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AMORTIZEIT! (tm)
USER GUIDE
VERSION 2.1
Pine Grove Software
23 Flower Hill Drive, Suite 1600
Trenton, NJ 08638-1203
(609) 730-1430
(800) 242-9192
Fax: (609) 730-1530
Copyright, 1995 Pine Grove Software, All Rights Reserved.
AmortizeIT! is copyrighted software and as such is protected by
the laws of the United States. You may distribute a shareware
version of this software to others but you may not sell it. If
you are a distributor of shareware software, you may charge up to
$5 for your disk duplication services. This product may NOT be
distributed along with any other product that is being sold for
profit without the expressed, prior written permission of Pine
Grove Software.
There are other terms that you must meet in order to distribute
this program. Please see the README.com, VENDINFO.diz and
VENDOR.doc files for additional details.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 1
SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
The registered user of AmortizeIT! is entitled to make backup
copies of the software for the sole purpose of protecting his
investment. This license allows you to use one copy of
AmortizeIT! on one computer at a time. You may use your copy of
AmortizeIT! on different computers provided there is NO
POSSIBILITY of it being used on two computers at the same time.
Do not confuse this copyright notice with the user-supported
method of distribution. If you use this program, you are honor
bound to pay the licensing fee. The method we choose to use to
distribute version 2.1 of this software is simply on a
"try-before-you-buy" basis. AmortizeIT! is NOT FREE SOFTWARE. And
if you paid a fee to anyone other than Pine Grove Software (or an
authorized retail distributor), you did not pay for a license.
If you have any questions concerning this license agreement,
please call us at (800) 242-9192 or (609) 730-1430.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 2
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is the second major release of AmortizeIT!. Version 2.1 has
incorporated many of the changes that have been requested by our
users. We hope you find it useful as well as a pleasure to use.
AmortizeIT! 2.1 has been two and a half years in the making.
During this time, we've had many people look at the program to
get input from actual users. This in and of itself has been a
valuable experience for us. It has also been trying at times.
(Because a user made an excellent case for a change, we threw out
about 3 months worth of programming effort.) But we think that
we...and you...have a better program because of it.
While many people have contributed to this program, we would like
to thank the efforts of two individuals, Morris A. Nunes of
Falls Church, Virginia, and Bruce Genereux of Palm City, Florida.
Both made a number of very useful suggestions. Mr. Nunes also
kindly contributed an explanation of the Rule of 78's that is
used in an appendix of this manual.
A special note of thanks also goes out to Keith Aleshire of
Computer Consumer Services, Inc. Keith wrote a large part of this
manual. He is to be commended for his patience and for his
fortitude in putting up with this project over the better part of
the year that he worked on it. I know that you will find his work
to be excellent. And rest assured, any shortcomings in the manual
lay on my shoulders and not his.
Finally, AmortizeIT! v2.1 was written using Borland's Pascal
version 7.0. We having been using versions of Borland's Pascal
ever since we released our first software package for the IBM PC
in 1985. However, as fine of a tool as this is, we simply would
not have been able to have a program that is of a high a quality
as we hope we have without the tools from Turbo Power Software.
Turbo Power publishes Object Professional which is used
extensively throughout AmortizeIT!.
To these individuals and companies, our heartfelt thanks.
Karl Thompson
President
Pine Grove Software
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT .....................2
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................3
INTRODUCTION ......................................7
DISCLAIMER ........................................8
ABOUT THIS MANUAL .................................9
KEYSTROKES .....................................9
PROCEDURES .....................................9
* To understand a procedure .................9
MENU NAMES .....................................9
PREPARING TO USE AmortizeIT! .....................10
FIRST THINGS FIRST ............................10
What You Need .................................10
Microsoft Windows Users .......................10
Upgrading From Earlier Versions ...............10
INSTALLING AmortizeIT! ........................12
* To install AmortizeIT! automatically .....12
* To install AmortizeIT! manually ..........13
STARTING AmortizeIT! ..........................15
* To start AmortizeIT! .....................15
Mouse Support .................................15
GLOBAL OPTIONS ................................16
* To set AmortizeIT! global options ........16
Registered User Options .......................17
THE AmortizeIT! FILES .........................17
OVERVIEW .........................................19
WHAT'S A ROUTINE? .............................19
LOAN CALCULATOR ...............................20
AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE .........................21
Local Menu ....................................21
INTEREST DUE/CALENDAR MATH ....................22
REMAINING BALANCE .............................23
ACCELERATED PAYMENT ...........................24
BALLOON PAYMENT ...............................25
REFINANCE LOAN ................................26
A GUIDED TOUR ....................................28
IMPORTANT KEYS ................................28
ENTERING INFORMATION ..........................29
GETTING HELP ..................................30
EXPLORING THE LOAN CALCULATOR .................31
* To use the Loan Calculator routine .......31
EXPLORING THE AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE ...........33
The "Correct" Payment .........................33
* To use the Amortization Schedule routine ..33
There's More to Learn .........................43
AmortizeIT! REFERENCE ............................44
ACCELERATED BIWEEKLY ..........................46
ACCRUED RATES .................................46
APR DETAIL SCREEN .............................47
BALLOON SCHEDULES .............................47
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 4
CALENDAR YEAR TOTALS ..........................47
CANADIAN MORTGAGES ............................48
COMPOUNDING PERIODS ...........................48
CONSTRUCTION LOANS ............................48
CUSTOM PAYMENT OPTION .........................48
Method One ....................................48
Method Two ....................................49
CUSTOM REPORTS ................................49
CUSTOM SETUP ..................................49
DATE X DAYS FROM DATE .........................49
DAYS BETWEEN DATES ............................50
DBASE FILE FORMAT .............................50
DISCOUNTED MORTGAGE ...........................50
DUE DATE OR PAYMENT DATE SCHEDULES ............50
EXACT DAY INTEREST ............................50
EXTRA PAYMENTS ................................51
FILE MAINTENANCE ..............................51
FISCAL YEAR TOTALS ............................51
FIXED PRINCIPAL PAYMENT LOANS .................51
INITIAL INTEREST ONLY PAYMENTS ................52
INTEREST BETWEEN DATES ........................52
INTEREST ONLY LOANS ...........................52
INTEREST PAID .................................52
INTEREST SAVED ................................52
INTEREST FOR NUMBER OF DAYS ...................53
INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY SUPPORT ................53
INTERNATIONAL DATE FORMATS ....................53
LEASE .........................................53
LOAN ADVANCES .................................53
LOAN TOTALS (RUNNING TTLS) ....................54
LOAN YEAR TOTALS (YTD TOTALS) .................54
MISCELLANEOUS FEES ............................54
MORTGAGE ANALYSIS .............................54
NEGATIVE AMORTIZING LOANS .....................54
ONE TIME FEES .................................55
ORDINARY INTEREST .............................55
PAYMENT PERIODS ...............................55
PENALTIES .....................................55
PERIODIC ADJUST VS. ANNUAL ADJUST .............55
POINTS ........................................56
PREPAID PRINCIPAL ACCELERATION ................56
PRINCIPAL PAYMENTS ............................56
PRINT SKIPPED PERIODS & PROOF PAYMENT FEATURE ..56
PRINTING PROBLEMS .............................57
QUICK PRINT SCHEDULE ..........................57
RANDOM PAYMENTS ...............................57
REGULATION "Z" APR DISCLOSURE .................57
RULES OF 78'S .................................58
RUNNING TOTALS (RUNNING TTLS) ...............58
SHORT/LONG FIRST PERIODS .....................58
SKIPPED PAYMENTS ..............................58
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 5
SOLVE FOR UNKNOWN .............................59
SPEED ENTRY ...................................59
TAX CONSEQUENCES ..............................59
TAXES .........................................60
U.S. RULE LOANS ...............................60
YEAR-END TOTALS (YTD TOTALS) ..................60
APPENDIX A: COMMAND LINE OPTIONS .................61
Printing Problems .............................61
APPENDIX B: REALLY CUSTOMIZING AmortizeIT! .......62
* To customize AmortizeIT! .................62
APPENDIX C: FREE MEMORY AND AMORTIZING PERIODS ...63
APPENDIX D: AmortizeIT! UNDER WINDOWS ............64
* To use AmortizeIT! under Microsoft
Windows 3.1 ..............................64
AmortizeIT! for Windows? ......................65
APPENDIX E: NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 2.1 ...........66
APPENDIX F: TECHNICAL SUPPORT ....................67
APPENDIX G: DATA FILE SPECIFICATION ..............68
dBASE Data File ...............................69
Notes .........................................69
APPENDIX H: EXPLANATION OF THE RULE OF 78'S .......71
The printed manual provided with the registered version
of the program has a very detailed index.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 6
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for selecting AmortizeIT!. We believe you have chosen a
program second to none for loan calculations. AmortizeIT!
performs more calculations faster and with less effort than any
other program we have seen. There is never any programming needed
to solve a problem. You simply fill in the blanks and press <F9>
to calculate for any unknown variables.
While AmortizeIT! is widely used by professionals who work in
many industries, we also hope this version is useful for the
non-professional. We have made every effort possible to make
AmortizeIT! an educational program. If you are not familiar with
different ways to amortize a loan or with the concept of present
value, play with this program and read the help screens. You will
be better informed because of it.
Much of what is found in this manual is also available through
the program's help function. If you need assistance, press the
<F1> key and a detailed help window will appear. If you are at
the main menu and need information about one of the routines,
simply highlight its name and press <F1>. A description will be
displayed.
Since the help text is so extensive, most of this manual
discusses how these routines can be used. After we review several
of the basics of this program in the overview section of this
manual, we discuss features that may not be so obvious. These
examples are not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, they illustrate
several ideas and are meant to get you thinking about the power
of the program you are about to use. We hope you take the time to
at least browse through the manual. No matter how easy a program
is to use, you will undoubtedly learn something by reading it. We
want you to get the most from our software as you possibly can.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 7
DISCLAIMER
While these routines are easy to use, financial planning requires
careful study.
Therefore, Pine Grove Software specifically disclaims all
warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to,
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a
particular purpose or use. In no event shall Pine Grove Software
be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage,
including but not limited to, special, incidental, consequential,
or other damages. We suggest that you obtain professional
guidance when making any major financial decisions. We are NOT
responsible for your interpretations of the results obtained with
these routines, even if it is shown there is an error in the
programming of a routine.
While great care has been taken with regards to the accuracy of
these routines And the results that these routines produce have
been checked against a number of sources, it is still possible
that you may get different results than what you had expected.
Some of these differences are caused by internal rounding of the
calculations (usually off by no more than 1/10 of 1% over say 20
years), by the way interest and periods are calculated, by an
error in using the program, or by possibly, in an extreme case,
by an error in programming. When using this program, please use
common sense. If you are about to make what could be an important
financial decision, triple-check the results obtained with this
or any calculator.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 8
ABOUT THIS MANUAL
This manual uses a few simple conventions of which you should be
aware.
KEYSTROKES
Throughout this manual, we mention keys or key combinations such
as <Y> or <Ctrl-R>. When two keys are listed, you must HOLD DOWN
the first key (such as Ctrl) and PRESS the second key (such as
R).
We may also require you to press the function keys, such as <F1>
or <F3>. F1 through F12 are the special function keys found on
the top or left side of your keyboard.
See "Important Keys" later in this user guide for details on what
each key does.
PROCEDURES
Step-by-step procedures are marked by a heading preceded by a
square box and usually the word "To," such as:
* To understand a procedure
DOS COMMANDS: Commands you give your computer are followed by the
word
"<Enter>", which means to press the <Enter> key, such as:
DIR <Enter>
MENU NAMES
We indicate a menu choice by placing it within curly brackets
({}). For example, {Loan Calculator} is the first menu choice
from the main menu.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 9
PREPARING TO USE AmortizeIT!
FIRST THINGS FIRST
If your AmortizeIT! disk contains a README.COM file, the
information contained in it may supersede the directions found in
this manual. To check the README.COM file, put the original disk
in drive A or B.
Next, change to that drive by typing:
A: <Enter>
where A: is the letter of your disk drive. Next, type:
README <Enter>
You will see any last-minute instructions for using AmortizeIT!
program. You can print the instructions by pressing <Alt-P>.
What You Need
AmortizeIT! requires the following:
* An IBM or IBM-compatible computer using MS-DOS or PC-DOS
version 2.1 or greater.
