Mortgage amount

Original or expected balance for your mortgage. Taxpayers can deduct the interest paid on first and second mortgages up to $1,000,000 in mortgage debt (the limit is $500,000 if married and filing separately). Any interest paid on first or second mortgages over this amount is not tax deductible. Home equity loans are limited to $100,000 or the amount of equity you have in your home. Our calculator limits your interest deduction to the interest payment that would be paid on a $1,000,000 mortgage. Please note that in addition to the $1,000,000 mortgage debt limit; this calculator assumes that your itemized deductions will exceed the standard deduction for your income tax filing status. If your itemized deductions don't exceed your standard deduction, the benefit of deducting the interest on your home will be reduced or eliminated. For 2006, the standard deductions are $10,300 for married couples filing jointly, $5,150 for married couples filing separately and singles, and $7,550 for heads of household. You should also be aware that the total tax savings may be less for higher incomes that have their allowable itemized deductions phased out. We also do not consider any tax savings you might have previously had if you are consolidating an existing mortgage.

Interest rate
Annual interest rate for this mortgage.

Term
The number of years over which you will repay this loan. The most common mortgage terms are 15 years and 30 years.

Payment
Monthly principal and interest payment (PI) for this mortgage.

Combined State and Federal income tax rate:
The marginal combined state and Federal tax rate you expect to pay. Use the table below to help you determine your Federal tax rate.

Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2005-70 (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-05-70.pdf)

Credit cards
Enter your total credit card debt and its average interest rate, or press the "Enter Data" button to enter up to 10 credit card accounts, one on each line.

Auto loans
Click on the "Enter Data" button to input any auto loans you may have into the details page. This details page is designed to let you input your current monthly payment, the term (in months), the starting balance and the number of months you have left. It then calculates your outstanding balance and interest rate. You can enter up to three installment loans.

Other loans
Click on the "Enter Data" button to input any additional installment loans you may have into the details page. This details page is designed to let you input your current monthly payment, the term (in months), the starting balance and the number of months you have left. It then calculates your outstanding balance and interest rate. You can enter up to six installment loans.

Balances
Your total current balances for your credit cards, auto loans and other loans.

Interest rates
The average annual percentage rate you pay. This interest rate is calculated for each of the categories of debt you have including credit cards, auto loans and other installment loans. For credit cards the rate you enter is used to calculate the interest on all future credit card payments. The length of time to pay off this credit card may be much greater than calculated if you enter a low promotional interest rate that is only good for a short period of time.

Payment
This is your initial monthly payment. For credit cards, if you checked the "use credit card minimum payments" box, your monthly payment is calculated as 4% of your current outstanding balance. With the "use credit card minimum payments" box checked, your monthly payment will decrease as your balance is paid down. This can greatly increase the length of time it takes to pay off your credit cards. Uncheck this box to enter your own monthly payment that will remain the same until your balance is paid in full. (We calculate your minimum monthly payment as 4% of your current outstanding balance. While your actual minimum monthly payment may be slightly different, this is one of the most common methods used by credit card companies to calculate minimum payments.)