Free homeowner tools
Calculators and guides for the parts of your payment you can question.
Start with the question on your statement—or run the whole monthly mortgage check. Every calculator runs from the numbers you enter and does not require a bank login, name, or address.
Understand what changed
Why did my escrow go up?
Separate the continuing tax and insurance change from temporary shortage repayment.
Open toolWhy did a fixed-rate payment change?
Understand why fixed principal and interest does not freeze the total payment.
Open toolWhy did my mortgage payment go up in 2026?
Escrow costs — property taxes and homeowners insurance — are surging in 2026. How to check your increase and what to do.
Open toolMortgage escrow rules in plain English
Understand escrow choices, limits, annual analysis, timely payments, shortages, and error rights.
Open toolMortgage servicing rules checker
Choose an issue to see a plain-English federal rule summary, evidence needed, exceptions, and official source.
Open toolCheck your escrow numbers
12-month escrow analysis checker
Project the real computation year, recurring bills, cushion, shortage, current deficiency, and surplus.
Open toolAnnual escrow statement review
Confirm statement dates, history, balance math, target, shortage or surplus treatment, and urgent events.
Open toolEscrow shortage calculator
Compare how a shortage changes the payment over different repayment periods.
Open toolEscrow surplus check planner
Compare a surplus check with tax and insurance increases you already know about.
Open toolProperty tax
Property-tax assessment review
Privately screen official values, local ratios, exemptions, property facts, and comparable assessments, then prepare a printable appeal kit.
Open toolProperty-tax change calculator
See the monthly effect of a new annual property-tax amount.
Open toolNew-construction tax shock
Model a completed-home assessment, ongoing tax increase, and possible temporary catch-up.
Open toolInsurance & PMI
Insurance savings calculator
Translate an annual insurance quote into a possible monthly escrow change.
Open toolConventional PMI removal planner
Estimate original-value thresholds and scheduled 80% and 78% dates.
Open toolForm 1098 and PMI document reader
Read non-identifying Form 1098 boxes and explicit PMI cancellation facts privately on your device.
Open toolRefinance & payment strategy
Review a refinance offer
Screen a candidate fixed rate against closing costs, break-even timing, your keep horizon, and remaining-lifetime cost.
Open toolRefinance break-even calculator
Compare principal and interest, closing costs, terms, and break-even timing.
Open toolBiweekly payment comparison
Compare true biweekly, withdrawal-plan, semimonthly, and equivalent extra-principal strategies.
Open toolTake action
Servicer letter generator
Prepare an editable Request for Information or Notice of Error using a confirmed designated address.
Open toolEscrow problem checklist
Triage force-placed insurance, missing proof, unpaid taxes, and unexplained payment changes.
Open toolHow to lower an escrow payment safely
A step-by-step guide to insurance, taxes, shortages, PMI, and refinancing.
Open toolMonitor over time
Not sure which tool fits?
Run the complete payment-change checker first. It separates taxes, insurance, and shortage repayment, then points you toward the most useful next step.
Check my paymentSee how every estimate is calculated
Review formulas, assumptions, limitations, testing, and the latest change history before relying on a result.
Read the methodology