* A hard drive with at least one megabyte (1024K) of free disk
space.
NOTE: You may run AmortizeIT! on a 720K floppy, but you have to
have a hard drive to install it first.
* 512K of free random access memory (RAM).
NOTE: The more free memory, the more amortizing periods
AmortizeIT! can calculate. See "Appendix C: Free Memory and
Amortizing Periods" for more information.
Microsoft Windows Users
You should exit Windows and install AmortizeIT! from the DOS
prompt. After AmortizeIT! is installed onto your hard disk, see
the instructions in the Appendix D for instructions on running
AmortizeIT! under Windows.
Upgrading From Earlier Versions
If you are upgrading to this version of AmortizeIT!, make sure
that you install to a new directory on your hard drive. The data
files created by this version of AmortizeIT! ARE NOT compatible
with earlier version of the program. Therefore, you may want to
keep an earlier version of your program on your hard drive until
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 10
you re-enter any loans that you may be tracking.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 11
*SUPERSEDED BY README FILE* INSTALLING AmortizeIT!
NOTE: Before you install AmortizeIT!, exit all programs, such as
Microsoft Windows or DOS shells. Go to the drive that you wish
to install to, such as C:\. (You can run AmortizeIT! under
Windows but you should install it when Windows is not running.
You can install AmortizeIT! either automatically using its
built-in installation program or manually. The procedures for
both methods are provided below:
NOTE: We strongly recommend that you use the automatic
installation program.
* To install AmortizeIT! automatically
If you received AmortizeIT! on a disk, use this procedure.
1. Place the AmortizeIT! disk into drive A: or drive B:.
2. Type:
A:INSTALL <Enter>
where A: is the letter of the drive in which you installed
the disk.
3. Press any key to bypass the welcome screen and continue
installation.
NOTE: If you want to cancel installation, press the Escape (Esc)
key at any time.
4. Enter the drives to install to and from.
You must tell AmortizeIT! from which drive you are installing
the program. You also must tell it to which drive you are
installing the program.
5. Enter the name of the directory to which you are installing
AmortizeIT!.
The default directory name for AmortizeIT! is \AMORT20.
6. Press the <Enter> key to accept your choices and continue the
process.
NOTE: If you are installing from 5 1/4" double-density disks, you
may be asked to insert a second disk.
7. Verify your drive and directory choices by pressing <Y>
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 12
(Yes).
AmortizeIT! will install its files onto your PC's hard disk.
NOTE: AmortizeIT! does not modify any of your PC's start-up
files, such as AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS.
8. Press the <Spacebar> to finish the installation process.
9. Type:
AMORTIZE <Enter>
You then need to customize AmortizeIT! for your computer.
10. Enter your name and answer yes or no if you see different
colors.
11. Press the function key F9 when finished and confirm your
choices with <Y> (Yes) or <N> (No).
When finished the AmortizeIT! main menu appears.
12. Press <Q> to Quit.
* To install AmortizeIT! manually
1. Place the original AmortizeIT! disk into your floppy disk
drive.
2. Switch to the hard disk onto which you want to install
AmortizeIT!.
For example, you may type:
C: <Enter>
to place AmortizeIT! onto drive C:.
3. Create a directory for AmortizeIT!.
You may create a directory by typing, for example:
MD \AMORT20 <Enter>
4. Switch to your new AmortizeIT! directory.
If the directory you may is \AMORT20, you would type:
CD \AMORT20 <Enter>
5. Copy the AmortizeIT! files from the disk to your directory.
From the DOS prompt, type:
COPY A:*.* <Enter>
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 13
where A: is the letter of the floppy disk drive containing
the AmortizeIT! disk.
NOTE: If you are installing from 5 1/4" double-density disks,
repeat this step for the second disk.
6. Decompress the AmortizeIT! files.
The AmortizeIT! files copied to your AmortizeIT! directory
are compressed into the single file AMORT20.EXE. To
decompress these files, type:
AMORT20 <Enter>
7. Delete the AMORT20.EXE file.
Once the AmortizeIT! files are decompressed, you can delete
the compressed file AMORT20.EXE. Type:
DEL AMORT20.EXE <Enter>
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 14
STARTING AmortizeIT!
Once AmortizeIT! is installed, you can start it using these
steps.
* To start AmortizeIT!
1. Change to the drive onto which you loaded AmortizeIT!.
For example, you may type:
C: <Enter>
if AmortizeIT! was installed on drive C:.
2. Change to your AmortizeIT! directory.
For example, you may type:
CD \AMORT20 <Enter>
3. Start AmortizeIT!.
To start AmortizeIT!, type:
AMORTIZE <Enter>
When AmortizeIT! starts, you will see its logo. You may
quickly proceed to the main menu by pressing the <Spacebar>.
NOTE: For information on some command-line switches you can use
when starting AmortizeIT!, see "Appendix A: Command Line
Options." One of these switches, for example, bypasses the
graphical start-up screen.
NOTE: For information on using AmortizeIT! from within Windows,
see "Appendix D: AmortizeIT! Under Windows."
You may pick a menu choice in either of two ways. You may use
your cursor keys to highlight a choice and press the <Enter>
key. Otherwise, you can type the highlighted or uppercase
letter of the choice you want.
Mouse Support
Version 2.1 of AmortizeIT! supports a mouse. For example, you may
do the following:
* Menus. Double-click on any menu item to select it.
* Routines. Click on any field prompt (the question text) or
field (the input areas) to move to a particular field. If the
field is one that you can change it's value by pressing the
spacebar, then you can also change it's value by clicking on
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 15
the question text with the mouse. If the routine needs to be
calculated (the "Calc" message is displayed in the upper
right-hand corner of the screen), then you can calculate the
result by clicking on the "Calc" indicator.
* Amortization Schedule Routine. When a schedule is displayed,
you can click on an item on the bottom help line to access
certain functions. For example, if you wish to display the
next year of an amortization schedule, you can click on the
<PgDn> text on the help line rather than pressing the PgDn
key on your keyboard.
* Help Window. If there is more help text for a subject than
what fits in the window, you can click on the up or down
arrows on the right side of the help window to view this
text. If there is a cross reference help topic, you can
select that topic by clicking on it. If the help index is
displayed, you can select a topic by double-clicking on it.
The help window will also have a diamond shape in the upper
left corner. When the help index is displayed, clicking on
the diamond will close the help window, otherwise clicking on
it will display the previously selected help topic.
GLOBAL OPTIONS
You set AmortizeIT!'s global options such as currency type and
date formats from the program's "Global Options" menu.
* To set AmortizeIT! global options
1. Go to the main menu of AmortizeIT!.
2. Press <F10> to open the options menu.
3. Make your selections.
You can make several choices from the options menu, such as:
* Currency. Select German Deutschemarks, Japanese Yen or any
other of 18 currencies.
* Date. Select one of five date formats, including YY-MM-DD.
* Rounding. Select your rounding method for payment. For
example, selecting Payment will round payments up from
1.012 to 1.02. Otherwise, normal rounding is used. The last
three choices allow you to round by adjusting the last
payment, the last interest amount, or do no adjusting and
show the error amount.
NOTE: Since rounding usually affects only pennies, AmortizeIT!'s
defaults will probably work just fine for most situations.
* Port. Select to which printer port you want to print. The
default is printer port one (LPT1).
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 16
When you finish with an option choice, you are immediately
returned to the main menu.
Registered User Options
Registered users of AmortizeIT! receive the separate utility
SLVSETUP.EXE for further customizing the program. With
SLVSETUP.EXE, you can:
* Change the number of lines per page.
* Change the printer port.
* Change the calculation options, including default interest
rates and points.
* Tell AmortizeIT! whether your monitor is color or monochrome.
* Customize the AmortizeIT! menu colors.
* Change the way menus appear and are chosen.
* Set a default data path for storing amortization tables.
THE AmortizeIT! FILES
After installing AmortizeIT!, you should have the following files
in your directory:
File Name Purpose Required
AMORTIZE.EXE AmortizeIT! main program file. Yes
AMORTIZE.HLP AmortizeIT! built-in help text. Yes
AMORTIZE.OVR AmortizeIT! companion file used to Yes
reduce memory needed by AmortizeIT!.
AMORTIZE.PIF Windows PIF file to run AmortizeIT! No
best under Microsoft Windows
(386 Enhanced or Standard mode)
AMORT-1.ICO AmortizeIT! Windows icons No
AMORT-2.ICO
ERROR.COM List of known errors or bugs. No
ERRORS.DAT Installation errors, if any. No
README.COM Utility to view or print any No
last-minute information about
AmortizeIT!
SLVIT4.COM SolveIt! 4.3 feature list No
SLVSETUP.EXE Setup utility for AmortizeIT! to No
customize colors, printer and more
(registered users only)
WHERE.COM Utility to view or print information No
about getting technical support from
Pine Grove Software
WINDOWS.COM Utility to view or print information No
about using AmortizeIT! with
Microsoft Windows
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 17
NOTE: To save disk space, you may delete all files except those
marked as required.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 18
OVERVIEW
AmortizeIT! is an umbrella under which several loan calculators
reside. The program is tailored to the analytical needs of
financial professional yet is simple enough for use by consumers.
WHAT'S A ROUTINE?
Throughout this manual, we refer to "routines." A routine simply
is a calculation or series of calculations that are represented
by a choice from the opening menu. Presently, AmortizeIT! has 7
routines. They are:
* Loan Calculator
* Amortization Schedule
* Interest Due
* Remaining Balance
* Accelerated Payments
* Balloon Payment
* Refinance Loan
Most routines are designed for a single purpose. However, some
routines contain multiple functions. For example, the
Amortization Schedule routine contains a Calc APR (annual
percentage rate) function. Below, we provide a quick overview of
each routine.
NOTE: If you are interested in what new features are supported in
AmortizeIT! 2.1, see "Appendix E: New Features in Version
2.1."
NOTE: The Amortization Routine is designed for detailed analysis
of a loan. All of the other routines are designed to do
very fast "what-if" analyses.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 19
LOAN CALCULATOR
The Loan Calculator helps you analyze a loan.
NOTE: For a detailed analysis of a specific loan, use the
Amortization Schedule. The Loan Calculator is for what-if
analyses only.
There are four basic variables for any loan:
* Amount of loan
* Interest rate
* Length, or term, of the loan
* Regular payment amount.
With Loan Calculator, you provide the values for any three of the
variables, and AmortizeIT! will solve for the others. The Loan
Calculator also lets you fine-tune your analysis. For example,
the payment method may be either payment in advanced or payment
in arrears. Also, you can change the compounding period (such as
quarterly vs. monthly) or amortizing method.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 20
AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE
The Loan Calculator helps you evaluate many loan scenarios very
quickly. The Amortization Schedule is the most powerful routine
in AmortizeIT!. It is meant to display a classic loan
amortization schedule with little effort. On the other hand, it
allows you much flexibility and power.
You enter a loan amount plus origination date, points paid, first
payment date, amortizing method and more. You then can:
* Display a loan schedule.
* Print the loan schedule.
* Save the loan to a unique file for future analysis.
When a schedule is displayed, you can press the letter <A> to
jump to any year of the amortization. Meanwhile, AmortizeIT!
displays the yearly and running interest and principal totals.
There is a fundamental difference between the Amortization
Schedule routine and the other routines in AmortizeIT!. The
Amortization Schedule provides detailed analysis of a loan, such
as:
* Interest saved as the result of random extra payment.
* Taxes saved as the result of mortgage interest.
* Remaining balance on an exact date.
* Interest paid in a tax year.
All other routines, such as the Loan Calculator, are more
theoretical in nature. They are designed for, primarily, very
quick "what-if" analyses.
For example, imagine you want to calculate your mortgage payment
if the adjustable rate mortgage goes down 3/8's of a point. For
such a calculation, use the Loan Calculator routine. On the other
hand, if you need to see how much interest you will pay in the
first year of a loan, use the Amortization Schedule routine.
Local Menu
The Amortization Schedule is the only routine in AmortizeIT!
where there is a local menu. Simply press <F10> to access the
menu. Using this menu, you can enter miscellaneous fees in
addition to principal and interest, calculate APR interest rate,
save loan date and more.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 21
INTEREST DUE/CALENDAR MATH
The Interest Due routine calculates the interest due between any
two dates or for any number of days.
