Do accelerated weekly mortgage payments save money?

Yes. Accelerated weekly payments increase the amount paid each year, which reduces the mortgage principal faster. A lower principal balance means less interest is charged on future payments.

What is the difference between weekly and accelerated weekly mortgage payments?

Regular weekly payments divide the annual amount needed to maintain the original amortization across 52 payments. Accelerated weekly payments usually divide the monthly payment by four and collect that amount 52 times per year. This results in the equivalent of approximately 13 monthly payments instead of 12.

How much faster can accelerated payments pay off a mortgage?

The result depends on the mortgage amount, interest rate, amortization period, and lender calculations. In the example of a $500,000 mortgage at 5% over 25 years, accelerated payments shorten the repayment period by approximately three and a half years.

Are accelerated weekly mortgage payments free?

No. Accelerated payments require you to pay more toward the mortgage each year. The benefit is that the additional amount is automated and applied to the principal, reducing both the repayment period and total interest expense.

Is accelerated weekly better than accelerated bi-weekly?

The financial difference is usually small. Accelerated weekly payments may reduce the principal slightly sooner, but the best choice is generally the payment frequency that matches your pay schedule and makes managing cash flow easiest.

Can I switch to accelerated mortgage payments before renewal?

Many Canadian lenders allow borrowers to change their payment frequency during the mortgage term, sometimes through online banking and without a fee. Rules vary, so borrowers should confirm the available options and conditions with their lender.

How can I tell whether my mortgage payments are accelerated?

Check that the payment frequency specifically says accelerated. An accelerated weekly payment is commonly calculated by dividing the monthly payment by four, while an accelerated bi-weekly payment is commonly calculated by dividing it by two.

Should I use accelerated payments if money is tight?

Not necessarily. Accelerated payments require additional cash flow. Building an emergency fund and keeping enough money available for unexpected expenses may be more important than paying down the mortgage faster.

15 Jul 2026 7 min read Advice

How To Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster And Almost For Free

I will save you the entire read and a few minutes of your life - the trick is to switch your payment frequency to accelerated weekly. That's it!

If you want to spend a few minutes and learn something new, I have done the math below. And I promise the word "accelerated" is doing some heavy lifting here, so stick around for that part.

I thought I knew enough about mortgages in preparation for our first one about 12 years ago but I didn’t. There was an asterisk with footnotes on payment frequency. I asked the lender what this meant since I only knew about the monthly payment frequency. They explained and I was sold on an increased frequency.

Understanding Mortgage Repayment

Before we get to the trick, you need to understand how a mortgage actually eats your money. A mortgage is just a big loan with a schedule. Every payment you make gets split into two pieces:

Interest - the lender's fee for lending you the money
Principal - the part that actually pays down what you owe

Here's the part most people never think about - that split is not 50/50, and it is not constant.

Interest is calculated on your outstanding balance. At the start of your mortgage, your balance is at its biggest, so the interest charge is at its biggest too. Your payment amount is fixed, so after the interest takes its cut, whatever is left goes to principal.

Let's make it real. Take a $500,000 mortgage at 5% amortized over 25 years. The monthly payment works out to about $2,908.

Your very first payment is most likely split like this:

Interest - $2,062
Principal - $846

You hand over almost three grand and your mortgage shrinks by less than $850. Ouch.

This is what people mean when they say interest is "front-loaded." Nobody is scheming against you - it's just math. Big balance, big interest. As the balance slowly shrinks, each payment shifts a little more toward principal. By year 12, that same $2,908 payment is roughly half interest, half principal. In the final years, it's almost all principal.

The takeaway - anything that shrinks your balance sooner saves you interest on every single payment after that. Remember this - it's the entire engine behind the trick.

The Payment Frequencies Your Lender Offers

Most Canadian lenders offer some combination of these (but please check with your lender):

Monthly - 12 payments per year. This is the default. For our example - $2,908 per payment.

Semi-monthly - 24 payments per year, on the 1st and 15th. Roughly half the monthly payment each time - about $1,453.

Bi-weekly - 26 payments per year, every second Friday. About $1,341 per payment.

Weekly - 52 payments per year. About $670 per payment.

Accelerated bi-weekly - your monthly payment divided by 2, paid 26 times a year - $1,454.

