Biweekly mortgage payments on a VA loan
Paying half your mortgage every two weeks adds one full extra payment a year, all of it to principal, which pays the loan off years early and saves interest. You can do the same thing for free by adding an extra principal payment yourself.
At a glance
- Twenty-six half payments a year equal thirteen monthly payments. The thirteenth goes to principal.
- That extra payment shortens the loan by years and saves real interest.
- Confirm your servicer applies the extra to principal, not to next month's payment.
- Skip third-party biweekly programs that charge a fee. An extra principal payment does the same thing for free.
Who this is for: A NAS Lemoore sailor with a VA loan who has heard that biweekly payments save money and wants to see what it would do to their own loan before changing anything.
Reviewed by Theron Morgan, CEO and founder, Avidity Capital Inc., a registered investment adviser, on 2026-10-07.
How it works
A monthly schedule makes twelve payments a year. A biweekly schedule pays half the monthly amount every two weeks, and there are twenty-six two-week periods in a year, so you make the equivalent of thirteen monthly payments. The extra one goes straight to principal, and because interest is charged on the remaining balance, every dollar of principal paid early stops earning interest for the lender.
The result on the calculator is the payoff date and the total interest for each schedule, from your own balance, rate and years left.
On a VA loan
VA loans have no prepayment penalty, so paying extra principal is always allowed. The servicer, not the VA, handles how your payment is applied, which is why the next section matters.
Do it yourself, and check how it is applied
You do not need a program to get this result. Dividing your monthly payment by twelve and adding that amount to each payment, marked as additional principal, does the same thing. So does one extra payment a year, marked the same way.
What matters is how the servicer applies the money. Some hold a partial payment until the full amount arrives, or apply extra to next month's payment instead of principal. Call, ask for the extra to be applied to principal, and check the next statement.
Where this fits in the plan
Paying down a mortgage early means every extra dollar saves interest at your loan's rate, with no market risk. Whether that beats the other uses of the same dollars depends on your rate, your match, your emergency fund and your other debts. The pay-yourself-first plan in the app puts the match, the emergency fund and expensive debt ahead of extra mortgage principal; after those, this is a sound use of a raise.
Questions people ask
Does biweekly really save money, or is it a gimmick?
It saves real interest, but only because it adds one extra payment a year to principal. The schedule itself is not magic; the extra principal is.
Will my VA loan servicer let me pay biweekly?
VA loans have no prepayment penalty, so extra principal is always allowed. Whether the servicer offers biweekly drafting is up to the servicer; if not, add extra principal yourself.
Should I pay a company to set up biweekly payments?
No. An extra principal payment you make yourself does the same thing for free. Pay a fee only if a program adds something you cannot do yourself, and most do not.
Is paying the mortgage early better than investing?
Every extra dollar saves interest at your loan's rate, with no market risk. The plan puts the match, the emergency fund and expensive debt first; after those, it is a fair use of extra dollars. An Avidity adviser can run your own case.
Next step
See your own numbers first. The free reality-check needs no account and no card.
This page is education, not individualized investment, tax, legal or insurance advice. It names no products, funds or allocations and carries no client stories. Where a document or a policy is needed, an estate attorney or a licensed insurance agent is the person who prepares it. Avidity Capital Inc. drafts no legal documents and receives no commission or referral fee from insurance, estate attorneys, mortgage lenders or real estate agents. Its compensation is the member's subscription and, for members who choose it, an advisory fee for managing assets; see Form CRS and Form ADV Part 2A. Avidity Capital Inc. is a registered investment adviser.