Amortization schedule
Year-by-year breakdown of principal, interest, and remaining balance. See exactly where each payment goes.
Your scenario
Result
Year 1 interest is by far the largest year — that's how amortization curves work. Year 25 is mostly principal.
How amortization actually works
An amortization schedule splits each payment into two parts: interest (calculated on the current balance) and principal (the rest). Early in the mortgage, almost every dollar goes to interest. By the final years, almost every dollar goes to principal. The curve is steep — year 1 interest on $720,000 at 4.84% is about $34,500; year 25 interest is about $1,800.
The Canadian semi-annual compounding convention
Canadian mortgages compound interest semi-annually (the Bank Act convention), unlike US mortgages which compound monthly. This calculator converts your nominal annual rate to an equivalent per-period rate before applying the standard amortization formula — math consistent with how Canadian lenders calculate.
How to use this
- Plan extra payments — see which years have the biggest interest spike so you can target prepayments where they save the most
- Compare amortization lengths — try 25 vs 30 years to see exactly how much extra you pay
- Estimate equity build — year 5 balance tells you what equity you'll have at first renewal
Related
Questions about this calculator
- What does an amortization schedule show?
- Every scheduled payment over the life of the mortgage, split into the interest portion, the principal portion and the balance left afterwards. It is the clearest way to see that early payments are almost entirely interest and late ones almost entirely principal.
- Why is so little of my early payment going to principal?
- Because interest is charged on the balance, and the balance is at its largest at the start. The split shifts gradually: on a typical 25-year mortgage you do not reach the halfway point between interest and principal until somewhere around year twelve.
- How does an extra payment change the schedule?
- A lump sum applies entirely to principal, so every remaining payment carries slightly less interest and the schedule shortens from the far end. The saving compounds — money paid off in year two avoids twenty-three years of interest on that amount.
- Does the schedule change when I renew?
- Yes. At renewal you sign a new rate for a new term against whatever balance remains, so the schedule is recalculated from that point. The amortization continues from where it left off unless you deliberately extend or shorten it.