A quarter-point on your rate is worth thousands over the life of a loan. Below are the 3 leading mortgage lenders in each of our 17 countries with real headline rates — pick your country, compare, then run the exact monthly payment.
Most borrowers assume a prepayment penalty automatically makes overpaying a bad idea. It usually doesn't. A penalty is a one-off cost; the interest you stop paying is a saving that compounds for every remaining year of the loan. The question is never "is there a penalty," it's "does the interest saved over the remaining term outweigh the penalty."
On a typical loan, even a 1–3% early-repayment penalty is often recovered from interest savings within 12–24 months if you have 10+ years left on the mortgage — after which every extra payment is pure saving. The earlier in the loan you overpay, the more interest you avoid, because interest is calculated on the outstanding balance.
Enter your loan and overpayment amount — see the interest saved, the years cut off your mortgage, and whether it clears your country's penalty.
Open the Prepayment CalculatorFull breakdown: Should You Overpay Your Mortgage?