When you’re looking into getting a mortgage, you’ll need to be crunching a lot of numbers. Although you could do the math by hand, it’s a lot easier if you make use of some of the many free mortgage calculators available online. These tell you everything you need to know, from how much house you can afford to whether you have enough for a down payment, what your monthly payments will be, and how you can pay off a mortgage faster. Here are just a few of the most important types of mortgage calculators and why you should use them.

Maximum Mortgage Amount Calculator

The biggest question you probably have before you start looking for a home is what purchase price you can afford. A buying power calculator figures this out, based on comparing your monthly income to your monthly payment. Lenders generally won’t let you spend more than 28% of your monthly income on your mortgage principal and interest, taxes, and insurance. You’ll also need to enter your other debt payments because your housing plus other debt can’t exceed 35% of your monthly income. Crunching these numbers, along with the interest rate and number of years you will take to pay off a mortgage, will tell you how much money you will be approved to borrow from the bank.

Down Payment Calculator

The other part of your initial purchase is your down payment. Even if you can’t borrow much, you’ll be able to afford an expensive home if you have a huge down payment saved up. On the other hand, some people may be eligible to borrow a lot but are limited by the down payment. A down payment calculator will tell you how much you need to have saved to meet the 3.5% minimum down payment for an FHA loan, 5% minimum down payment for a conventional loan, or 20% down payment to avoid mortgage insurance. You can also enter the amount you have saved and the down payment calculator will tell you the maximum purchase price you can afford for each of these down payment thresholds.

Biweekly Payment Calculator

Once you have a mortgage, the calculators don’t become irrelevant just yet. You should also use a biweekly payment calculator to figure out how much you can save on your mortgage by making biweekly payments instead of monthly payments. Many people want to pay off a mortgage ahead of time, and biweekly payments shave off at least five years from most mortgages. Enter your mortgage information into a biweekly payment calculator to see what your payments would be and how much you would save.