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AMORTZ Loan Schedules and More! by Jim Bowyer Mountain View Software (206) 845-2744 Version 1.50 October, 1993 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER AMORTZ Ver 1.50 Released October, 1993 All Rights Reserved Copyright (c) 1990-1993 by James J. Bowyer, Mountain View Software AMORTZ - User's Guide Copyright 1993 Mountain View Software -------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX ===== I. General Information: Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Shareware Concept . . . . . . . . . . 1 Benefits of Registration. . . . . . . . . 2 ASP Ombudsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Association of Shareware Professionals. . 3 Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 About AMORTZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 For Programmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 II. Fast Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 III. How to Use AMORTZ: The Opening Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The Data Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The Options Screen . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 "What If" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 IV. Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 V. Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 VI. Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. General Information PURPOSE Amortz is used to calculate loan amortization schedules (also known as principal & interest or loan payback schedules). The schedules can be viewed on a video screen (by year) or a hard copy of the schedule (or any year within the loan period) can be printed. Amortz can also calculate interest rates, payment amounts and so on. THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT "Shareware" is a term used to describe a system for distribution of software. Under the shareware concept, software may be freely copied and passed along to others, or distributed through bulletin board systems, catalogs, shareware libraries and so on. As a recipient of a shareware program, you may use the software for a short trial period to determine if it meets your needs. If it does, you pay the registration fee. By paying the fee, you are granted the right to retain the software for your use. If the software is not suitable, then you may discard it. The shareware concept is based entirely on the honor system, and generally works quite well. Most people are honest and wouldn't violate the trust placed in them by the author of the software. You should run AMORTZ through all its paces to decide whether or not it fits your needs. However, it is a program that doesn't really need a long "evaluation period". Typically, this type of utility is used to generate whatever schedules are needed, and then is tucked away in a drawer (or sub-directory) to gather dust until the next time your mortgage payment changes. Therefore, AMORTZ either works for you or it doesn't. If it works (it does!), and you use it, you should pay for it. SHAREWARE IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE - the author counts on your integrity. To register your copy of AMORTZ, send a check for $10.00 to: Mountain View Software 7506 85th Street E Puyallup, WA 98371-6514 A Registration Form is included (see the last page of this documenta- tion) for your convenience. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. General Information (Continued) You are encouraged to make copies of this program and its documenta- tion to share with your friends, associates, bulletin boards and so on. However, you must distribute AMORTZ with its entire documenta- tion and without alteration. You may not charge for AMORTZ in any way, except for the medium on which it is distributed. BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION Registering AMORTZ will entitle you to the following: 1. A disk containing the latest version of AMORTZ, guaranteed to be free of viruses, trojan horses and all other manner of vermin. 2. A "brand" program to remove the opening Shareware screen from version 1.50 of AMORTZ and all subsequent versions through 2.9 (no less than 12 months of free upgrades). 3. FREE Compuserve Introductory Membership, which includes your User ID, Password, a subscription to Compuserve Magazine, and a $15.00 credit for as much as 2.5 hours of FREE connect time (depending on your modem). 4. Notification of future major upgrades to AMORTZ, with the option of receiving the latest version by US Mail for a small postage and handling charge. 5. Unlimited technical support (see page 4 for details). 6. The "Warm and Fuzzy Feeling" you get when you do the right thing. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. General Information (Continued) ASP OMBUDSMAN This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at: ASP Ombudsman 545 Grover Road Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 U.S.A or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe MAIL to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) is a non-profit organization whose broad goals include fostering a high degree of professionalism among shareware authors by setting programming, marketing, and support standards. The ASP's current code of ethics includes: * A member's program (evaluation version) can not be limited (crippled) in any way. In the true spirit of Try-Before-You- Buy, users must be able to evaluate all of the features in a program before paying the registration fee. * Members must respond to every registration. At the very least, they must send a receipt for the payment. * Members must provide technical support for their products for at least 90 days from the date of registration. * Members are required to cooperate with the Ombudsman when ap- proached by him/her (see ASP Ombudsman Above) AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. General Information (Continued) TECHNICAL SUPPORT Questions, bug reports, and general comments and/or suggestions are welcome from both registered and non-registered users. Comments regarding possible enhancements to make the program more useful or "user friendly" would be greatly appreciated. In addition to telephone support ((206) 845-2744), technical support is available as follows: BBS Support: BBS Support is offered on the Runway BBS, Conference 77 (Join 77) through Shareable Software International, Inc. The numbers for Runway are: (215) 623-6203 2400 bps (215) 623-4897 HST (215) 623-6845 V.32 Technical support is available -- just leave a message to Jim Bowyer. You can also register AMORTZ on-line by following the instructions given. The most current version of AMORTZ will always be available on the Runway BBS, as well as any future products relaesed by Mountain View Software and Jim Bowyer. Be sure to (J)oin conference 77 from the main menu to find all of the products supported by Shareable Software International. International Services: Compuserve - Send MAIL to 74040,533 GEnie - Send GEmail to J.BOWYER2 US Mail: Jim Bowyer Mountain View Software 7506 85th Street E Puyallup, WA 98371-6514 ABOUT AMORTZ As a CPA, I am familiar with many great financial calculation packag- es, in both "commercial" and shareware distribution. These packages typically feature many options that only a bean-counter could love AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. General Information (Continued) (such as present value computations, depreciation schedules, break- even analysis, etc.). One of the minor features usually offered is the ability to print an amortization schedule. One day, my boss asked me if I had a program that would print a loan amortization schedule for his home mortgage, as well as having the ability to do "what if" calculations (what if I pay an additional $100 per month, for example). I showed him an excellent shareware package which has the ability to print his schedule, but, because of the many features included (it is a very thorough package) the cost was $50.00. While the program was certainly worth $50.00, we would use only 5% of its power. We agreed that there should be a cheaper solution. The result is AMORTZ. This program has fairly modest goals and, therefore, can have a very modest price. I have resisted all my impulses to expand the scope of the program beyond the basic goal of calculating loan variables and presenting a payment-by-payment break- down of principal and interest. AMORTZ does a fairly simple job, but it does its job EXTREMELY well. FOR PROGRAMMERS AMORTZ was written in C, compiled with Borland C++ by Borland International, Inc. Windowing and some I/O routines make extensive use of the TCXL User Interface Development System by Innovative Data Concepts. Heavily commented source code is available to registered users for $25.00. With the exception of Borland's BCD routines used for round- ing, the code should be portable to other compilers. If necessary, the author will help to work-around the BCD routines to make the code work with other compilers. Be aware, however, that THE CODE WILL NOT COMPILE UNLESS YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE TCXL LIBRARY. TCXL is a shareware package for the C language that I use extensively and would highly recommend for your consideration. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. Fast Start AMORTZ was designed to be extremely "user friendly", another way of saying that you should be able to run the program without referring to the printed documentation. Start the program as you would start any program, by typing "AMORTZ" at the DOS prompt ('>'). If your copy of AMORTZ is still on a floppy disk, you will probably need to type "A:AMORTZ" to run the program from drive A or "B:AMORTZ" to run the program from drive B. The file "README" which was distributed with the AMORTZ package has information relating to copying the AMORTZ files to your hard disk. III. How to Use AMORTZ THE OPENING SCREEN Unregistered copies of Amortz have an opening screen which invites you to register your copy. Hit F1 at the prompt to print a copy of the registration form, or hit any other key to advance into the program. THE DATA SCREEN This is the first screen that registered users will see when running AMORTZ. The Data Screen is used to input the amounts used in calculating the amortization schedule. The following data is requested: 1. Principal - The beginning balance of the loan. 2. Interest - The ANNUAL interest rate. Enter the rate as a percentage (ie. 12.75, not .1275). 3. Payment - The periodic payment. Amortz assumes that payments are made once a month. 4. Periods - The number of payments to be made (ie. enter 360 for a 30 year loan). 5. Due Date - The date that the first payment is due to be paid. 6. Fiscal Year End - The month in which your year ends. Hitting ESC at any point in the input process will escape the current data field and re-position the cursor at the top of the screen. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued) AMORTZ will solve for any ONE of the first four variables. All you need to do is enter a zero (0) for the value that you want to determine. If, for example, you wanted to determine what your monthly payments would be for the car of your dreams, enter the principal (beginning loan balance), interest rate, zero for the payment, 60 payments (for a five year loan), and the approximate due date of the first payment. AMORTZ will then calculate the monthly payment and replace the zero with the calculated amount. After all the data is input, you will be asked if you need to make any changes. Enter "y" (for yes) if you do want to make changes, and the cursor will be re-located to the beginning of the screen, ready to accept new data. You should re-enter only the variables that you want to change - hitting 'Enter' at any variable will retain the value previously input for that variable. When all of the data is correct, just answer the question 'n' (for no) or simply hit 'Enter'. The data will then be accepted and the amortization schedule will be calculated. THE OPTIONS SCREEN After the data has been accepted and the amortization schedule calcu- lated, you will be presented with the following options: F1 - Screen Display F1 generates a screen display of the amortization schedule beginning with the first year of the loan. Hitting 'Page Down' (or the 'Down Arrow' key) will display each succeeding year until the last payment date is reached. 'Page Up' (or the 'Up Arrow' key) will scroll the display backwards, giving you the opportunity to move either forwards or backwards through the schedule. F2 - Display One Year This option generates a screen display for a specific year. You will be asked what year you want, followed by a display of the amortization schedule for that year. This is a handy method to see a specific year without having to page down through several screens of data. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued) F3 - Print Entire Schedule F3 produces a hard copy amortization schedule for the entire life of the loan. You will be given the opportunity to input a title for the report which could be used to identify the purpose of the loan (just hit 'Enter' if you don't want a title). The schedule will then be sent to your printer. F4 - Print One Year Prints a hard copy report for a single year. You will be given the opportunity to input a title for the report. F5 - Loan Totals Hit F5 to get a display of total payments on the loan, in- cluding total principal, interest and payments and the due date for the last payment. This function is very handy for determining what the effect of slight increases in your monthly mortgage principal payment can have over thirty years. Hit any key to escape from the Loan Totals screen back to the Options Screen. F9 - Prnt Registration Frm Unregistered users are given the opportunity to print a form (identical to the form at the end of this documentation) to mail with their registration fee. This option does not appear in registered versions of AMORTZ. F10 - Change Data Hit F10 to return to the Data Screen to input a different set of data. Hitting 'Enter' at any line will retain the exist- ing value for that line. ESC - End Program Hitting the ESC will end the program. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued) EXAMPLE Lets return to that car of your dreams, and see what AMORTZ could do to help you in your purchase decision: Assume that you have A $4,000 trade-in to put down on that new "Turbo 287 ZHQ", you are willing to get strung-out for 5 years on the loan (60 payments), and your credit union has told you that your excellent credit rating entitles you to a loan at 13.75%. You talk it over with your spouse and decide that, by postponing junior's braces for another year, you can swing payments of $275.00 a month. Now the big question --- HOW MUCH CAN I AFFORD TO PAY for my "Turbo 287 ZHQ"? Fire up AMORTZ (by entering AMORTZ at the DOS prompt) and enter the following data: Principal : 0 (0 means to solve for this) Annual Interest Rate: 13.75 Payment Amount : 275.00 Payment Periods : 60.00 Initial Payment Due : 04/01/XX (Enter the correct date here) Year Ends in (month): 12 After entering the 12 in 'Year Ends' you will see that the '0' in the principal field has been replaced with $11,884.78. This means that the total you can pay for the car of your dreams is $15,884.78 ($4,000 trade-in plus 11,884.75 financed). "NOT ENOUGH!" you cry, "the Turbo 287 ZHQ I want lists for $25,000! What would my payments be if I ended up paying, say, $24,000?" To determine this (ie. to solve for the payment amount), answer 'y' to the "Any Changes" prompt, and the cursor will be positioned back at the top of the screen, at the principal line. Enter 20,000 (total cost of $24,000 minus the $4,000 trade-in), hit return to retain the 13.75% interest rate, enter 0 (zero) for the payment amount and then hit enter three more times (to accept existing data). AMORTZ will then solve for the Payment Amount and place it on the screen for you ($462.78). After picking yourself up off the floor, you are now in a better position to determine whether the "good old sedan" can make it for another year ("Hey. It still runs perfectly!") Be sure to print an amortization schedule after the purchase is made. This is an excellent means to keep track of your payments and to see how "quickly"(?) the equity in your new car builds. