Should I pay weekly, fortnightly or monthly?

Fortnightly is usually the sweet spot — it aligns with most pay cycles and squeezes in an extra month's worth of repayments per year compared to monthly, repaying your loan faster.

How does an interest-only loan differ?

Interest-only repayments cover the interest charge but don't reduce your principal. They're lower in the short term but cost much more over the life of the loan — generally only used for investment property strategies.

Will my repayments change if rates move?

Yes. On a floating loan, your repayment changes immediately. On a fixed loan, the rate (and repayment) is locked for the fixed term — repricing happens at the end of that term.

How much can extra repayments save me?

Even an extra $50–$100 per week can knock years off a 30-year mortgage and save tens of thousands in interest. Use our Extra Repayments calculator to model it.

Smart Money Strategies

Mortgage Repayment Calculator NZ

Get an instant estimate of your weekly, fortnightly, or monthly home loan repayments — and see how much interest you'll pay over the life of the loan.

Compare Two Scenarios

Loan Details

Enter your loan details to calculate repayments

Loan Amount ($)

$10,000$2,000,000

Interest Rate (%)

1%12%

Loan Term (Years)

1 year30 years

Repayment Frequency

Estimated Monthly Repayment

$3,160

per month

Total Repayments

$1,137,722

Total Interest

$637,722

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Principal vs Interest

Year-by-Year Amortization Schedule

Click to view the detailed breakdown of principal and interest over the loan term

Disclaimer

These results are an indication only. Banks typically use an 8-9% stress test rate for serviceability assessments. They are based on generic information and do not constitute a quote, pre-qualification, or an offer of finance. Actual repayments may vary based on lender-specific formulas, fee structures, and future interest rate changes.

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Quick answer

This calculator uses the standard amortising loan formula to show what your home loan costs per pay cycle, how much of each payment goes to interest versus principal, and your total interest over the full loan term.

About this calculator

A New Zealand home loan is typically a 'table' (amortising) mortgage: every payment is the same dollar amount, but the split between interest and principal changes over time. Early on, most of each repayment is interest; as the balance reduces, more goes towards paying off the loan.

We use the standard amortisation formula — loan amount, interest rate and term — then convert the monthly figure into weekly or fortnightly equivalents. Paying fortnightly (half the monthly amount every two weeks) actually delivers 13 monthly payments per year instead of 12, which can shave years off a 30-year loan with no real budget pain.

The total interest figure is often the biggest surprise. On a $600,000 loan at 6.5% over 30 years, you'd repay around $1.36m in total — more than $760,000 of it is interest. That's why even small rate differences and extra repayments compound into very large savings.

Worked example

A $600,000 mortgage at 6.5% over 30 years costs approximately $3,792/month, or $1,750 fortnightly — about $5.7m of total payments comprising $600k principal and $760k interest.

Switching to fortnightly payments of $1,896 (half the monthly figure) instead of $1,750 pays the loan off roughly 5 years earlier and saves around $145,000 in interest.