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1988-10-30
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22KB
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480 lines
AMORT Version 4.0
Program and documentation copyright 1988
by John R. Ackermann, Jr.
Welcome to AMORT -- a fast, full featured loan amortization
program. Version 4.0 is an almost complete rewrite of Version
3.3, and adds several new capabilities.
WHAT AMORT DOES
AMORT is a program designed to solve a variety of loan
calculations and amortizations, and to print amortization
schedules to either the screen or the printer. It can find any
one unknown (such as starting balance, term, interest rate, or
periodic payment amount) if the other values are provided, and
can solve for either a declining interest or declining payment
loan. It calculates the actual payment dates and can deal with
first and/or last payments that aren't a full period in length.
The program will "fill in the blank" with the missing loan
variable, display a yearly summary of the loan balance, and, if
requested, generate a full amortization schedule. The summary
and schedule may be sent to either the screen or the printer.
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
AMORT is NOT in the public domain. I've retained ownership of
the program and am authorizing its use on terms that I think are
fair to both you and me:
1. You may make unlimited use of AMORT in your PERSONAL
affairs. It's not reasonable to expect you to pay for a program
that you use just out of curiosity, or to figure out
amortizations of your own loans. Of course, if you want to
register the program anyway to obtain the benefits outlined
below, I won't stop you!
2. BUSINESS users of AMORT must register with me and pay a fee
of $25.00 per copy (contact me about site licenses at
substantially reduced rates). If this program helps you in your
legal, accounting, real estate, banking, etc., business, it's
only fair that you pay a reasonable price for the benefits you
get. Of course, you need a chance to find out if AMORT does what
it says, so you may evaluate AMORT for a 21 day period before
registering. Unregistered use of the program for business
purposes after that period is a violation of my license to you.
3. All users who register with me will receive the next release
of AMORT on a disk, along with some other programs I've written
(right now, these include an easy-to-use DOS menu program, a
label printing program designed especially for the HP LaserJet
and DeskJet, and a program to warn you when disk space is getting
low).
4. I encourage you to distribute AMORT, but only in an archived
package including AMORT.EXE, AMORT.DOC, and README.NOW. If you
distribute AMORT on diskette, you may not charge more than the
reasonable cost of duplication and distribution. I think that
$7.00 is a reasonable maximum charge.
5. The actual license terms are at the end of this document,
and at the end of the HELP screens within AMORT. Please read the
license before using the program.
6. Your use of AMORT signifies your acceptance of these terms.
INSTALLING AMORT
AMORT will (should?) work on any 100% IBM PC compatible computer
with at least 128k of RAM, running MS or PC DOS version 2 or
later. To achieve its blazing speed, AMORT uses direct calls to
the video memory in your computer, and thus only "truly
compatible" computers will work. If your machine will run the
IBM PC version of Lotus 1-2-3, it should run AMORT with no
trouble. AMORT will take advantage of a color display if one is
present, but will also work on a monochrome system.
Some color monitors may show annoying "snow" on the screen as
AMORT displays its data. If this is the case, run the program
with the command line switch "S" (see details on the switches
below).
To run AMORT, put the program (AMORT.EXE) in either your current
drive/directory, or in your current directory path, and type
AMORT <return>.
CUSTOMIZING AMORT WITH COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
AMORT recognizes several command line switches (commands entered
after typing "AMORT" at the DOS prompt, but before pressing the
return key). These switches allow you to add emphasized printing
to amortization schedules, adjust AMORT's page length to
compensate for the 60 line pages printed by laser printers, and
adjust the video output to prevent "snow" that occurs with some
color monitors. Another switch allows you to change AMORT's
method of rounding its calculated values.
The command line switches are entered as single letters, either
upper or lower case, following the program name. Any combination
of switches can be used (but, of course, only one printer switch
may be used at a time); multiple switches must be separated by a
space.
For example, "AMORT L S" is a valid entry, but "AMORT LS" will
not work (actually, AMORT will see the L, but ignore the S).
AMORT recognizes these parameters:
C -- enable enhanced printing for C. Itoh printers;
E -- enable enhanced printing for Epson MX and FX printers;
L -- enable enhanced printing and adjust page length for HP
LaserJet printers (this switch also works with the HP
DeskJet);
N -- adjust page length for HP LaserJets and DeskJets, but
don't mess with print format;
S -- compensate for color monitor that generate a "snowy"
display if you run AMORT without this command; and
R -- force AMORT to round internal calculations to the
nearest penny. There's more about this feature later
in the document.