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued) "WHAT IF" AMORTZ can be used to compare different loan assumptions and scenari- os (ie. "What if" we added another year to the loan, or "What if" I increased the principal payment by $25.00 a month). You can cycle through the Data Screen as many times as necessary (just keep answer- ing yes to the changes prompt) changing as many variables as you want to see the effect of any of the changes. Just remember to enter zero (0) for the value that you want to compute. For example, assume that you are currently paying $684.33 per month in principal and interest on your mortgage (DO NOT include "escrow" payments such as taxes, insurance and PMI in these calculations!). Your rate is 9.00% and you have 19 years (19 years * 12 months = 228 payments) remaining on the loan. Enter this data into AMORTZ, using 0 (zero) for the principal, and AMORTZ will determine that the current principal amount is $74,624.54. Enter 'y' to accept the data, and the amortization schedule will be calculated. When the option menu is presented, hit the F5 key, and the loan summary will be displayed. Total Principal $ 74,624.54 Total Interest $ 81,379.78 Total Payments $ 156,004.32 Now you ask yourself "WHAT IF I paid an additional $50.00 per month. How much would I save in the long-run?" Simply hit ANY KEY to return to the Option screen, and choose option F10 to change your assumptions. At the Data screen, hit enter at the Principal and Interest lines (those values don't change), enter 734.23 at the Payment line (the original $684.23 plus your additional $50) and 0 (zero) at the Payment Periods line. Amortz will calculate the remaining periods at the new payment rate (192.27 months). Choose F5 again to see what effect the increased payment has had. You may be surprised at how much you can save by this additional payment! Of course, you could take a look at the amortization schedule (on screen or by printing a hard copy) after any of your assumptions to see how quickly the principal of your mortgage is declining. WARNING - YOUR PARTICULAR MORTGAGE AGREEMENT MAY NOT ALLOW ADDITIONAL PRINCIPAL PAYMENTS, OR MAY REQUIRE CERTAIN MINIMUM INCREMENTS! AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Error Messages The following is a list of error messages that AMORTZ could generate, along with recommended corrective action: Amortization period exceeds program maximum. It is quite possible to enter loan data that results in the loan never being completely paid-off. This is usually due to input errors or erroneous assumptions. To catch these types of errors, AMORTZ terminates calculating after 601 payments are reached. You could still print the schedule up to the 600th payment if you wanted to. Formula Cannot be Resolved AMORTZ has tried to solve for an unknown variable, and has found no real answer. This is probably due to input errors or invalid assumptions. Review your data and re-enter the variables. Number is too large! AMORTZ has the following input maximums: Principal - $9,999,999.99 Interest Rate - 99.99% Payment Amount - $99,999.99 Payment Periods - 600 These maximums are absolute. There is no effective work- around if you have figures larger than these. Printer is not Ready! Make sure your printer is turned on, is currently on-line, and is not out of paper. Program Terminated Abnormally. Memory Allocation Error. AMORTZ needs less than 256K of RAM to run successfully. If you get a memory allocation error, try removing any other programs that may be occupying memory and run AMORTZ again. AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Revision History 1.50 - October 1993 a. Maintenance Release swatted several minor bugs b. Address change 1.40 - February 1992 Commercial Version 1.30 - June 1991 ` a. Added Installation Shell to the AMORTZ package. b. Eliminated one line from each page of the printed amortization schedule to allow for lower capacities of some laser printer models. c. Swatted several minor bugs as reported by users. 1.20 - April 1991 a. Added the ability to change the Fiscal Year-End b. Corrected a "no way out" bug when AMORTZ detected a printer error c. Various documentation and evaluation refinements to conform to ASP standards 1.10 - January 1991 a. Added a function to calculate principal, interest rate, payment amount or number of payment periods. b. Added option F5 - Loan Summary. c. Corrected various bugs in screen display. 1.00 - October 1990 Initial Release of AMORTZ AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to: Steve Bohrer - For the inspiration and for endless proofreading and testing BETA Testers - Al Hess, Mark Thimell, Bob McGargle, Larry Anhutt, Jan Fisher & Mark Jones Mike Smedley & Chip Rabinowitz - For the TCXL Library Chris Bowyer - For all of the encouragement and support AMORTZ v1.50 Registration Form 1030A Qty Item Price Total ____ Registration and Program Disk . . . . . . .@ $10.00 ea $________ ____ Source Code (OPTIONAL). . . . . . . . . . .@ $25.00 ea $________ (You MUST ALSO register or be previously registered) Add $1 each for 3.5 in. disks $________ TOTAL $________ Remit in US Funds to: Mountain View Software 7606 85th Street E. Puyallup, WA 98371-6514 Check or money orders accepted. Please do not send cash. Allow 3 - 4 weeks for delivery. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Name _____________________________________________________________ Company _____________________________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Where did you obtain your copy of AMORTZ? ___________________________ Comments, Bug Reports, Questions, Suggestions and such: _____________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Your comments are appreciated - whether you register or not. Thank you for your support!