Accelerated weekly - your monthly payment divided by 4, paid 52 times a year - $727.

Notice something about those last two? The "accelerated" versions look almost identical to the regular versions. Accelerated bi-weekly is $1,454 vs regular bi-weekly at $1,341. Accelerated weekly is $727 vs regular weekly at $670. A difference of about $57 a week. That tiny difference is where all the magic lives.

How Payment Frequency Affects Length

Here's the punchline table. Same $500,000 mortgage, 5%, 25-year amortization:

Frequency	Payment	Total interest paid	Time to pay off
Monthly	$2,908	$372,400	25 years
Semi-monthly	$1,453	$371,500	25 years
Bi-weekly	$1,341	$371,400	25 years
Weekly	$670	$371,000	25 years
Accelerated bi-weekly	$1,454	$312,000	21.5 years
Accelerated weekly	$727	$311,300	21.5 years

Look at the regular frequencies first. Monthly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, weekly - they all pay off in 25 years, and the interest savings from paying more often is about $1,400 over 25 years. That's $56 a year. Enough for one nice-ish lunch annually (I have thoughts on lunch, but that's another post).

Why so little? Because your lender is smart. When you switch to regular weekly, they recalculate your payment so you still pay the same total per year and still finish in 25 years. Paying a bit earlier in the month shaves off a rounding error, nothing more.

Now look at the accelerated rows. $60,000+ in interest saved. Three and a half years gone from your mortgage!

Here's what's actually happening. Accelerated bi-weekly takes your monthly payment, cuts it in half, and charges it 26 times a year. But 26 half-payments equal 13 full monthly payments. Not 12! You are quietly making one extra monthly payment every year, and every dollar of it goes straight to principal.

And remember the engine from earlier - a smaller balance means less interest on every payment that follows. That one extra payment a year compounds in your favour for the next two decades. In our example, roughly $2,900 extra per year turns into $61,000 of interest you never pay.

Wait, So It's Not Actually Free?

Let's be honest, because you'd catch me on this anyway - no. You are paying about $2,908 more per year in our example. If someone tells you accelerated payments are free money, they've done the vibes but not the math.

What makes this trick special is that it's psychologically free. Here's what I mean:

Few feel the difference between $670 and $727 a week if they start off with payments that way.
There's no willpower involved. No "I'll make a lump sum payment this year, I promise." Your lender just takes it, every week, forever. Believe me, I have told myself this many times before.
If you're paid weekly or bi-weekly, the payment lands right after your paycheque does, before you can spend it. Save first, spend the rest - the same principle I've been running my whole financial life on.

It's a forced savings plan with a guaranteed, tax-free return equal to your mortgage rate. At today's rates, that's a risk-free 5%-ish return you don't pay a cent of tax on. Try finding that at your brokerage.

How to Actually Do This

Three steps:

Log into your lender's portal or call them and ask to switch your payment frequency to accelerated weekly or accelerated bi-weekly. Most big banks and lenders let you do this online in five minutes, for free, at any time - not just at renewal. I did this earlier this year and it took only a few clicks. No fees.
Match it to your pay schedule. Paid bi-weekly? Go accelerated bi-weekly. Paid weekly? Go accelerated weekly. The difference between the two is about $700 of interest over 25 years, so don't agonize - pick the one that fits your cash flow. Our lender allows me to pick the starting point and payment date. If the date doesn’t line up with the initial mortgage contract, we are simply charged the interest resulting in the difference in dates.
Confirm the word "accelerated" appears on your confirmation. If your payment is exactly your old monthly amount divided by 4.33 instead of 4, you got the regular version and saved yourself a rounding error.

One caution - make sure your cash flow can genuinely absorb the extra ~8% per year. If money is tight, an emergency fund beats a faster mortgage. The mortgage isn't going anywhere.

Let's Go Back to the Start

I told you the trick is switching to accelerated weekly payments, and now you know why it works - you sneak a 13th monthly payment into every year, it all goes to principal, and the front-loaded interest math starts working for you instead of against you. Three and a half years and $61,000 back in your pocket, for a weekly difference you will stop noticing by February.

Not bad for a few minutes of tinkering online.

Now imagine you pair this with additional automated weekly payments that go straight to the principal!