The "enhanced" printing we're talking about here isn't anything
fancy; it's just the judicious use of bold-face print to
highlight data and give a bit of zip to the schedules.
The L and N switches adjust for the fact that the HP laser
printers automatically provide a 1/2 inch (3 line) top and bottom
margin. If neither of these switches is specified when using
such a printer, pages may not end the way they should, especially
if you're using header and footer lines (which are described
below).
If no command switches are used, AMORT will print schedules on a
66 line page without any enhanced printing, without compensating
for snowy monitors, and using the default rounding system.
CREATING CUSTOM SCHEDULES WITH HEADERS AND FOOTERS
By popular demand, AMORT can be customized to print your firm
name, etc., at the top of each printout page, and a disclaimer
(or whatever) at the bottom of the last page of each schedule.
AMORT looks in both the current drive/directory and on your
current path for a text file called AMORT.TXT. If this file
exists, the first two lines will be used by AMORT for the report
header and footer. If AMORT can't find the file, it won't print
any headers or footers.
AMORT can look for the header file in the same places as DOS can
find AMORT, so there are a lot of possible ways to install the
program. I think the simplest way is to install both AMORT.EXE
and AMORT.TXT in a directory that's on your default path. I have
them in my \DOS directory; since I always have a path to that
directory, I can run AMORT from wherever I might be on the disk.
If the header or footer lines are longer than 80 characters, only
the first 80 will be used; if they are shorter than that, they
will be centered when printed, so don't worry about padding the
lines with spaces. If AMORT.TXT has only one line, that line
will be printed as a header and there won't be any footers. If
there are more than two lines in the file, only the first two
will be used. An easy way to create AMORT.TXT is to go to the
directory where you want to store the file and issue the
following commands at the DOS prompt:
copy con AMORT.TXT <return>
(type the header line of up to 80 characters and press return)
(type the footer line of up to 80 characters and press return)
(press the control and Z keys simultaneously, or press F6)
(press return)
For example:
copy con AMORT.TXT
Wonderful Software by John Ackermann
If it doesn't work, don't blame me.
^Z
HOW TO ENTER DATA
All function selections in AMORT are based on prompts which
appear at the bottom of the screen. Only the letters specified
(in either upper or lower case) will be accepted; anything else
is ignored. Most menus offer you the option of exiting the
current function by pressing "Q".
The first menu you'll see when you start AMORT gives you these
choices:
(A)mortization -- perform a standard constant payment/declining
principal amortization;
(P)rincipal -- perform a constant principal/declining payment
amortization (with each payment being a fixed principal amount
plus interest);
(H)elp -- display built-in help (a condensed version of this
document); and
(Q)uit to DOS.
After you've selected an amortization type, enter the loan data.
You may move through the fields to change data as often as you
like; the cursor movement keys are outlined below. When you are
finished entering or changing data, press the ESC key. If the
data chosen will not amortize (for example, if the monthly
payment is less than the monthly interest), you will be prompted
to try again.
AMORT can solve for any one loan variable (beginning balance,
interest rate, loan term, number of payments per year, or
periodic payment amount). To have AMORT calculate a missing
variable, simply leave that field blank when entering the other
loan data.
These keys control the movement of the cursor in the data entry
screen:
Tab/Rtrn/DnArr/PgDn -- Go to the next field
Shft-Tab/UpArr/PgUp -- Go to the previous field
Home/End -- Go to first/last field
Left/Right Arrow -- Move one space in a field
Ctrl-Left/Right Arr -- Move to beginning/end of field
Delete -- Delete char and close space
Backspace -- Delete char and move cursor left
Insert -- Space under cursor and push right
Data is entered in overtype mode; to insert data, use the Insert
key to "make a hole" in existing text.
In numeric fields, only the characters 0 through 9, "+", "-", and
"." are accepted. Any other characters will be ignored.
Trailing zeroes (for example, pennies where an even dollar amount
is being entered) need not be included. The interest rate should
be entered in per cent, e.g., "12" and not ".12" for a 12 per
cent rate.