For example, you enter the first date (often the day the last
payment was made) and then enter the date the loan is being paid
off or the date funds are being withdrawn. Otherwise, you can
skip to the next field and enter the number of days; the ending
date is automatically calculated for you.
When finished, the interest due for that period is then
calculated. This routine also lists the days of the week the
payments and payoffs are being made. You can also calculate
simple interest by setting the compounding period to "None."
Overall, this routine provides a quick way to audit interest due
or payable for any financial instrument.
NOTE: Since you can key in a date and a number of days, the
Interest Due is very handy for calendar math.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 22
REMAINING BALANCE
The Remaining Balance routine calculates exactly what the
remaining balance is after any particular payment.
With every type of loan (except interest-only loans), the
remaining principal balance decreases with each payment received
unless there is no negative amortization. You enter:
* Loan amount
* Total periods
* Annual interest rate
* Payment number at which you want to know the loan balance
You can also enter the payment period, compounding period,
payment method and amortizing method. Knowing these, AmortizeIT!
then calculates the remaining balance and payment amount.
This routine helps you do a series of "what-ifs" when deciding to
pay off a loan after a certain number of payments. With Remaining
Balance, you can calculate how much the payoff is after so many
payments.
NOTE: Use the summary feature in the Amortization Schedule
Routine to calculate the remaining principal balance for a
specific date.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 23
ACCELERATED PAYMENT
The Accelerated Payment routine quickly allows you to see the
interest saved as the result of extra payments.
If you pay a little extra toward principal on a regular basis,
you can save a substantial amount of interest over the course of
a mortgage. You can even enter when the accelerated payments will
begin, such as the sixth month of a 20-year loan. You simply tell
AmortizeIT!:
* Loan amount
* Total periods
* Annual interest rate
* At what period you want to increase the payment
* The extra amount you wish to pay
You can also enter the payment period, compounding period, and
payment method. Knowing these, AmortizeIT! then calculates the
number of periods to pay off the loan, the total interest paid
the and total interest saved due to the extra payment.
NOTE: This routine will handle REGULAR extra payments, while the
Amortization Schedule will allow you to key in IRREGULAR
extra payments.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 24
BALLOON PAYMENT
The Balloon Payment routine allows you to customize your own
loan. You enter the following:
* Loan amount
* Interest rate
* Balloon payment
* Payment number when the balloon is due
Knowing these, AmortizeIT! then calculates your payment. For
example, imagine you want to loan $125,000 with a balloon of
$75,000 due after 5 years. This routine tells you what the
periodic payment will be to end up with a remaining balance of
$75,000 after 60 monthly payments.
NOTE: You may need to change your expectations of this routine.
In earlier versions of AmortizeIT!, we often had customers
requesting AmortizeIT! to calculate the balloon payment and
not the periodic payment that results in a desired balloon.
AmortizeIT! already does that! If you need to know what the
balloon payment is after say 60 periods, use the Remaining
Balance routine. The balloon payment is simply another name
for the remaining balance!
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 25
REFINANCE LOAN
The Refinance Loan routine lets you analyze if it's economical
for you to refinance your loan.
This routine considers points paid, up-front loan costs, taxes
and projected length of ownership. It reports the dollar cost
difference between the two mortgages in discounted dollars. It
also considers the effect of reinvesting idle dollars and the
effect a lower-interest payment will have on income taxes.
For example, if you have a mortgage at 9.5% and can get a
mortgage with a rate of 7.75%, should you refinance? This routine
considers the refinancing costs, your tax bracket, length of time
you'll own the property and other factors before giving you a
recommendation.
If the two loan amounts are the same, then the Refinance Loan
routine calculates the interest accrued until either both of the
loans are paid off or until the property is sold. The total
interest is discounted to today's dollars (if "0" is not entered
for a discount rate.)
If the payment for the second loan is less than the payment for
the current loan and if the interest is deductible, AmortizeIT!
calculates the amount of additional taxes that would be due
because of the lost deduction.
Next, if the TOTAL of the second loan's payments are less than
the TOTAL of the current loan, then the extra monies are invested
at the assumed discount rate.
NOTE: The discount rate is the rate of return that you can expect
(or that you desire) to earn on your cash investments, such
as a 7-percent municipal bond or a 15-percent aggressive
mutual fund.
The Refinance Loan routine calculates the bottom line by taking
the difference paid in direct loan costs (interest, points,
closing costs, etc.) and subtracting the extra taxes that will
have to be paid if the proposed financing is less costly than the
current financing. It then adds any possible extra investment
income as the result of lower payments and subtracts any lost
investment income if the proposed payments are higher than the
current financing.
NOTE: If the possible financing is for more than the current
financing, the results of the additional borrowed monies
are calculated and added to the results outlined above. If
the possible financing is for less money than the current
financing, then the lost investment opportunity for the
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 26
monies used to pay down the loan are calculated and
subtracted from the results outlined above.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 27
A GUIDED TOUR
In this chapter, you will be led on a tour of two of
AmortizeIT!'s routines: the Loan Calculator and the Amortization
Schedule. This tour will help you better understand the program.
First, though, you should learn the basics of operating
AmortizeIT!.
IMPORTANT KEYS
AmortizeIT! often relies on a handful of function keys for
important parts of the program.
* <F3>. The <F3> function key prints the financial calculations
to the printer. Occasionally, you may have a choice to print the
results to the printer, screen or a disk file.
* <F4>. The <F4> function key sends a line feed to the printer.
Use this key to advance the paper one line at a time to give you
proper spacing between printing each routine.
NOTE: By using <F4> instead of your printer's line feed key, you
can keep AmortizeIT! in synch with the printer, thus
preventing printing from splitting across two pages.
* <F5>. The <F5> function key sends a form feed to the printer,
ejecting the current piece of paper. Use this key to advance the
paper one page at a time. Use this key instead of the form feed
button on your printer.
NOTE: If you are doing "what-ifs" with, say, the Loan Calculator
routine and you want to print the results for two
calculations, press <F4> two or three times after printing
the results from the first calculation but before you print
the results for the second calculation. Print the second
calculation and then press <F5> to eject the page.
* <F9>. The <F9> function key does an action, typically
calculating the results of the routine you are using. Consider
this the "DO IT" key.
* <F10>. The <F10> function key displays the local menu. The
Local Menus provide additional options for the given routine.
From the main menu, for example, you can use the local menu to
change items such as currency type, date format, rounding method
and printer port.
OTHER KEYS: AmortizeIT! uses other keys to do certain functions.
They are:
* <Tab> or <Enter> - Accepts your changes for the current field
and moves you to the next field or menu.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 28
* <Shift-Tab> - Moves you to the previous field.
* <Ctrl-R> - Restores the original values of a field.
* <Ctrl-Y> - Clears the values of a field.
NOTE: If AmortizeIT! keeps beeping at you when you are entering
information, try clearing the field using this key
combination.
* <Ctrl-T> - Deletes the word to the right.
* <Up/Down> - Moves the cursor from one field to the next.
* <Left/Right> - Moves the cursor elsewhere on the current
field.
* <PgUp/PgDn> - Moves you to the top or bottom of the column,
respectively.
NOTE: When an amortization schedule is displayed, <PgUp>/<PgDn>
will change the year displayed.
* <Ctrl-PgUp/Ctrl-PgDn> - Moves you to the first or last field,
respectively.
* <Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right> - Moves the cursor one word at a time
to the left or right, respectively.
* <Ctrl-Home> - Deletes words from the beginning of the
subfield to the cursor. For example, when
entering a date in the MM-DD-YY format, use
<Ctrl-Home> when on the second D to delete just
the day part. (DD is one example of a
subfield.)
* <Ctrl-End> - Deletes words from the cursor to the end of the
subfield.
* <Del> - Deletes the character at the cursor.
* <Bksp> - Moves the cursor backwards, deleting any character
there.
* <Esc> - Exits you from a menu, help topic, or routine. In
essence, pressing the Esc key means "I don't want to
be here," returning you to the previous menu, topic,
or position.
* <Home> - Jumps the cursor to the start of a field.
* <End> - Jumps the cursor to the end of a field.
* <Ins> - Lets you insert characters at the cursor.
ENTERING INFORMATION
When entering information into an AmortizeIT! routine, follow
these guidelines:
* When entering a date in the format MM-DD-YYYY, do not type
the slashes separating each part. AmortizeIT! automatically
provides them. With a date, you can use the <Tab> key to move
to any of the three subfields (month, day or year). For the
year subfield, you can enter the last two numbers of a year
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 29
and AmortizeIT! will complete the rest if the year is in this
century.
NOTE: If you do not enter a valid date, AmortizeIT! will warn you
through a beep when you press the <Enter> key.
* For numeric values such as a dollar amount or number of
payments, simply enter the numbers. To clear a value from the
field, press <Ctrl-Y>. To restore the original values, press
<Ctrl-R>.
* Some AmortizeIT! fields have limited choices, such as
possible payment frequencies (Monthly, Bimonthly, etc.). For
such fields, you either can press the <Spacebar> or the dark
gray <+> or <-> keys found on your keyboard's numeric keypad.
Once your choice is displayed, press the <Enter> or <Tab> key
to accept the value and move on.
GETTING HELP
If you ever need help with any menu choice or item at any time,
simply press the <F1> function key. This key provides pop-up text
that will help you through your mastering of AmortizeIT!. For
example, if you move the highlight bar to one of AmortizeIT!'s
main menu choices and press <F1>, you can see a description of
the features under that menu choice. This help is
context-sensitive; the help text displayed depends on which area
or field you are in. Make sure you are in the field for which you
want help before pressing <F1>.
If you press <F1> again, you can also see a list of AmortizeIT!
features. For example, imagine you want to make an extra payment
that is applied to the principal of a loan, but you don't know
how to go about it. The solution is simple. Press <F1> twice to
get to the help index. Highlight "Feature List" and press the
<Enter> key. Pick "Extra Payments" from the Feature List and the
next help screen will walk you through the steps in entering
extra payments.
Lastly, the combination <Alt-F1> displays the previously called
help topic.
NOTE: If using a mouse, you can access the help text by pressing
both the left and right mouse buttons. To exit the help
screen, press the right mouse button.
Now that you are aware of some basic keystrokes and concepts, we
can begin the tour of two of AmortizeIT!'s routines.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 30
EXPLORING THE LOAN CALCULATOR
The operation of the Loan Calculator routine is representative of
all AmortizeIT! routines: very simple and direct. You enter
certain values and calculate for the unknown ones.
We will use the Loan Calculator to accomplish a simple objective:
calculating the payment on a simple $5,000 personal loan/credit
card balance you wish to pay off in 12 months at 16 percent
interest. Next, you can view the change in payment if the
interest is reduced to 9 percent, such as using a home equity
loan in lieu of a conventional credit card. Finally, you will see
how many months it takes to pay off the loan using a comfortable
payment.
* To use the Loan Calculator routine
1. Start AmortizeIT! and bypass the graphic screen.
Typically, you would change to the AmortizeIT! directory and
type:
AMORTIZE /G <Enter>
NOTE: Note that the /G start-up switch forces AmortizeIT! to
bypass the opening graphic title screen (registered users
only).
2. Select {Loan Calculator} from the main menu.
You can use your mouse to double-click on this choice, or
press the letter "L" to start the Loan Calculator. Otherwise,
highlight the name (it already is since it is the first
choice from the main menu) and press <Enter>. The Loan
Calculator appears.
3. Enter a loan amount of $5,000.
You do not enter the comma or dollar symbol. Simply type:
"5000." The program will automatically fill in the commas.
4. Enter 12 as the total periods of the loan.
Use the <Right Arrow>, <Tab> or <Enter> key to move to the
Total Periods field (the second row). Enter the number of
loan periods, such as "12" for a 12-month loan.
5. Enter 16 percent as your annual interest rate.
For a personal loan or credit card balance, imagine your
interest rate is 16 percent. Press the arrow keys or <Tab> or
<Enter> key to move to the Annual Rate "16" as the number of
points. You do not type the percentage symbol.
6. Calculate your payment.
When finished entering your numbers, press <F9>, the
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 31
Calculate key, to calculate your monthly payment. The payment
would be $453.65 per month. In all the AmortizeIT! routines,
the Calculate key calculates the remaining value(s) that are
blank or zero.
