Total interest payments refer to the sum of all interest paid, or to be paid, over the life of the loan or up to a specific date.

It will be able to quickly show a borrower how much interest charges in total he will have to pay on a mortgage if he holds onto it up till maturity.

A comprehensive amortization table should be able to break down everything for a borrower to scrutinize.

However, it is important to note that interest is just a component of total mortgage costs.

If a borrower solely rely on total interest payments when comparing between different loan packages, he would leave out the critical elements of upfront costs that can greatly affect how expensive or affordable a loan really is.

Points for example is one of the most significant expense items when signing up for a home loan. And it does not factor in interest charges at all.

If the goal of the borrower is to tabulate interest on the loan, interest cost would be a better measure as it takes into account the time element.