Learning centre · Planning · 7 min · screens from October 2026

Paying off the house

The Reyes mortgage has $406,826.14 still owed at 4.6%, with $2,310 paid on the 1st of every month, and the plan can tell you the month it will be paid off. Paying a mortgage off sooner is the biggest change most households can make to their finances, and the easiest to misjudge. This guide shows the mortgage as a loan on the house, each payment as a bank transaction, and a scenario that shows how to own the house sooner.

What you'll do

See the mortgage as a loan secured on the house, with its terms
See each payment arrive as a bank transaction that lowers the balance
Find the month you will own the house outright, and how that differs from being debt free
Bring that month closer with a scenario, before committing a dollar

Step 1

The mortgage is a loan on the house

The house is recorded as a holding on Assets, and the mortgage is a loan linked to it. That link matters in two ways: net worth counts the house and subtracts the mortgage, and retirement counts neither, because a house you live in, and the loan on it, are not money you can live on. The loan has its own terms (balance, interest rate, payment, and payments per year) and the account it is paid from.

The mortgage opened beside the loans table: still owed, 15% paid off, the rate, the payment, paid off April 2051, and the bill that pays it — The mortgage, secured on the house: what is still owed, how much is paid off, and the month it ends at the regular payment, with every payment listed below.

The mortgage, secured on the house: what is still owed, how much is paid off, and the month it ends at the regular payment, with every payment listed below.

The What you own table on Assets: the house is worth $698,015, with $406,826 owed on it and $291,189 of equity — The house on Assets: what it is worth, what is owed on it, and the part you own outright.

The house on Assets: what it is worth, what is owed on it, and the part you own outright.

Step 2

Each payment is a bank transaction

The $2,310 that leaves chequing on the 1st is one transaction. It is filed to the Mortgage envelope, which is how the budget sees it, and linked to the mortgage loan, which is how the loan's balance sees it. Nothing is entered twice: the bill says the payment is coming, the bank transaction confirms it happened, and the loan's balance is worked out from those transactions. There have been seven payments so far, each one listed on the loan and in the register.

The register showing only the mortgage payments: seven payments of $2,310.00 from Prairie Credit Union Chequing, one on the 1st of each month from April to October, each filed to the Mortgage envelope. The October payment is uncleared and the earlier six are reconciled. — Seven payments. Each one is a bank transaction, an entry in the Mortgage envelope, and a payment on the loan.

Seven payments. Each one is a bank transaction, an entry in the Mortgage envelope, and a payment on the loan.

the mortgage payment posted, match it to the mortgage

Step 3

The month you will own the house outright

In the Debts section, the mortgage is listed last, gets only its own regular payment, and has its own milestone, secured loans paid off, and its own goal, Mortgage free, both separate from debt free, which counts every other debt. Paying an extra $400 a month toward the principal brings that month years closer. The scenario $400 more to the mortgage shows April 2051 becoming February 2042, nine years sooner, before you pay a single extra dollar. When you do pay extra principal, it is a bank transaction like any other payment, marked as principal.

The Debts section with the mortgage last, paid off in April 2051, and under it the scenarios, a table that scrolls sideways to show every goal, where $400 more to the mortgage makes it February 2042 — Debts. The mortgage is last, with its own payoff month, and the scenario shows that month moving earlier.

Debts. The mortgage is last, with its own payoff month, and the scenario shows that month moving earlier.

when is the mortgage gone at the current payment? and with $400 extra a month?

Step 4

Or invest the money instead

Scenarios also answer the opposite question: what if the $400 a month went into retirement savings instead, growing at 6%, compared with the 4.6% interest saved on the mortgage? Compare both projections. Some households take the guaranteed 4.6% and sleep better; others take the difference. Mintro shows you the months and the amounts, and does not tell you which to choose.