7. Change your loan interest to 9 percent.
Imagine you consolidated your credit card debt to a home
equity line of credit. How low would your payments be? Simply
type the number "9," which overwrites the 16 percent interest
and press <Tab> or <Enter>. In the Periodic Payment field,
type a "0" to "zero out" the payment amount of $453.65. (This
zeroing out tells AmortizeIT! to use the other values to
solve for this last unknown.) Press <F9> to recalculate the
loan payment. You should have a value of $437.26.
NOTE: The word "Calc" appearing in the upper right-hand corner
indicates that a value has changed requiring the routine to
be recalculated. Press the <F9> key to recalculate using
the new values. If using a mouse, click on this corner to
recalculate the results. If you change the value of a
multiple-choice field, such as Compounding Period, the
"Calc" message won't be displayed until you leave that
field.
8. Change your payment amount to $300.
With a home equity loan, you can often make variable
payments. Imagine you felt more comfortable paying $300 per
month, instead of more than $400. At $300 per month, how many
months before the balance is paid off. Enter the Periodic
Payment of "300" to replace the payment of $437.26. Next, use
the up arrow key to move to the Total Periods field. Type a
"0" to "zero out" the number of periods. Press <F9> to
recalculate the number of periods. You should have a value of
almost 18 months.
9. Make any other adjustments.
You can change other facets of the Loan Calculator routine,
including the compounding period, payment method, and
amortizing method. Change each of these and see how it
affects the payment amount.
NOTE: If using a mouse, you can toggle the payment period by
highlighting the choice with your mouse cursor and pressing
the left mouse button.
10. Press <Esc> to return to the AmortizeIT! main menu.
11. To exit AmortizeIT!, press <Q> to quit or highlight the word
"Quit" and press <Enter>.
NOTE: If using a mouse, double-click on the word "Quit."
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 32
EXPLORING THE AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE
The Amortization Schedule routine is the "meat and potatoes" of
AmortizeIT!. With it, you can get a detailed analysis of your
loan, including calculating the annual percentage rate (APR),
tracking property taxes and insurance payments, adjusting your
interest rate if you have an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), and
more.
The "Correct" Payment
Pine Grove Software often gets asked questions about loan
payments. Just remember:
There is no such thing as a "correct" loan payment.
Any payment can be deemed "correct" so long as both the lender
and debtor agree to it. What is important however, is the amount
of interest that is being billed for a particular period.
Interest due for a period must be calculated within certain
bounds as prescribed by law. The method used should be clearly
stated by the lender. And the amount of interest that is being
charged in any period is what the debtor should audit. After all,
that is the fee being charged for borrowing the money. If the
interest amount agrees but the payment amount differs, the
difference between the two is being applied to principal. Since
principal is owed regardless, it doesn't really matter if the
difference between two payment amounts is being applied to
principal.
* To use the Amortization Schedule routine
The Amortization Schedule is the most powerful of the AmortizeIT!
routines.
1. Start AmortizeIT! and bypass the graphic screen.
Typically, you would change to the AmortizeIT! directory and
type:
AMORTIZE /G <Enter>
NOTE: Note that the /G start-up switch forces AmortizeIT! to
bypass the opening graphic title screen (registered users
only).
2. Select {Amortization Schedule} from the main menu.
You can use your mouse to click on this choice. Otherwise,
press the down arrow key to highlight the name and press
<Enter>. The Amortization Schedule appears.
NOTE: You may also press the highlighted capital letter of a menu
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 33
choice. For example, pressing "S" opens the Amortization
Schedule routine.
3. Enter a loan amount of $100,000.
You do not enter the comma or dollar symbol. Simply type:
"100000." The program will automatically fill in the commas.
4. Enter 240 as the total periods of the loan.
Use the <Right Arrow>, <Tab> or <Enter> key to move to the
Total Periods field in the right-hand column. Enter the
number of loan periods, such as 240 (20 years x 12 months).
NOTE: To set a custom payment in the Amortization Schedule
routine, enter all values known for the loan. For Total
Periods enter a "0." When you press <F9> to calculate the
amortization, you will be shown a window asking for the
Payment Amount. Enter any payment amount. Press <Enter>,
and an amortization schedule will be displayed. If you want
to quickly see when the loan will be paid off, press <P>
for previous or <PgUp> and the last year of the loan will
be displayed. For more info and an alternate method, see
the "Custom Payment Option" in the reference section.
5. Enter the today's date as the origination date of the loan.
Use the <Right Arrow>, <Tab> or <Enter> key to move to the
Origination Date field in the left-hand column, and enter a
date. The origination date is the date the monies were
received. By default, the suggested date is today's.
NOTE: To clear the current date, either type over the current
value or press <Ctrl-Y> to clear its contents.
6. Enter next month as the date of the first payment.
The Amortization Schedule enters a default date of the first
day of the first month more than 30 days from today's date.
For example, a loan originating on January 12, 1994, will
have a recommended first payment date of March 1, 1994. If
you wish to change the first payment date, use the <Right
Arrow>, <Tab> or <Enter> key to move to the 1st Payment Date
field in the right-hand column. Enter the date you expect the
first payment to be made. For this example, change it to one
month from the origination date.
NOTE: If the number of the month or day of the month is less than
10, you should preface the number with a "0." Otherwise,
use the <Tab> key to jump to the next subfield. For
example, to enter the date January 1, 1995, you would type
"010195." Otherwise, you could type "1 <Tab> 1 <Tab> 95".
NOTE: When the origination date and first payment date are the
same, the payment method is known as payment in advance,
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 34
since a payment was made prior to the user actually having
use of the funds. Leases usually use a payment in advance
method.
NOTE: When the origination date and the first payment date
differ, the payment is known as payment in arrears, since a
payment is made after the funds were available for use.
Auto loans and mortgages usually use a payments in arrears
method.
7. Enter "Monthly" as the payment period.
Press <Tab> or <Enter> to move to the Payment Period field.
You can change the length of each period (such as weekly,
quarterly, etc.). Use the <Spacebar> or <+> or <-> keys to
toggle the field to "Monthly."
NOTE: If using a mouse, you can toggle the compounding period by
highlighting the choice with your mouse cursor and pressing
the left mouse button.
8. Enter "Monthly" as the compounding period.
Press <Tab> or <Enter> to move to the Compounding Period
field. You can change the compounding period to daily,
weekly, monthly, etc. Use the <Spacebar> or <+> or <-> keys
to toggle the field to "Monthly." Most loans are compounded
the same as their payment period. For example, a home
mortgage is compounded monthly and paid back through monthly
payments.
NOTE: When the payment period and compounding period are equal,
there is actually no compounding and the loan is known as a
simple interest loan.
NOTE: Canadians typically make monthly payments with semiannual
compounding. The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will
allow you to set Canadian as the default method.
9. Enter 1 percent as your number of points.
Press the arrow keys or <Tab> or <Enter> key to move to the
Points field. Often, a mortgage loan may require a point or
two. A point is a percentage of the loan you must pay up
front for the privilege of acquiring a lower-interest loan.
For this example, we'll use 1 percent. Enter "1" as the
number of points. You do not type the percentage symbol.
10. Select "Normal" as the amortizing method.
Press the <Tab> or <Enter> key or use the arrow keys to move
to the Amortizing Method field. There are several ways a loan
can be amortized, or calculated. AmortizeIT! supports six
amortization methods:
* Normal
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 35
* Rule of 78's
* U.S. Rule
* Fixed Principal
* Interest Only
* Canadian
Use the <Spacebar> or <+> or <-> keys to toggle the
amortizing method to "Normal." If using a mouse, you can
toggle the amortizing method by highlighting the choice with
your mouse cursor and pressing the left mouse button.
NOTE: See the reference section for a detailed description of
each amortizing method.
NOTE: For Canadian loans, which are paid monthly and compounded
semiannually, press the <Spacebar> until {Canadian} is
displayed. When the loan is calculated, payment period and
compounding period will be changed to these values.
11. Select "Ordinary" as your rate basis.
Press the <Tab> or <Enter> key or use the arrow keys to move
to the Rate Basis field. The rate basis is the percentage of
annual interest applied to the loan for any period. You can
select from one of three rate bases:
* Ordinary
* Exact/360
* Exact/365
Leave the rate basis to the default of "Ordinary." All
periods are assumed to be of equal length for interest
calculations. (For example all months have 30 days under
this method.) Years are assumed to be 360 days in length.
The remaining two rate bases use an exact day technique to
calculate the interest. The percentage of interest due is
either the exact number of days in the period divided by 360
or 365.
12. Enter an annual interest rate of 8 percent.
Press the <Tab> or <Enter> key or use the arrow keys to move
to the Annual Rate field. Enter an interest rate of 8
percent. You do not type the percentage symbol.
13. Calculate your payments.
When all finished entering your numbers, periods, methods,
etc., press <F9>. This key calculates the loan using your
entered numbers. AmortizeIT! displays a table showing the
payment, principal and interest for the first year of the
loan. The yearly totals and running totals are displayed at
the bottom of the screen.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 36
14. Change your loan interest to 10 percent.
Press the "R" (Repeat) key to return to the last field you
were on (the mortgage interest). Simply type the number
"10," which overwrites the 8 percent interest. Press <F9> to
recalculate the loan.
NOTE: The word "Calc" appearing in the upper right-hand corner
indicates that a value has changed requiring the routine to
be recalculated. Press the <F9> key to recalculate using
the new values. If using a mouse, click on this corner to
recalculate the results. If you change the value of a
multiple-choice field, such as Compounding Period, the
"Calc" message won't be displayed until you leave that
field.
NOTE: If you don't change any of the AmortizeIT! values, you can
simply press "D" to re-display the amortization results.
However, if you change any values, you naturally must
recalculate the results using <F9>.
15. Change the mortgage amount to $150,000.
Imagine you need a larger loan. Press the "R" key to return
to the data entry screen. Press <Ctrl-PgUp> to jump to the
Amount of Loan field. Enter "150000" as your loan amount and
press <F9> to recalculate the loan.
16. View the total interest and payments.
While viewing the first year of the table of monthly
interest and principal payments, press the <PgUp> or <P>
key. You are rolled up to the last year of the loan. Press
the <PgDn> or <N> key to see the first year again. Press
<PgDn> to see the second, third and subsequent years.
17. View the amortization for the year 1999.
While viewing the amortization, press the <A> key. Enter the
year "1999" and press <Enter>.
18. Print that year's amortization numbers.
Press <F3> to quickly print whatever is on the screen to
your printer. If using a laser printer, you may have to
press <F5> to send a form feed (eject page) command to your
printer to see the page. Use <F4> repeatedly to add blank
lines between printings. The printed schedule will print
each year's amortization schedule. To print a complete or
partial schedule, select {Print} from the local menu.
NOTE: The Quick Print feature is handy to use when you want to
compare two different loans. To do this, enter the first
loan's details, calculate the results and press <PgUp> to
display the totals for the last year of the loan. Press
<F3> to Quick Print the last year's totals. Press <F4>
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 37
twice to add some blank lines at the end of the printout.
Press <R> to repeat and enter the details for the second
loan. Once again, calculate the new loan results, and press
<PgUp> to display the last year's results. Press the <F3>
Quick Print key again. Press <F5> to eject the page. You
now have a comparison of two loans on a single page along
with the initial values of the loan.
19. Change the date of the loan to the 15th of the month.
Use the tab or arrow keys to move to the Origination Date
field. Press <Shift-Tab> to move the cursor under the day of
the month subfield. Enter the number "15." To change the
month, press <Shift-Tab> again and change that. To clear
the entire date and start from scratch, press <Ctrl-Y>.
NOTE: If you ever need to restore the values of a field, press
<Ctrl-R> before you leave that field. The original values
are restored.
20. Save your amortization to a dBase (.DBF) file.
When finished analyzing a loan, you can save it to a unique
file name. Amortization files are saved in the popular dBase
file format. You then can use one of the commercially
available dBase report writers to customize reports and
amortization schedules. You also can later retrieve the
stored amortization data. Press <F10> to display the
Amortization Schedule's local menu. The local menu provides
additional options. Using this menu, you can enter
miscellaneous fees in addition to principal and interest,
calculate APR interest rate and much more.
With the word {File} highlighted, press <Enter> or click on
it using your mouse. Select {Save} and press <Enter>. Enter a
file name, including the path, such as:
C:\LOANS\THOMPSON <Enter>
If you don't enter a path name, your file will be placed in
the AmortizeIT! directory (typically C:\AMORT20). You later
can use the local menu to delete and rename the stored files.
