortization periods. At the end of the term, the mortgage is up for renewal, and you may choose to renew your mortgage or pay it out completely without any prepayment charge.

The difference between a longer mortgage amortization period and a shorter one is that, with a shorter mortgage amortization period, you’ll pay off your mortgage faster, but your mortgage payments will likely be higher. Also, with a shorter mortgage amortization period at the same interest rate, you may pay less interest over the length of your mortgage. 

There are two kinds of mortgages: a fixed rate and a variable rate mortgage. With a fixed rate mortgage, the interest rate you commit to at the beginning of your mortgage term stays the same until the end of your mortgage term. This means the payment amount will remain the same throughout the mortgage term. 

With a variable rate mortgage, the interest rate changes based on market conditions and may fluctuate throughout your mortgage term. With a Scotiabank variable rate mortgage, your interest rate is based on the Scotiabank prime rate, which is based on the Bank of Canada rate. If the Scotiabank prime rate changes, your payment could increase or decrease depending on the change. In other instances, your payment will remain constant, but the amount being applied to the principal and interest portions of your payment may be adjusted as the Scotiabank prime rate changes.