15 vs. 30 year mortgage...does God really care?

With the low interest rates we have seen this decade, refinancing has become a relatively painless way to reduce our monthly housing expense. It always pleases me to hear someone ask the question if God's Word gives any direction on what term of mortgage is preferred. I believe it indicates that the Believer understands that God is concerned even about the details of what the terms of our mortgages are. And I do get asked this question quite frequently.

Before I pass along my thoughts on the answer to the question, let me share a few statistics. In 1929 only 2% of houses in America had mortgages. In 1960, only 2% of houses in America did not have mortgages. In California today, they offer 90 year mortgages. There definitely is a trend towards more and longer mortgages. Here is an article from Crown that may be helpful if you are considering refinancing your mortgage.

We have discussed in this blog that God discourages debt and discussed some of the reasons why He does. But we also came to the conclusion that a fully collateralized mortgage is one of the least discouraged debts according to God's Word. But what about the terms of our mortgage, does He really care about those details?

Since God discourages debt, then wouldn't the normal conclusion be that He wants us to get out of debt as quickly as possible? In Deuteronomy 15:1 God instructed the Israelites to forgive all debts every 7 years. (Show that verse to your banker and see if he will forgive your mortgage after 7 years... haha!) So the conclusion would be ...go with the 15 year term and get it paid off as quickly as possible, right? Not quite so fast.

Yes, we need to pay those mortgages off as quickly as possible and become debt free, however it is more important hat we pay all our debts on time. (Psalm 37:21, Proverbs 3:27) Make sure that if we elect the shorter term mortgage the higher monthly payment does not cause us to fall behind on our other monthly bills.

So absolutely, God cares about the terms of our mortgage. He wants us to get out of debt as quickly as possible, but not at the cost of falling behind on our other bills. Perhaps the answer may be to take out the 30 year mortgage and make extra payments. Here is a link to a calculator from Crown that may be helpful in seeing the advantages of making extra payments on your mortgage each month.

One last word about prepaying your mortgage. Remember this takes place at Destination Number 5 on our Journey to True Financial Freedom. All other consumer debts have been paid off and our emergency savings is fully funded and our long term goals are funded consistent with our season of life.

God cares about all areas of our lives, even the terms of our mortgage.