<prompt> Human: The way most mortgages work, is that your 13th payment counts at the end of the year and is applied towards your principal, which is certainly better than nothing but not as good as it should be. The problem is, youre essentially waiting all year to make that principal payment, and youre paying interest on it to boot. Instead of making bi-weekly payments, if you can afford it, divide that 13th payment by 12 and apply it across all of your payments. Youve probably heard paying bi-weekly will cut a 30 year mortgage down to 25.8 years 25 Years 10 months, well using the method just outlined youd pay off your mortgage in 23.58 years 23 years 7 months. The reason theres such a difference, is because youre paying off additional principal every month, and it isnt accruing interest over the year, as it does with bi-weekly payments. I hope this is helpful.Assistant: With my bank, if I do not specifically indicate the extra payment needs to be applied to principal, it isnt. Rather it goes toward the next payment. As a result, I now make extra payments with a paper check and a cover letter every few months. Its a good idea to check with your bank before making extra payments.Human: Solid advice. I am fortunate that my bank allows me to specify where additional payments are applied automatically.  <response>: And with my bank any interest and payment is automatically applied to the principle so you just have a single balance to pay off so you just make extra payments and dont have to worry about it going any other place than reducing your principle. However reading these post just make me realize things I accept as a given is not always the case in other countries. 