If you do not save your amortization, you will be asked if
you want to as you try to leave the Amortization Schedule.
NOTE: The AmortizeIT! 2.1 data file must have a .DBF extension.
AmortizeIT! 2.1 files are not compatible with earlier
versions of AmortizeIT!.
NOTE: See Appendix G for documentation on the file structure of
the AmortizeIT! 2.1 file.
21. View your loan summary.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 38
AmortizeIT! will summarize many aspects of your loan. You can
determine the total interest, total principal and, if
applicable, the total extra payments paid to any particular
period. The summary feature will also calculate the interest
saved as the result of the extra payments, calculate the
income taxes saved due to the interest deduction and
calculate the future value of the extra payments so you will
know the foregone opportunity if you decide to make extra
principal payments rather than invest the monies. There are
many other calculations performed in the summary window. We
suggest that you take the time to become acquainted with
them.
To view the summary window, press <F10> to display the local
menu. Select {Calc} or press "C" to open the Calc menu. Next,
select {Summary}. For now, leave the period set to the
default of 240 since we want to know the "bottom line" cost
of the loan. You may optionally enter a tax bracket and
discount rate. In this example, let's assume we can make 10%
on our money and that our tax bracket is 33%. Press <F9> to
calculate. Press <F3> to do a Quick Print of this window.
NOTE: Note that you can enter an exact date instead of the period
number through which you want the loan summarized. When you
enter a date rather than a period number, the remaining
balance will be calculated to that date. That is, the
remaining balance will be the principal balance as of the
last payment plus the accrued interest for the additional
days.
If you select {prInt} from the local menu and then select
{Summary}, a loan summary will be printed to the default
printer. The summary that is generated this way (through the
{prInt} option rather than through the {Calc} option) will
have even more details about the loan that what will be
visible on the screen.
22. View the APR (annual percentage rate) Disclosure Statement.
The Federal Truth in Lending Act requires that the consumer
(debtor) receive an APR Disclosure Statement for many loans.
AmortizeIT! will prepare a disclosure statement that conforms
with Regulation 'Z' of the Truth in Lending Act.
To print a disclosure statement that is ready for signing,
press <F10> to display the local menu. Select {prInt} or
press "I" to open the print menu. Next, select {APR}. You
will then see the "APR Disclosure Statement Options" window.
Fill in the lender's and borrower's names. Set the remaining
options to conform with the conditions of the loan.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 39
For example, if this is a variable rate loan and if there is
a prepayment penalty, change the appropriate values from
AmortizeIT!'s default of "N" to "Y". Note, that for late
fees, you can enter either an absolute dollar amount or the
percentage rate of the remaining principal balance that will
be charged. You should not enter both. When all values have
been set, press <F9> to print the disclosure statement to the
default printer. (If you change your mind, you can press
<Esc> to return back to the menu.)
If you need to know the details behind the APR, or if you
simply want to calculate an APR without going to the trouble
of printing a disclosure statement, then you can select
{Calc}, {APR} from the local menu. You can also print the
results of this calculation by pressing <F3> for the Quick
Print feature. Note that this DOES NOT print an acceptable
disclosure statement.
23. Enter an extra payment.
You can enter an extra, unscheduled payment and use the
Amortization Schedule routine to track it. For example, you
may want to put your $1,000 Christmas bonus towards your
loan. To do this, press <F10> and then select {Payments} or
press "P" to open the Payments menu. Next, select {Extra} and
then {Periodic Adjust}.
Next, use the cursor keys or <Tab> key to move to the desired
period. Enter the amount of the extra payment. If you want to
make the same extra payment in a number of consecutive
periods, press <F10> for a copy window. Enter the amount of
this extra payment and the first and last period that will
receive the extra payment. Press <F9> and AmortizeIT! will
copy the extra payment across all periods.
NOTE: If you want to just make one extra payment a year, you
should select {Annual adjust} from the {Extra} payment
menu. This will tell the copy feature to copy the payment
just once a year. Also, if you use the copy feature after
selecting {Annual adjust}, you can still copy for any
period to any period. You are not restricted to those
periods displayed.
Press <Esc> to return to the Amortization Schedule. Press
<F9> to recalculate your loan. You will see the effect of the
extra payment(s).
24. Display results by due date or actual payment date.
You have two different display options, either display (or
print) by payment due date or actual payment date. This
difference is important.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 40
Suppose you have a loan with monthly payments due on the
first of each month. If you were to pay the payment that is
due on January 1st on December 27th, you will have paid 13
payments in the year. Hence, you will have paid more interest
in the year than if you paid just the 12 payments. Since
interest is usually tax deductible, you'll want to take the
deduction for the interest in the year it was paid. If you
display or print the schedule by actual payment date,
AmortizeIT! will calculate the true interest paid in the year
and report on it in the "YTD TOTALS."
To change the display (and printing) accordingly, press <F10>
to access the local menu and then select {Display}. Finally,
select {Payment date} or {Due date}.
NOTE: You can set actual payment dates from the local menu.
Select {Payments}, {Regular} and {Periodic Adjust}. Change
the payment dates accordingly.
25. Set your calculation options.
Besides the standard loan variables such as loan amount, term
and interest rate, there are a number of other factors that
affect the way a payment schedule is calculated.
From the local menu, select {opTions}. You will then see the
Calculation Options window with many different options you
can customize.
For example, you may wish to have real estate tax payments
added to the regular payment. To do this, you have to enter
the amount of the tax payment (select {Advances/fees} then
{Taxes} from the local menu) and then set the Displayed
Payment Increased by Taxes to "YES".
NOTE: If AmortizeIT! does not give you the results that you
expect, try changing the setting for some of these options.
This is significant, because changing how points are
handled, for example, will change the periodic payment
amount.
26. Prepare for another loan (zeroing out extra payments).
Suppose you want to prepare a schedule for another loan. In a
previous step, we entered three extra payments of $1,000
each. If we simply enter the parameters for a new loan, these
extra payments would affect our results. To easily clear the
extra payments, press <F10> to display the local menu if it
is not already displayed. Pick {Payments} and then select
{Extra} and {Cancel}. Enter a "Y" and press <Enter> if you
wish to reset all of the extra payment fields to "0".
You would use a similar technique to clear any real estate
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 41
taxes, miscellaneous fees, late fees or loan advances that
you might have entered.
27. Enter a new loan with a custom payment.
To set up a new loan, move to the Amount of Loan field. If a
schedule is displayed, press <R> to repeat. This time, we
want to borrow $149,000, so enter "149000". Press <Enter> or
<Tab> to move to the Total Periods field.
Since we want to pay a specific dollar amount each month we
cannot be sure exactly when the loan will be paid off,
therefore enter "0" for total periods. Let's assume that all
of the other parameters for the loan are the same as those
used for the previous scenario. Press <F9> to calculate. A
window will pop up prompting you for your custom payment.
Enter "1500" and press <Enter>. AmortizeIT! will prepare a
schedule with a $1,500 payment.
If you press <PgUp>, you can see that the loan will be paid
off with the 164th payment. (AmortizeIT! will schedule the
payments up until the period where the principal balance plus
the interest due is less than the custom payment that you
entered. At that point, the payment will be adjusted and the
loan will be paid off.
NOTE: When the schedule is displayed, there is a lower case 's'
next to each payment except for the last one. This
indicates that the user set the payment and that
AmortizeIT! did not calculate it.
28. Enter a balloon payment.
To continue the illustration, suppose you wanted to pay
$1,500 dollars a month but you want to pay the loan off in 12
years (144 monthly payments). Press <F10> to display the
local menu. Select {Payments} or press <P>. Then select
{Balloon #}. Enter "144" and press <Enter>. Then press <Esc>
twice. Now press <F9> to calculate the result and display the
schedule. You will now have a loan with 143 monthly payments
of $1,500 and a balloon payment of $28,642.39 in the 144th
period.
29. Press <Esc> to return to the AmortizeIT! main menu.
If you haven't saved your amortization to a file, you will be
asked if you wish to save it.
30. Press "Q" to exit AmortizeIT! or press the <End> key to jump
to the last menu choice {Quit} and press <Enter> to quit and
return to the operating system.
NOTE: For information on accelerating a loan (paying it off more
quickly), see the following sections in the AmortizeIT!
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 42
reference that follows:
* Accelerated Biweekly
* Prepay Next Period's Principal
* Random Prepay
* Regular Prepaid
There's More to Learn
This tutorial reviews only some of the features of the
Amortization Schedule routine. AmortizeIT! also supports:
* Interest-only payments.
* Accrued interest.
* Negative amortization.
* Fixed principal.
* ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages).
* Multiple advance loans.
See the reference section for details.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 43
AmortizeIT! REFERENCE
This section of the manual looks at the various features and
options offered throughout the AmortizeIT! routines. These
include:
* Accelerated Biweekly
* Accrued Rates
* APR Detail Screen
* Balloon Schedules
* Calendar Year Totals
* Canadian Mortgages
* Compounding Periods
* Construction Loans
* Custom Payment Option (2 methods)
* Custom Reports
* Custom Setup
* Date X Days from Date
* Days Between Dates
* dBase File Format
* Discounted Mortgage
* Due Date or Payment Date Schedules
* Exact Day Interest
* Extra Payments
* File Maintenance
* Fiscal Year Totals
* Fixed Principal Payment Loans
* Initial Interest Only Payments
* Interest Between Dates
* Interest Only Loans
* Interest Paid
* Interest Saved
* Interest for Number of Days
* International Currency Support
* International Date Formats
* Lease
* Loan Advances
* Loan Totals (RUNNING TTLS)
* Loan Year Totals (YTD TOTALS)
* Miscellaneous Fees
* Mortgage Analysis
* Negative Amortizing Loans
* One Time Fees
* Ordinary Interest
* Payment Periods
* Penalties
* Periodic Adjust vs. Annual Adjust
* Points
* Prepaid Principal Acceleration
* Principal Payments
* Print Skipped Periods & Proof Payment Feature
* Quick Print Schedule
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 44
* Random Payments
* Regulation "Z" APR Disclosure
* Rule of 78's
* Running Totals (RUNNING TTLS)
* Short/Long First Periods
* Skipped Payments
* Solve for Unknown
* Speed Entry
* Tax Consequences
* Taxes
* U.S. Rule Loans
* Year-End Totals (YTD TOTALS)
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 45
ACCELERATED BIWEEKLY
Biweekly acceleration is a method of reducing the interest paid
on a loan. The biweekly acceleration technique is unique among
acceleration methods. While other acceleration methods decrease
the number of payments, the biweekly acceleration actually
increases the number of payment periods.
The loan payment is actually based upon normal monthly payments.
The regular monthly payment is divided in half and paid every
other week. For example, if your normal monthly payment is $1,200
and you opt for the biweekly acceleration technique, instead of
making 12 payments a year at $1,200 you will make 26 payments at
$600. As you can see, this in effect, is equal to 13 monthly
payments a year. (26 biweekly payments divided by 2 equals 13
"monthly" payments.) The "extra" payment is ultimately utilized
to reduce the principal balance of the loan, thus saving you
interest expense over the life of the mortgage.
The best way to see the effect of biweekly acceleration is to do
the following: Enter an example of a normal 30 year mortgage, say
$100,000 for 360 periods at 8%. Press <F9> to calculate. (Note
that the regular monthly payment is $733.76.) When the end of the
first year is displayed, press <P> or <PgUp> for the previous
year. This will show the last period of the loan and the loan
totals. Assuming your printer is on, do a Quick Print by pressing
<F3>. This will print just the last year of the loan along with
the loan parameters.
Press <F10> now for the local menu. Select {opTions}, and change
the "Biweekly Acceleration Pmts" to "Yes" by pressing the
<spacebar>. Press <Esc> and <F9> again to calculate. When you
press <P> or <PgUp> to display the last period, you will see that
the loan is paid off in the 23rd year, or after 592 payments of
$366.88. If you are printing the example, we suggest you press
<F4> twice to add two blank lines to the printout and then press
<F3> to do another Quick Print. A quick comparison of the running
totals under "interest" will show you your savings.
NOTE: Note that the Payment Period was automatically changed to
say "BiWeekly" and the "A" next to the display indicates
that the "Accelerated Biweekly" option has been selected.
