Your mortgage is likely your biggest monthly expense, so it would make sense that cutting back on that will significantly cut back your entire monthly budget. The only question is—how? Well, you could switch to making minimum monthly payments, but that will just make you acquire more interest and end up spending more in the long run. So that’s no good. But, this post by Tony Moton at Yahoo Homes has plenty of valid ways to reduce your mortgage payment– just in time more next year.
Check on whether You Can Drop Mortgage Insurance- If you can get rid of mortgage insurance that’s $198 a month, that’s $2,400 in savings a year. It’s real money, not $15 here and there. You can save hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Consider Getting a Mortgage Credit Certificate- For first-time homebuyers, the MCC program enables them to convert part of their annual mortgage interest into a direct dollar-for-dollar tax credit on their U.S. individual tax returns.
Don’t Allow Low Interest Rates to Get Away- People who are concerned about rising interest rates might want to consider taking advantage of them before the calendar flips to 2014.