If you were to look at an amortization schedule for a 30-year fixed mortgage with a 5.3 percent interest rate, you would see that the payment total after 30 years is about twice the loan amount. Interest accounts for half of the total loan payments. Reducing the principal, then, would undoubtedly reduce some of the future interest payments as well. Before you start making those extra payments, however, there are several issues you would want to think about.