If you want to switch back to doing normal amortization,
make sure you set the biweekly acceleration option to "no"
and reset the payment period to "Monthly."
The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will allow you to set
either biweekly option as the default.
ACCRUED RATES
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 46
Accrued Rate is when the interest due is being calculated at one
interest rate, but being collected at a lower rate. This results
in accrued interest which eventually must be paid.
To set an accrued rate from the Amortization Schedule routine,
press <F10> for the local menu. Select {Rates}, {Accrued Rate},
either {Annual Adjust} or {Periodic Adjust} and enter the accrued
rate for the appropriate period. The accrued rate is in effect
only for the specific period that it is entered if you selected
{Periodic Adjust} or for the year if you selected {Annual
Adjust}.
If the rate is to be in effect for several consecutive periods,
use the copy feature by pressing <F10>, and entering the start
period and ending period. Press <F9> to copy.
APR DETAIL SCREEN
There are many factors that go into calculating the Annual
Percentage Rate of a loan as required by Regulation "Z". The APR
Detail Screen shows the values of the variables used to make APR
calculations as well as some other facts about a particular loan.
Also, in lieu of printing an APR disclosure, you can find out
what the APR is by going to this screen.
From the Amortization Schedule routine, press <F10> for the local
menu. Select {Calc}, {APR}. It will take a moment or two for
AmortizeIT! to calculate the APR.
BALLOON SCHEDULES
Payments may be calculated based upon a certain term, such as 30
years or 360 monthly payments. However, the loan may be due at
the end of the 5th year. This results in a large final payment
known as a "balloon".
To set the balloon period, from the Amortization Schedule
routine, press <F10> for the local menu, select {Payments},
{Balloon #}. Enter the period number that the balloon is due. In
the above example, that would be period 60. When the schedule is
displayed, it will stop after period 60.
CALENDAR YEAR TOTALS
Annual and running totals may be calculated through the end of a
Calendar Year so that one can see, for tax purposes, how much
interest was paid in a given Calendar Year. Totals may be also
calculated based upon a fiscal year ending any month, or based
upon the anniversary of the loan.
To set the display option, from the Amortization Schedule
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 47
routine, press <F10> for the local menu. Select {Display} then
select either {Calendar Year}; {Fiscal Year} (ending month); or
{Loan Year}.
NOTE: The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will allow you to
set any default for this option.
CANADIAN MORTGAGES
Canadians typically make monthly payments with semiannual
compounding. This option can be selected whenever the cursor is
on the Amortization Method field. Press the <Space Bar> until
{Canadian} is displayed.
NOTE: The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will allow you to
set Canadian as the default method.
COMPOUNDING PERIODS
Compounding periods may be set separately from the payment
period. AmortizeIT! currently supports daily, weekly, biweekly,
monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, semiannual and annual compounding.
The Interest Due routine supports continuous compounding and
simple interest also.
CONSTRUCTION LOANS
With a construction loan, funds are usually advanced to the
borrower over a period of time as needed.
To advance money, from the Amortization Schedule routine, press
<F10> for the local menu. Select {Advances/Fees}, {Advances},
{Add}. Key in the date of the advance and the amount. If a new
payment is to be calculated, set the New Pmt flag to "Y."
NOTE: Note that advances can be made on any date within the
current period. For example, if the loan payments are due
on the first of each month and the current due date is
April 1, 1993 then a loan advance may occur on March 2,
1993 through April 1, 1993.
CUSTOM PAYMENT OPTION
A loan may be amortized using any payment that is agreed to by
both the creditor and debtor. (If the payment is less than the
interest for the period, the loan will theoretically never be
paid off. Or there will be a balloon due at some point.)
Two methods may be used for setting a custom payment amount:
Method One
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 48
To set a custom payment in the Amortization Schedule routine,
enter all values known for the loan. For Total Periods enter a
"0." Press <F9> to calculate, and you will be shown a window
asking for the Payment Amount. Enter any payment amount. Press
<Enter>, and an amortization schedule will be displayed. If you
want to quickly see when the loan will be paid off, press <P> for
previous or <PgUp> and the last year of the loan will be
displayed.
Method Two
From the Amortization Schedule routine, press <F10> for the local
menu. Select {Payments}, {Regular}, either {Annual adjust} or
{Periodic adjust}. Enter the custom payment. Use the copy feature
(press <F10>) to duplicate payments. This method has the
advantage of allowing you to change the custom payment. You can
also enter a "0" for skipped payments.
CUSTOM REPORTS
All calculated data from the Amortization Schedule routine can be
saved in a dBase-compatible (.DBF) file. This gives you easy
access to the data so you can use one of the commercially
available dBase report writers to customize reports and
amortization schedules.
Pine Grove Software plans to distribute several reports in the
future. We project we will have reports that will show:
* Running interest and principal totals
* Tax, interest and/or penalty payments as a distinct item
* Tax benefits of a mortgage
We also plan to provide custom schedules and statements as a
service for our business customers. Please contact us for a
quote.
CUSTOM SETUP
SLVSETUP.EXE is an optional program that will allow you to change
the program's default settings. You may change the screen colors
or make more time-saving changes by changing calculation defaults
or printer ports. If you need to enter a lot of loans at one
interest rate, you can even set a default nominal rate.
DATE X DAYS FROM DATE
From the Interest Due routine, enter the Start Date and then
press <Enter> twice. Enter the Number of Days, press <Enter>
again, and the Ending Date will be the number of days that you
entered from the Start Date.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 49
DAYS BETWEEN DATES
From the Interest Due routine, enter the Start Date, press
<Enter> and enter a second date (Ending Date). The Number of Days
between the two date will instantly be calculated.
DBASE FILE FORMAT
All data files are saved in a dBase format (.DBF). This open file
format gives you the ability to access the result of calculations
from other programs such as Lotus 1-2-3 or R&R Report Writer.
DISCOUNTED MORTGAGE
The discount value of the future stream of loan payments may be
calculated in the loan summary window. If the loan is summarized
through period 48 and it is a 96-period loan, the discount value
of the remaining 48 periods is calculated before any extra
payments.
DUE DATE OR PAYMENT DATE SCHEDULES
Amortization schedules may be displayed based upon either the
payment due date or the actual payment date. This can be useful
for showing totals ACTUALLY paid in a given year, for this
affects the reportable interest paid.
For example, assume you have a loan with monthly payments due on
the first of each month. If the payment due on January 1 is
actually paid on December 29, and all other payments were made on
the 1st of the month for that year, there would actually have
been 13 payments made in the year. This means that there were
also 13 interest payments made that the IRS will want to know
about! However, if in the next year the following years Jan 1
payment is NOT made in December but say on Jan 2, then there will
only be 11 payments for that year.
To select whether a schedule is displayed by either payment date
or due date from the Amortization Schedule routine press <F10>
for the local menu. Select {Display}, then pick either {Payment
Date} or {Due Date}.
NOTE: The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will allow you to
set any default for this option.
EXACT DAY INTEREST
The rate basis may be either ordinary interest (all periods are
assumed to be of the same length) or they may be exact day
interest (the actual number of days in the period are divided by
either 360 or 365). Exact Days over 360 will usually result in a
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 50
greater amount of interest being due.
EXTRA PAYMENTS
Besides the regular periodic payment, the borrower may wish to
make an extra payment to reduce the principal loan balance. This
will save on future interest payments.
To make an extra payment, from the Amortization Schedule routine
press <F10> for the local menu. Select {Payments}, {Extra} then
select either {Annual Adjust} or {Periodic adjust}. Enter the
extra payment. The annual adjust choice has the advantage of
allowing you to quickly copy an extra payment that is to be made
just once a year. This may occur if one wants to make an extra
payment with year end bonus money or tax refund money.
FILE MAINTENANCE
From the Amortization Schedule routine, press <F10> select {File}
to change directories, delete, rename, save or load a file. When
being prompted for a file name, you may enter any valid DOS wild
card character (for example: *.DBF), press <Enter> and
AmortizeIT! will display a file listing that you may select from.
Directories are prefaced by a "\", while files are shown in
yellow. Use the up/down/left/right arrow keys to highlight the
directory or file you want. The file "..\" indicates that
directories exist above the current directory. If you highlight
this choice and press <Enter>, you can move to those directories
above the current one.
NOTE: If more than one screen of files or directories are
displayed, you can use the <PgDn> or <PgUp> keys to move to
the next or previous screen, respectively.
FISCAL YEAR TOTALS
Annual and running totals may be calculated through the end of a
Fiscal Year so that one can see, for tax purposes, how much
interest was paid in a given Fiscal Year. (Totals may be also
calculated based upon a calendar year or based upon the
anniversary of the loan.) To set the display option, from the
Amortization Schedule routine, press <F10> for the local menu.
Select {Display} then select either {Calendar Year}; {Fiscal
Year} and month the fiscal year ends; or {Loan Year}.
NOTE: The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will allow you to
set any default for this option.
FIXED PRINCIPAL PAYMENT LOANS
Normally, a loan is paid back in level payments. (We call this a
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 51
"normal loan.") That is, the payment amount remains constant.
However, it is possible for the payment to be a level PRINCIPAL
amount. Fixed principal loans calculate the payment by dividing
the total loan amount by the number of periods and adding the
interest due for the period. The result is that the payment
decreases as the loan balance is paid down because less interest
is due for the period. The net result is that while the initial
payments are higher, the total amount of interest paid is less
than under level payment type loans.
INITIAL INTEREST ONLY PAYMENTS
Some loans are multiphase. Multiphase loans usually have a number
of initial periods where only the interest due is paid. From the
local menu, select {Payments} {Int Only} and enter the number of
periods where only interest will be paid.
INTEREST BETWEEN DATES
Need to know how much interest you will earn (or pay) between any
two dates? The Interest Due routine will calculate this for you
using any one of 10 compounding methods.
INTEREST ONLY LOANS
With some loans, the borrower is obligated to make payments that
only cover the interest due for the period. The final payment is
a balloon of all of the principal and the interest for the final
period. From the main amortization schedule set {interest only}
for amortization method.
INTEREST PAID
The loan summary window/report and the Accelerated Payment
routine will calculate the interest paid on a loan. Also, the
amortization schedule will show a total for the year and a
running total of interest paid.
INTEREST SAVED
The loan summary window/report and the Accelerated Payment
routine will calculate the interest saved as the result of making
extra loan payments. To analyze the effect of payment
acceleration, first enter your original number of periods, loan
amount and interest rate. Do not yet enter the extra amount paid
or at what period that occurs. After calculating the interest
paid over the original length of the loan, enter the extra amount
to be paid and at what payment period the extra amounts will be
paid. Then press <F9> to calculate the new results. You now
compare your savings.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 52
INTEREST FOR NUMBER OF DAYS
Need to know how much interest you will earn (or pay) for a
specific number of days? The Interest Due routine will calculate
this for you using any one of 10 compounding methods. Enter any
start date and then the number of days. This is handy to know how
much you will earn on a 90 day CD for example.
INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY SUPPORT
While the program's main menu is displayed, press <F10> for the
global options menu. Select {Currency} and pick the currency
format that you need. AmortizeIT! will allow you to pick from 18
different country conventions.
Additionally, AmortizeIT! will look at DOS's country code setting
to automatically set what it believes to be your local
convention.
INTERNATIONAL DATE FORMATS
While the program's main menu is displayed, press <F10> for the
global options menu. Select {Date} and pick the date display
convention that you need.
Also, AmortizeIT! will look at DOS's country code setting to
automatically set what it believes to be your local convention.
LEASE
When monies are advanced for a lease, the first payment is due on
the day the monies are advanced. From the Amortization Schedule
routine, set the first Payment Date equal to the Origination date
of the loan.
LOAN ADVANCES
Some loans do not advance the entire principal amount on the
origination date of the loan. For example, construction loans
will make periodic advances as construction progresses.
To advance money, from the Amortization Schedule routine, press
<F10> for the local menu. Select {Advances/Fees}, {Advances},
{Add}. Key in the date of the advance and the amount. If a new
payment is to be calculated, set the New Pmt flag to "Y."
