A HELOC payment isn’t one number. In the example below, a $50,000 balance at 8% costs $333.33 a month during a 10 year draw and $418.22 a month once the 20 year repayment starts. Type in your own numbers and watch both.
The numbers in the boxes are examples to show how it works. They aren’t a quote, a current market rate or any lender’s terms, so swap in your own.
What your result means
The first number is the bill while you can still draw. It pays the lender and leaves your balance right where it was. The second number is the one to plan around, because that’s when you start paying the money back too.
Total interest is the real price of the borrowing, in dollars, across both phases.
What it leaves out
A HELOC rate usually moves, and your payment moves with it. This calculator holds one rate for the whole time, assumes you borrow the full balance on day one and skips closing costs, annual fees and any early closure charge. If you borrow in pieces or pay extra, you’ll come in lower.
What to check with a lender
Ask what the rate is tied to, how often it can change and how high it can go. Ask how long the draw and repayment periods run and every cost at closing. Then rerun this with the rate you were quoted, and again with a rate two points higher, to see what a bad stretch would do to your payment.
How this is calculated
Draw period payment: your balance times the annual rate, divided by 12. That is interest only, so the balance doesn’t move.
Repayment period payment: the standard loan formula. With a monthly rate i (the annual rate divided by 12) and n monthly payments (repayment years times 12), the payment is the balance times i, divided by 1 minus (1 plus i) raised to the power of minus n. At a 0% rate it’s the balance divided by n.
Total interest is the draw payment times the draw months, plus the repayment payment times n, minus the balance. Monthly payments are rounded to the cent and interest totals to the nearest dollar, using the unrounded payment. It accepts balances up to $10,000,000, rates from 0% to 30%, 0 to 30 draw years and 1 to 30 repayment years. Anything outside that is moved to the nearest allowed number and you’ll see a note saying so.
HELOC payment calculator questions
During the draw period it can be, and the first number above shows that. Some lenders ask for a little principal too, so read your terms. Once repayment starts, every payment covers principal and interest.
You start paying down the balance. In the example the payment goes from $333.33 to $418.22, a change of $84.89 a month. A shorter repayment period makes the jump bigger.
Many HELOCs have a variable rate, so the payment follows it. To see the effect, run the calculator again at a rate one or two points higher than your current one.
Not sure a HELOC is the right tool? HEI vs HELOC lays out the costs side by side, and the Figure HELOC review goes through one lender’s published terms. Prefer no monthly payment? See our best home equity agreement companies, or browse the rest of our home equity guides. You can also check how much equity you can borrow and compare a HELOC with a cash out refinance.