Dates should be entered in the format MM/DD/YYYY, although if you
vary from this format by entering "6" instead of "06", or using a
"." or "-" as a separator, AMORT will do its best to figure out
what you want as long as the date is entered in the right order
(month,day,year). More information on date entry is provided
below.
AMORT'S LIMITS
Loan length and size:
AMORT has no fixed limits for loan length or size. We've
successfully tested it with a full amortization of a $99,000,000
loan with monthly payments for 99 years at 12 per cent interest.
Interest rates:
Interest rates from 0 to 299 percent are allowed, but negative
values are not permitted. AMORT can solve for unknown rates of
over 100 percent. If AMORT calculates an unknown interest rate,
it will be accurate to .001 percent.
Payments per year:
To keep things realistic, we've had to put a few restraints on
the number of payments per year that can be specified. If you're
supplying the payments-per-year, the highest valid number is 365;
AMORT would have trouble dealing with more than one payment per
day!
If the number of payments per year is the unknown for which
you're solving, there are two constraints. First, the maximum
for which AMORT can solve is 99 payments per year. Second, you
can only solve for payments-per-year if the other values you have
provided will actually amortize with a whole (integer) number of
yearly payments. AMORT can't handle 11.213 payments per year!
Periodic payment amount:
AMORT can solve for the periodic payment amount, and in fact
that's usually the value that people want to have calculated.
You can supply that value, though. If you do, AMORT will
calculate the other missing value (if any) and then ask if you
want the payment amount you've specified recalculated for a
"perfect" amortization (one with an ending balance near $0.00).
This allows you to adjust the payment amount to match the amount
necessary to have a zero balance after the last payment.
DEALING WITH DATES
Version 4.0 of AMORT uses actual loan and payment dates, rather
than payment numbers (as in earlier versions of the program).
You will be prompted to enter the starting date of the loan (the
date when interest begins to run), the first payment date, and
the balloon date.
Please note that these dates DO NOT determine the loan length
(the amortization period). That is done by specifying (or
allowing AMORT to calculate) the loan term in years and months.
The balloon date is simply the date of the last payment you want
printed. That payment may be the last one to zero out the loan,
but it can also be an earlier payment, in which case AMORT will
display the final balloon amount to pay off the loan.
Dates should be entered in the format MM/DD/YYYY. The slash,
period, and dash characters are acceptable separators. If you
enter only the last two digits of the year, AMORT will assume you
mean the twentieth century and will add a "19". I strongly
recommend, though, that you get in the habit of using all four
digits -- the twenty-first century is a lot closer than we'd like
to admit!
If any or all of the date fields are left blank, AMORT will do
its best to fill them in for you:
1. If the starting date (the date interest starts to run) is
left blank, AMORT will supply today's date from your computer's
clock/calendar.
2. If the first payment date is blank, it will be one full
period (e.g., one month if monthly payments have been selected)
after the starting date.
3. If the balloon date (the date of the last payment, whether
the full loan term or not) is blank, it will be set to the last
payment date for a full-term amortization.
If you're doing a full-term analysis, you don't have to fill in
the balloon date, and if you don't care about the dates, just
leave them blank and AMORT will set up a schedule which assumes
the loan begins on the date gotten from your computer's
clock/calendar.
To make AMORT work accurately with a wide variety of loans, I've
had to establish presumptions about certain types of schedules.
As a result, loans with certain numbers of payments per year get
special treatment.
If 12 or 24 payments per year are specified, AMORT will keep the
loan payments falling on the same day(s) of the month throughout
the term of the loan. If a payment falls on an invalid date like
February 31, the date will be adjusted to reflect a valid one.
AMORT treats each month as having 30 days (a 360 day year).
If 26 or 52 payments per year are chosen, AMORT will treat the
loan as a true weekly or biweekly one. This means payments will
fall every 14 or 7 days, without regard to crossing over months
or years. Some years may end up with 27 or 53 payments because of
this. Additionally, AMORT will attempt to make the balloon date
match the loan length by adding additional payments to compensate
for leap years and other vagaries of our calendar. This means
that in a long loan, the number of payments will be greater than,
for example, simply multiplying 30 years times 52 payments per
year. This treatment also means that the balloon payment date
may not be what you might expect, because the loan term (10
years, for example) may not be precisely divisible by the number
of days between payments.