NOTE: Note that advances can be made on any date within the
current period. For example, if the loan payments are due
on the first of each month and the current due date is
April 1, 1993 then a loan advance may occur on March 2,
1993 through April 1, 1993.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 53
LOAN TOTALS (RUNNING TTLS)
The amortization schedule tracks payment, interest and principal
totals for the year as well as running totals. Annual totals can
be for a fiscal year, loan year or a calendar year. Calendar or
fiscal year totals are handy to know the total interest expenses
for a tax year.
The loan summary window/report will calculate these totals, as
well as others, to any period or any date.
LOAN YEAR TOTALS (YTD TOTALS)
Annual and running totals may be calculated through the end of a
Loan Year so that one can see how much interest was paid in a
given loan year. (Totals may be also calculated based upon a
calendar year or fiscal year.)
To set the display option, from the Amortization Schedule
routine, press <F10> for the local menu. Select {Display} then
select either {Calendar Year}; {Fiscal Year} & {(ending month)};
or {Loan Year}.
NOTE: The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will allow you to
set any default for this option.
MISCELLANEOUS FEES
A miscellaneous fee might be required property or mortgage
insurance.
MORTGAGE ANALYSIS
From the amortization schedule press <F10> for the local menu.
Select either {Calc} or {Print} then select {Summary}. The
mortgage analysis will calculate many totals and the discount
value of the mortgage. NOTE that the analysis done through the
{Print} menu option will provide more details than the summary
window.
When analyzing the effect of loan acceleration, you must enter
the period through which you want to summarize before seeing the
effects of extra payments or acceleration. For example, if you
want to see what effect biweekly acceleration has on a
traditional 30-year mortgage, you would summarize the loan
through period 360.
NEGATIVE AMORTIZING LOANS
Negative amortization will occur either when there is an accrued
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 54
rate or when a custom payment does not equal the interest due for
the payment period.
ONE TIME FEES
When applying for a loan, there are usually a number of one time
fees associated with the loan application. These fees affect the
APR per Regulation "Z" of the Truth-In-Lending Act.
To enter One Time Fees, total them all up. Next, from the
Amortization Schedule routine press <F10> for the local menu.
Select {Advances/Fees}, {One Time Fees}. Enter the total of the
fees and press <Enter>.
ORDINARY INTEREST
AmortizeIT! supports three interest rate basis for calculating
interest due in a period. These three basis are: ordinary
interest (360/360); exact days over 360; or exact days over 365.
Ordinary interest assumes that every period has the same number
of days in it. Exact day interest, calculates interest based upon
the exact number of days in the period.
PAYMENT PERIODS
AmortizeIT! supports weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly,
quarterly, semiannual and annual payment periods. The payment and
compounding period may be selected independently.
PENALTIES
Penalty fees may be tracked. From the local menu, select
{Advances/Fees}, {Late Fees} and {Add}. Enter the dollar penalty
for the period. The amortization schedule will display the
payment with or without the late fee included. See {options} from
the local menu to set whether the late fee is included in the
payment amount.
PERIODIC ADJUST VS. ANNUAL ADJUST
Annual Adjust and Periodic Adjust are tools in the Amortization
Schedule to change the interest rate and/or payment amount yearly
or for several periods, respectively. Such adjustments occur when
you wish to, for example, make an extra loan payment in every
December when you might receive a year end bonus.
For interest rates, annual adjust will allow you to change an
interest rate once and that change will become effective for the
entire year. For extra payments, annual adjust will change a
payment only on the payment specified. When using the copy
feature, the adjustment will occur on the anniversary of the
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 55
initial period that is selected. All you need to do is to use the
copy feature and AmortizeIT! will know to apply the extra payment
only in December even though you specified to copy from period 10
to period 360. Periodic Adjust (as opposed to Annual Adjust) will
allow you to make either a rate or payment adjustment at ANY
period.
To adjust periodic or annual interest rates, select {Rates} and
{Paid rate} from the local menu. To adjust periodic or annual
extra payments, select {Payments} and {Extra} from the local
menu. To adjust periodic or annual regular payments , select
{Payments} and {Regular}.
POINTS
Lenders may charge "points" on a loan. The points is a percentage
of loan advance. Enter the points charged on the main
amortization screen or the refinance routine screen.
PREPAID PRINCIPAL ACCELERATION
The prepaid principal acceleration method is an increasingly
popular way to reduce the amount of interest paid on a loan. At
the time you make a regular payment, you also prepay the next
period's principal, thus saving an interest payment. The theory
is that the earlier you make extra principal payments, the more
interest you save. This method has the advantage that the extra
payments start out very small since very little of the first
payments are applied toward principal reduction.
To see the effects of this technique, from the Amortization
Schedule routine, press <F10> for the local menu. Select
{opTions}, and set Prepaid Principal Acceleration to "YES". Press
<Esc> and press <F9> to calculate. You will see that a loan will
be paid off in a little over 1/2 the normal time using this
method.
PRINCIPAL PAYMENTS
Random, extra principal payments may be made on a loan. From the
amortization's schedule's local menu select {Payments}, {Extra},
{Periodic Adjust} or {Annual Adjust}.
NOTE: Use annual adjust if you want to make one extra payment a
year on a regular basis. There are fewer fields and the
screen is easier to use.
PRINT SKIPPED PERIODS & PROOF PAYMENT FEATURE
Payment amounts are normally calculated using a generally
accepted formula. However, sometimes (usually when exact day
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 56
interest is being used) this is not the "best" payment amount.
From the Amortization Schedule's local menu select {Payment}
{Proof}. When {Proof} is checked, AmortizeIT! will verify that
the calculated payment is the lowest payment possible that will
result in the last payment being less than the previous payment.
PRINTING PROBLEMS
See "Appendix A: Command Line Options."
QUICK PRINT SCHEDULE
At times you may just want to print one year of an amortization
schedule along with the original loan parameters. Enter the
criteria for a loan, press <F9> to calculate. Press <N>, <PgDn>,
<P>, <PgUp> or <A> to display the year that you want to print.
Press <F3> to print.
You can quickly print the last year of a loan, showing totals for
the entire loan period, by simply pressing <P> or <PgUp> when the
first year of a loan is displayed. <P> or <PgUp> displays the
previous year of a loan, or in this case, since the first year of
a loan is displayed pressing <P> or <PgUp> causes the program to
"wrap around" and display the last year of the loan.
RANDOM PAYMENTS
From time to time, the debtor may wish to make random extra
principal payments to reduce the total indebtedness while at the
same time saving interest expense.
To make random payments, from the Amortization Schedule routine
press <F10> for the local menu. Select {Payments}, {Extra} then
select either {Annual Adjust} or {Periodic adjust}. Enter the
random payment. The annual adjust choice has the advantage of
allowing you to quickly copy an extra payment that is to be made
just once a year. This may occur if one wants to make an extra
payment with year end bonus money or tax refund money.
REGULATION "Z" APR DISCLOSURE
Regulation "Z" is issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System to implement the federal Truth in Lending and Fair
Credit Billing Acts. These Acts require that consumers be given a
disclosure statement that, among other things, shall "disclose
the...Amount Financed,...Finance Charge" and the "Annual
percentage rate".
AmortizeIT! will print such a disclosure statement. From the
Amortization Schedule routine, press <F10> for the local menu.
Select {prInt}, {APR}. The next screen allows you to set various
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 57
options for a particular loan. Once those options are set, press
<F9> to print the disclosure statement.
NOTE: To obtain an accurate disclosure, you must previously have
entered any points and one time fees associated with
applying for the loan.
RULES OF 78'S
Rule of 78's is an amortization method. While on any amortization
field press the space bar or click on the field with a mouse
until Rule of 78's is selected.
RUNNING TOTALS (RUNNING TTLS)
The amortization schedule tracks running totals for payments,
interest and principal from the origination date. Also, you can
get the total through any period or date through the loan summary
option. Finally, you can use a third-party utility such as PopDBF
to view the AmortizeIT! data file. The data file stores the
running total through any period.
SHORT/LONG FIRST PERIODS
Typically, mortgages payments are due the first of the month.
However, the odds are that a closing will not be on the first of
the month. Consequently, the initial period of a loan will be
either shorter or longer than all of the other periods.
To allow for short or long first periods, while in the
Amortization Schedule routine, the user is prompted for both the
origination date of the loan (the day the funds are advanced) and
the first payment date.
SKIPPED PAYMENTS
Loans can be negotiated so that certain payments may be skipped.
Or the debtor might simply miss a payment.
To skip a payment, from the Amortization Schedule routine, press
<F10> for the local menu. Select {Payments}, {Regular}, and then
either {Annual Adjust} or {Periodic adjust}. Enter a "0" for each
period that the payment is to be skipped. If you want AmortizeIT!
to recalculate the payment so that there will not be a balloon
due as the result of the skipped payment(s) press <Esc> when done
and then press <F9> again to recalculate the schedule. After each
skipped payment, there will be a new payment amount and there
will not be a balloon at the end of the loan.
On the other hand, if you still want to maintain a single payment
amount, you need to do the following: After each "0" payment that
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 58
is entered, you need to press <F10> and copy the regular payment
from the next period to the next skipped period or until the last
period. The copy step is necessary to specifically tell
AmortizeIT! that you do not want the payment amount to change and
that you will accept a final balloon payment caused by the
skipped payment.
NOTE: In this version of AmortizeIT!, it is not possible for the
program to calculate one "level" payment with no resulting
balloon allowing for skipped payments. The user can arrive
at a level payment using a trial and error technique by
setting whatever payment is desired in the periods where a
payment is to be paid. AmortizeIT! will still calculate the
interest due for all periods and apply the payment you have
selected.
SOLVE FOR UNKNOWN
There are 4 primary variables for a loan. They are Amount
Borrowed, the Nominal Interest Rate, the Term and the Payment
Amount. If you provide AmortizeIT! with any of these three, it
will solve for the unknown value.
From the Loan Calculator routine, enter "0" for the unknown value
and press <F9>.
SPEED ENTRY
It is possible, using the optional Setup Program, to prepare an
amortization schedule by only providing two numbers, the Amount
of the Loan and the Number of Payments.
Use the optional Setup Program to set all program defaults to
match the parameters that you require. Also, enter the current
interest rate. Usually lending institutions will be able to quote
a rate for at least a few days and since a default rate can be
set very quickly, this is a practical thing to do. Once the
defaults are set, start AmortizeIT!. Select {Amortization
Schedule}, key in a loan amount, press <Enter> and enter the
Number of Periods. Press <F9> to calculate the schedule.
Also, note that with AmortizeIT!, whenever you display an
amortization schedule, the original loan parameters are always
visible regardless of the year being displayed.
TAX CONSEQUENCES
Presently, mortgage interest is usually tax deductible.
AmortizeIT! will calculate the total income taxes saved due to
mortgage interest paid through any selected payment period. To
see the tax benefit of a mortgage, from the Amortization Schedule
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 59
routine press <F10> for the local menu. Select {Calc}, {Summary}.
Enter a period number or date and your tax bracket. Press <F9> to
calculate. The difference between Interest BEFORE extra payments
and the Net Interest Paid AFTER taxes is the tax consequences of
the mortgage.
TAXES
Often the lender will want to hold real estate taxes in escrow.
AmortizeIT! will allow you to track taxes and to optionally add
the taxes to the regular payment.
From the Amortization Schedule routine, press <F10> for the local
menu. Select {Advances/Fees}, {Taxes}, {Add}. Key in the tax
amount for each period. You can use the copy feature, <F10>, to
copy the same amount across any number of consecutive periods.
Press <Esc> to return to the main screen.
If you want the tax payment to be added to the regular payment
press <F10> for the local menu. Select {opTions}. Set "Increase
by Taxes" to "YES". Press <Esc>. Press <F9> and the payment
amount will include the taxes paid. Note, obviously if this
option is set to "YES" that the Principal and Interest amounts
will, when added together, be less than the displayed payment
amount.
U.S. RULE LOANS
If a loan payment is not large enough to pay the interest due for
the period (negative amortization), the U.S. Rule states that
there cannot be any interest calculated on the unpaid interest
from the previous period.
If negative amortization is occurring and you want the U.S. Rule
to apply, from the main Amortization Schedule screen, press
<Enter> until the cursor is on the Amortization Method field.
Press the <Space Bar> until the U.S. Rule is selected.
NOTE: The optional AmortizeIT! Setup Program will allow you to
set the U.S. Rule as the default for this option.
