When you sell your home or refinance, you must take into account the payoff amount of your current loan.

Your payoff is not the same as your loan balance. Your payoff will have interest charges, any unpaid late fees, will usually be good thru a date sometime within the next 30 days, per diem interest charges if it is paid after the good thru date, prepayment penalties (if applicable) and can sometimes include some other small fees.

Your payoff amount will always be higher then what your balance states on the mortgage statement.

Mortgages are paid in arrears, which means they are one month behind. You will pay your January mortgage payment in February. The payoff calculation is as follows:

Principal Balance x Rate/12 + Principal Balance

If you have a $200,000 Principal Balance with a 6% Rate, you have a $201,000 payoff.