This post was originally published on mortgages.com You saved and planned and went through a lot of work to get your first mortgage. But as soon as you make your first payment, you're probably already wondering when you be done with it. Most of the time your mortgage type describes how long you'll be paying it. A 30-year mortgage will take 30 years to pay off, a 20-year mortgage will take 20 years, and a 15-year will take—you guessed it—15 years. But that's only true if you only pay the minimum amount due each month and you keep the same mortgage throughout the entire life. So, how do you speed up the process? Refinancing Most people are either at the beginning or the middle of their careers when they buy their first house. As the years go on, you might start making more money (go you!) and suddenly your mortgage payment [...]