When you take out a mortgage, you need to choose between two amortization systems: SAC (Constant Amortization System) or Price (Price Table). This choice directly impacts your payment amounts and total interest paid.
What is the SAC System?
In the SAC system, the amortization (the part of the payment that reduces the debt) is constant throughout the loan. This means you pay the same amortization amount every month.
Since interest is calculated on the outstanding balance, which decreases each month, payments start higher and decrease over time.
What is the Price Table?
In the Price Table, payments are fixed throughout the loan. This makes financial planning easier since you know exactly how much you'll pay each month.
However, at the beginning, most of the payment is interest. The amortization increases gradually over time.
Practical comparison
See an example with a $300,000 loan over 360 months (30 years) at 10% per year:
SAC
- • First payment: ~$3,333
- • Last payment: ~$840
- • Total interest: ~$451,500
Price
- • First payment: ~$2,633
- • Last payment: ~$2,633
- • Total interest: ~$647,880
When to choose each system?
Choose SAC if:
- ✓ You can afford higher payments at the beginning
- ✓ You want to pay less interest overall
- ✓ Your income tends to decrease in the future (retirement)
Choose Price if:
- ✓ You need smaller, fixed payments
- ✓ You value budget predictability
- ✓ Your income tends to increase over time
Important tip
Use our mortgage calculator to simulate both scenarios with your actual numbers and compare side by side.