MATH CONVENTIONS -- TO ROUND, OR NOT TO ROUND
Dollar figures are rounded to the nearest penny when they are
displayed, but AMORT's internal calculations use the full
precision of the unrounded values. Although this maximizes the
accuracy of every value displayed by the program, it may cause an
apparent discrepancy of a few cents, for example, between the
calculated yearly interest paid and the sum of the displayed
interest payments for that year. The calculated total will be
more accurate, because it's based on the sum of the actual,
rather than displayed, values.
Some users have been concerned because this rounding makes the
printed schedules look erroneous. I believe in giving people a
choice, so using the "R" switch when AMORT is run (with the
command "AMORT R") will force the values used for internal
calculations to be rounded to the nearest penny. This should
prevent any problems with the schedules being internally
inconsistent.
This rounding does, however, exact a price. The calculations of
cumulative interest and remaining balance may be off by a small
amount that increases with the length of the amortization. These
cumulative errors will ultimately reveal themselves at the end of
the amortization, when the final payment necessary to retire the
loan will be different than the normal periodic payment amount.
Using the rounding switch also reduces the range of loans that
AMORT can handle, because it's possible in a long loan at high
interest to have initial principal reductions of less than 1/2
cent per payment. If those reductions are rounded down to zero,
the loan balance will never decrease and the amortization won't
work. A loan like this will amortized properly when rounding is
turned off, because the loan balance will be reduced by
fractional pennies even if the schedule displays the principal
reduction as $0.00.
In short, I recommend that you NOT use the R switch to force
internal rounding. I think it's better to put up with the
apparent inconsistencies caused by rounding than to sacrifice
accuracy.
OUTPUT
When AMORT is ready to prepare the summary and/or amortization
schedule, you will be shown a menu line with these choices:
(S)ummary -- display or print the yearly summary only. The
summary contains the principal reduction, interest paid,
cumulative interest paid, and balance remaining at the end of
each calendar year of the loan;
(F)ull -- display or print the full amortization schedule, with
one line for each payment. This schedule also shows year-end
totals;
(B)oth -- display or print both schedules;
(E)dit again -- edit this data to change values, or start a new
amortization; and
(Q)uit to DOS.
If you choose to edit again, you will be given the choice of
editing (O)ld values (the current data) or (N)ew ones. If you
choose to edit new values, you will be returned to the original
menu you saw when you started AMORT.
If you choose to view the schedules, you will be prompted to
select output to either the (S)creen or the (P)rinter. If you
select output to the printer, AMORT will prompt you to press P
again when the printer is ready. If there is a printer problem,
AMORT will let you know and give you an opportunity to put things
right. Output to the screen or printer can be cancelled at any
time by pressing Q.
When you are finished viewing the amortization, you will have the
choice of (E)diting again or (Q)uitting to DOS. As before, if
you choose to edit again you will have the option of working with
your current data, or starting from scratch.
LEGALITIES
Remember, AMORT is NOT in the public domain. You are licensed to
use this program for your own use, and at your own risk.
REGISTRATION:
You may make private use of this program without registering, but
if you use it for commercial purposes (i.e., as part of or in
furtherance of your business) you MUST register with me and pay a
fee of $25.00 for each copy of the program so used.
DISTRIBUTION:
You are free to, and in fact are encouraged to, distribute AMORT
either on disk or electronically, as long as AMORT.EXE,
AMORT.DOC, and README.NOW are included together and no more than
the reasonable cost of duplication and distribution is charged.
$7.00 is considered to be a reasonable charge.
Additionally, if you describe or promote AMORT in any publication
or advertisement for software distribution, the copy must clearly
indicate that AMORT is not in the public domain, and that a fee
is charged for certain types of use.
DISCLAIMERS:
AMORT is distributed on an AS-IS basis, and UNDER NO
CIRCUMSTANCES WILL John R. Ackermann, Jr. BE LIABLE FOR ANY
DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, WHETHER DIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL,
ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THIS PROGRAM. ALL WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR
INTENDED USE, ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED.
Please direct registrations, comments and suggestions to:
John R. Ackermann, Jr.
2790 Swigert Road
Dayton, OH 45440
CompuServe 72300,1160
Thanks for your support!