📊 Mortgage Payment Calculator · 2026
$400,000 Mortgage
at 5.5% Interest Rate
5.5% is excellent — historically low
Monthly payment, 15 vs 30 year comparison, total interest, and what salary you need to qualify.
Monthly P&I Payment · 5.5% · 30-Year · 20% Down
$1,817
Loan amount: $320,000 · Down payment: $80,000
$654,120
Total Paid (30yr)
15-Year vs 30-Year at 5.5%
30-Year Fixed
$1,817/mo
Total: $654,120
Interest: $334,120
15-Year Fixed
$2,615/mo
Total: $470,700
Save: $183,420 in interest
How 5.5% Compares to Other Rates
Data Table
| Rate | Monthly Payment | Total Interest (30yr) | vs 5.5% |
| → 5.5% | $1,817/mo | $334,093 | ← You are here |
Banker's Take on 5.5%
This is a great rate by any historical standard. If you can lock this in, do it. At 5.5%, your monthly payment on a $400K home is $1,817. Over 30 years, you'll pay the bank $334,120 in interest alone — 104% of what you borrowed.
To qualify, most lenders want your total monthly debt (including this payment) to stay under 43% of your gross monthly income. That means earning at least $78K/year with no other significant debt.
See Your Full Mortgage Picture
Amortization table, all-in cost, lender comparison
Open Calculator →
The part almost nobody publishes free
Prices and rates are widely reported. Whether a lender says yes is not. In the complete 2025 federal record, denial rates across the 100 largest FHA lenders ran from 1.8% to 78.7% — same programme, same year.
And it is not simply who applies where: standardizing on state, loan amount, income, debt-to-income and loan-to-value, applicant mix explains only a 2.7× range in expected outcomes.
CFPB HMDA 2025, computed by FinanceRateCalc. Covers the highest-volume lenders published per market, not all lenders. Historical observations, not predictions. CC BY 4.0, not independently reproduced.
The Denial Dispatch
One finding a week from the federal mortgage record.
One chart, three paragraphs, every Saturday. Measured, not assumed.
Get the Dispatch →