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What the amortisation schedule hides

The single monthly payment on a fixed loan is steady, but what it buys changes every month. Early on, most of each payment is interest and only a sliver reduces the balance; near the end the split reverses. That front-loading is why paying off a loan in its first years saves far more interest than the same effort near the finish, and why refinancing late in a term often recovers less than borrowers expect.

This is also where prepayments earn their keep. Because interest is charged on the outstanding balance, an extra amount paid early attacks the balance before years of interest can accrue on it. Even one additional payment a year can remove multiple years and a large interest total from a long loan, without changing the contractual payment at all.

When you compare offers, look past the monthly figure to two things: the total interest over the life of the loan, and the APR rather than the headline rate, because APR folds in fees the nominal rate leaves out. A lower payment stretched over a longer term can quietly cost more in total than a higher payment over a shorter one.