Early payment

Paying principal ahead of schedule. In Mexico, most personal and payroll loans accept early payments with no penalty; some fixed-rate mortgages still charge a fee during the first few years. Read the contract before you pay 50,000 pesos ahead of time and discover it costs you another 2,000.

It's your right by law, but the detail is in how it's applied. A payment toward principal shrinks the balance that future interest is calculated on, so the earlier you do it, the more you save. Example: on a 100,000-peso loan over 36 months, an extra 20,000 payment in month 6 can trim four or five payments off the end.

Before paying, say explicitly «to principal» — otherwise some systems apply it as prepaid monthly installments and it saves you no interest. And check the contract: while most no longer charge a prepayment penalty, a few SOFOMs still slip one in. Ask before signing.