Questions

If you have a question about the calculator or about amortization, attach a comment to this page. But please, be sure you’ve checked the FAQ Page first. (You’ll need to create an account to post a comment.)

199 Replies to “Questions”

  1. hi Bret i have used your calculator for years and love it. but for for the last 2 months the amortization schedule no longer appears keep trying but will not work need help. $40,450.00 4.00% payment $750.00

    1. Hi, Ellis. It’s working just fine for me, but that doesn’t always mean it’s working for everyone else. Can you tell me what browser you’re using? Have you tried using a different browser? Are you getting any feedback or results at all, or are you getting nothing?

  2. I’ve just spent a couple hours looking for an amortization schedule that includes a factor for a delayed start date for the loan repayment to begin. I found one that only allowed for 30-day increments, but not one that would calculate DAYS. It’s not uncommon to have vehicle loans (for instance) to not start exactly a month from the purchase date, so that people can schedule a day of the month for their repayment plan.
    I have not found this option on your site either, but I was surprised. Am I missing it? Do you plan to make this a future update?
    LOVE your amort.schedules, for what I have been able to make useful over several years. Thank you!

    1. Hi, bethorp. I have done the math for starting the delay of repayment, but it is not part of the current calculator. There will be future improvements that include this option. I can’t say exactly when, since my time is extremely limited these days, but it will be made available on that great “someday” down the road.

  4. Hi Brett
    My accountant used your site to provide me with an amortization schedule. However he put the wrong interest rate in so my accounts are incorrect. I’ve tried to re-calculate by copying the fields he completed. One of the fields is a $0.00 balloon, which he entered as $0.01.
    When I do this I get an error message saying there’s nothing to calculate.
    When I clear the balloon field, I receive a calculated negative figure. Can you help me with this please? Thank you

    1. Ooo, sorry, I’m waaaaayyyyy late on responding to your inquiry, JT. You need to leave at least one field blank so that the calculator knows what to calculate. Unless you have a balloon payment, that field normally remains blank. If your interest rate changes, that would normally change the payment amount, so I would leave that field blank. However, if there’s a reason why your payment remains fixed after an interest rate change, then the calculator will dump the residual into the balloon payment field.

  5. Bret,

    This particular rambling mind did not give up, after posting.

    I went to your loan calculator,
    entered 1/2 of the now known payment per month, entered Annual Payments as 26, and added the “regular” (consistent in quantity and frequency)extra payment to the regular payment amount and the results seem to me to be reliable.

    The results are roughly 10% less interest paid, and an end reduction of principal balance (balloon payment)of 22%.

  6. Bret,

    I am trying to help our Church and Pastor with a loan extension for commercial property. We will be starting a 5 year fixed with balloon payment next month.

    Though not formalized as a true bi-weekly in the paperwork, the bank will allow bi-weekly payments, and we will make “regular” (consistent in quantity and frequency) extra payments. In spite of several searches, I can not find any calculators that will provide results for – “5 YR Bi-Weekly Balloon Loan with Extra Payments”.

    Can you help me (perhaps with formulated spreadsheet) to demonstrate the results to the Church and Pastor? (if so…it may be a first such loan calculator….judging from my search results)

    Thank you for your considerations.

    John

  7. Bret,

    I love your spreadsheet. I have been using spreadsheets for a long time and never ceases to amaze me how you guys do this.

    It is what has prompted me to make this post.

    I went looking for a calorie counting spreadsheet awhile back and I found a lot out there, but they are all about loosing weight. What I wanted was the opposite. A nutrition calculator.

    On your entry sheet you would add menu items like apple, carrot, milk, etc. you would do this for say 1 day, 3 meals, data would be pulled from another sheet to calculate how close you come to your recommended daily amount of Calories, Protein, vitamins, minerals, etc. You could then make adjustments to your menu to get much closer to what you need to eat…

    This would extremely helpful to the elderly who’s appetites have dropped, and who need an increase in calcium, etc.

    I have worked on this to some degree, but I just can not rap my brain around it.

    I hope I am not out of line with this post. But if you have an interest for this… please comment, or PM me.

    1. Hi, Alvin. I’m sorry that I didn’t notice your post until this morning. (The blog gets a lot of spam these days, so the signal gets lost in all the noise!) What you are proposing sounds like a wonderful idea! Unfortunately, it’s not something I have the time to work on in the foreseeable future.

      It also sounds like just the kind of thing that might make a good tablet or phone app if you extend the idea a little bit. For example, if the app notices that your intake is low on some set of nutrients, it could offer suggestions through the day. A really smart app might start to recognize daily routines and offer better suggestions at more opportune times. This bit of software could be much more convenient to use (and therefore more useful) than a spreadsheet.

      Bret

  8. Bret,

    I made what I think is an improvement to the excel spreadsheet. On the second sheet (Amortization Schedule) column F (extra Pmt) will keep copying the extra payment even if it makes the final payment more then the remaining balance of the loan. I changed it to decrease the final additional payment to account for this. for F13 the formula would be:
    =IF(A13>0,IF(J12>(F12+E12),VALUE(F12),IF(J12<E12,0,J12-E12+H13)),0)

    If your blog comments eat the formatting, I'll send it to you in an email if you'll tell me your address,

    Thanks,
    David

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