A 15-year mortgage typically has higher monthly principal-and-interest payments than a 30-year mortgage for the same loan amount, but it pays off the loan in about half the time and generally results in substantially lower total interest paid over the life of the loan.
October 06, 2025
high
temporal
Comparison of common fixed-rate mortgage term lengths and their typical financial trade-offs.
Mortgage interest rates generally increase with longer loan terms because lenders view longer time horizons as carrying higher default risk, while shorter-term mortgages (such as 15-year loans) generally carry lower interest rates.
high
financial
Lender risk assessment influencing pricing across mortgage term lengths