YEAR-END TOTALS (YTD TOTALS)
Year-end totals are tracked in the amortization schedule for
payments, principal and interest. The "year end" may be a
calendar year, fiscal year or a loan year. From the amortization
schedule's local menu, select {Display} then {Calendar Year}
{Fiscal Year} or {Loan Year}. If you select {Fiscal}, AmortizeIT!
will ask you to pick the ending fiscal month. The primary reason
you would want to know the total for a fiscal year is to know the
amount of interest paid in a fiscal year for tax reporting.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 60
APPENDIX A: COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
There are some switches, or letters, you can use when starting
AmortizeIT!. These switches are added after the AMORTIZE command.
By typing:
AMORTIZE /x <Enter>
where x is the letter of the switch you want to use. What
switches are available?
Purpose Switch
Starts AmortizeIT! in color mode /C
Runs AmortizeIT! in monochrome (black and white mode) /M
Bypasses the graphic title screen (registered users only)
/G
Displays AmortizeIT!'s current settings /D
Changes printer test code, where # is a number /T#
between 1 and 3, inclusive
Changes parallel printer port, where # is a /P#
number between 1 and 3, inclusive
Displays the available AmortizeIT! switches /?
Printing Problems
This version of AmortizeIT! uses a different printing method than
earlier versions of the program. Without being too technical, we
now call BIOS routines instead of DOS routines to print. The
advantage is that printing should be faster than with earlier
versions. The disadvantage is, that printing may not, initially,
work with all printers without altering the setup.
If you cannot print, you may do one of two things:
1. Run the SLVSETUP utility, and adjust the printer test number.
NOTE: See "Appendix B: Really Customizing AmortizeIT!" about this
utility.
2. Pass AmortizeIT! a command line argument to change the printer
test. When you start AmortizeIT!, enter:
AMORTIZE /T# <Enter>
where # is a number from 1 to 3. You may pick Test 1, Test 2,
or Test 3. We have chosen Test 2 as the default, since that is
most likely to work. You may have to make several tries at
printing to see which printer test number is going to work
with your hardware setup.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 61
APPENDIX B: REALLY CUSTOMIZING AmortizeIT!
Registered users of AmortizeIT! receive the separate utility
SLVSETUP.EXE for customizing the program. You can use this
utility to:
* Change the number of lines per page.
* Change the printer port.
* Set a printer test code.
* Change the calculation options, including default interest
rates and points.
* Tell AmortizeIT! whether your monitor is color or monochrome.
* Customize the AmortizeIT! menu colors.
* Change the way menus appear and are chosen.
* Set a default data path for storing amortization tables.
* To customize AmortizeIT!
1. From the AmortizeIT! directory (typically C:\AMORT20), type:
SLVSETUP <Enter>
2. Select what item you wish to customize.
Move the cursor to highlight the item you wish to change or
press the menu choice's capitalized letter.
3. Make your choices.
4. When finished, return to the main menu and select "Save
changes & quit."
If you don't wish to save your changes, select "Quit setup/no
save."
NOTE: If using a serial printer, you will need to use the DOS
MODE command to divert printing from the standard parallel
port (LPT1) to the serial port (COM1 or COM2). Two lines
you may need to type are:
MODE COM2 BAUD=96 PARITY=N DATA=8 <Enter>
MODE LPT1=COM2 <Enter>
NOTE: Your serial printer manual should give you the exact
settings you need. The second line is the most crucial,
redirecting printing to the first parallel port (LPT1) to
the second serial port (COM2). In your case, you may need
to substitute COM1, depending on to which serial port your
printer is connected.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 62
APPENDIX C: FREE MEMORY AND AMORTIZING PERIODS
When creating amortization schedules, AmortizeIT! uses all
available memory below 640K (conventional memory). The more free
memory you have, the greater the number of periods you will be
able to amortize. For example, using MS-DOS 5.0 with about 618K
free, we have been able to amortize loans of nearly 900 periods.
When using the VIDRAM utility from Quarterdeck (included with
QEMM), we have 704K of free memory, allowing us to amortize a
loan with about 1150 periods.
If you are running MS-DOS 5.x or MS-DOS 6.x, use the DOS MEM
command to see how much free conventional memory you have. From
the DOS prompt, type "MEM" and press the Enter key. The amount of
memory listed next to "Largest Executable Program" is your free
conventional memory. You must have about 520K free to amortize a
normal 30-year loan with 360 monthly payments.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 63
APPENDIX D: AmortizeIT! UNDER WINDOWS
AmortizeIT! can work under Microsoft Windows 3.1 as a DOS
application. We have included a PIF (program information file)
you can use to best run AmortizeIT! under Windows.
A PIF allows you to tell Windows how to work with each of your
DOS software programs. If you don't create a PIF for each
program, Windows will use its default DOS PIF, _DEFAULT.PIF.
We've included AMORTIZE.PIF to best let you use AmortizeIT! under
Windows.
* To use AmortizeIT! under Microsoft Windows 3.1
1. Copy the file AMORTIZE.PIF to your \WINDOWS directory.
If you have a typical installation, you would type:
COPY C:\AMORT20\AMORTIZE.PIF C:\WINDOWS <Enter>
2. Copy the AmortizeIT! icons to your \WINDOWS directory.
When you create a Windows icon for AmortizeIT!, you can also
change the icon to one of the two included with the program.
Otherwise, you will have the unattractive default DOS icon
included with Windows.
If you have a typical installation, you would type:
COPY C:\AMORT20\*.ICO C:\WINDOWS <Enter>
3. Start Microsoft Windows.
4. Start the PIF Editor which is found in the Main group.
5. From the File menu, select Open.
6. Open the AMORTIZE.PIF file by double-clicking on it.
7. Edit PROGRAM FILENAME to include the directory that you
installed AmortizeIT! into.
If you used the suggested default directory, enter:
C:\AMORT208.
Optionally, edit the START-UP DIRECTORY to tell WINDOWS where
you want to save your AmortizeIT! work files. The default
directory is C:\AMORT20.
9. Select FILE and SAVE to save your changes.
10. Finally, select FILE, EXIT to leave the PIF Editor.
You now have an AMORTIZE.PIF file so you can run AmortizeIT!
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 64
under Windows. You now must select an icon from which you can
start AmortizeIT!.
11. Highlight a Windows group into which you want to place an
AmortizeIT! icon you can choose to start the program.
12. From the Program Manager, select FILE and then NEW.
13. Press <Enter> to accept the standard choice of a Program
Item.
14. In the Command Line box, enter the name AMORTIZE.PIF.
15. Select Change Icon to use either of the two included icons
for AmortizeIT!.
16. Enter the name AMORT-1.ICO and select OK.
17. Select OK to save your changes.
The icon for AmortizeIT! is placed in the group you were
currently in. If you wish to move this icon to another group,
simply drag it to its new location.
18. To start AmortizeIT! , simply double-click on the new icon.
NOTE: If this is the first time you have run AmortizeIT!, you
will be asked to enter your name and whether or not you see
colors on your screen. After answering these questions, you
will have to start AmortizeIT! again, in order for the
changes to become effective.)
If you ever need to edit this or any other PIF, start the PIF
Editor (which is found in the Main group) and load the PIF you
wish to edit.
NOTE: For more information on PIF files, consult your Windows
manual.
AmortizeIT! for Windows?
We are very much interested in what you think of the Windows
environment. Do you use it? All of the time or some of the time?
We are considering possibly making AmortizeIT! a Windows
application. Would you like that? Considering that every company
has limited resources, would it be better if we added new
features to the DOS version or convert the present version to a
Windows version? Let us know what you think.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 65
APPENDIX E: NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 2.1
Version 2.1 of AmortizeIT! adds a lot of powerful features, among
them are:
* Easily set any custom payment amount.
* Short or Long initial first period options.
* Interest Basis: Ordinary, Actual/360 or Actual/365.
* New Refinance Routine - compares refinancing choices.
* Schedules optionally track both payment due date and actual
payment date which lets interest be tallied for a year if 13
payments are made in that year.
* Optional proof payment feature.
* Support for 15 currencies & International Date format
option.
* Points & Origination Fees.
* Stores data in dBase compatible files so that 3rd party
reporting package can be used and data can be read by any
application that can read dBase files such as Lotus 1-2-3.
* Support for multiple loan advances (Construction Loans).
* Maximum number of periods limited by free base (640K) memory
(about 900).
* Accelerated biweekly - two 1/2 monthly payments made each
month.
* Automatic prepaid next period principal acceleration.
* Optionally show taxes, penalties and/or miscellaneous fees
with payments.
* Canadian Mortgages, i.e. monthly payments with semiannual
compounding.
* Supports any number of initial interest only payments.
* Shows/prints schedule until required balloon payment.
* New APR detail screen.
* Prints Regulation "Z" APR Disclosure statement.
* Faster BIOS printer routines with support for LPT2 & LPT3 as
well as LPT1.
* Mouse support.
* NEW Advanced Summary Screen that tracks tax consequences of
mortgage, discount value of a mortgage, the future value of
extra payments & much more.
* Remaining principal balance calculation on ANY date.
* HyperText Help explaining how each feature is used.
And...
* Full support for Microsoft Windows 3.1. Comes complete with
PIF file and two Window icons.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 66
APPENDIX F: TECHNICAL SUPPORT
As a smaller company, we unfortunately cannot answer every phone
call immediately. If you can't reach us, please leave a message.
We will call you back. Fortunately, we accept calls at our
toll-free 800 number until 10 p.m. EST. Occasionally, we are even
available at that number on Saturday and Sunday.
U.S.A. toll-free: 800-242-9192
International: 609-730-1430
Fax: 609-730-1530
CompuServe: 72366,306
We also maintain a consulting office in NYC: 212-279-5570. If you
wish to write us:
Pine Grove Software
23 Flower Hill Drive, Suite 1600
Trenton, NJ 08638-1203
USA
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 67
APPENDIX G: DATA FILE SPECIFICATION
The following is provided so that users can use third-party
report generators (such as R&R Report Writer) to develop custom
amortization schedules using the data saved in an AmortizeIT! 2.1
data file (dBASE-compatible) or so that when the data file is
read into a spreadsheet program (such as Lotus 1-2-3 or Quattro
Pro), the values can be identified.
We are sorry, but it is beyond the scope of your technical
support to answer questions on the phone about our data file
structure. If you have questions, please send them to us via fax
or CompuServe. We will attempt to provide you with support via
one of these methods, though we reserve the right not to.
Pine Grove Software will develop custom amortization schedules
for interested parties. We will bill clients our normal hourly
consulting rate. Please contact us for a quote.
Record Size: 248
Fields: 29
FIELD_NAMETYPE WIDTH/DEC NOTES
PMTNO Numeric 4 0 payment number
DUEDATE Date 8 payment due date
PMTDATE Date 8 actual payment date
PMT Numeric 12 2 payment amount
PMTSC Numeric 1 0 payment recalc indicator where:
S=user set
C=program calculated
XPMT Numeric 12 2 extra payment
PRIN Numeric 12 2 principal amount
PRINSC Character 1 principal recalc indicator
INT Numeric 12 2 interest amount
INTSC Character 1 interest recalc indicator
REMBAL Numeric 12 2 principal balance
ADVANCE Numeric 12 2 loan advance amount
ADVANDATE Date 8 loan advance date
NEWPMTFLG Logical 1 payment recalc indicator
RATEPAID Numeric 7 4 regular interest rate
PIFLG Character 1 interest only indicator where:
B=both P&I
I=interest only payment
RATEACCRUENumeric 7 4 accrued interest rate
INTACCRUEDNumeric 12 2 accrued interest dollars
RUNPMT Numeric 12 2 running payment total
RUNXPMT Numeric 12 2 running extra payment total
RUNPRIN Numeric 12 2 running principal total
RUNINT Numeric 12 2 running interest total
RUNACCINT Numeric 12 2 running accrued interest total
FEE Numeric 12 2 fee paid
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 68
PENALTY Numeric 12 2 penalty paid
TAXES Numeric 12 2 taxes paid
RESERVED1 Numeric 12 2 for possible future use
RESERVED2 Date 8
RESERVED3 Character 1
dBASE Data File
The DBF data file will have a total of one record for each
payment period plus 2. The first record will contain payment data
for the initial short period. The last record in the file will
contain the loan parameters.
The first record will contain the following information:
[Record1].PmtDate = 34027
(stamps file as an AmortizeIT! data file.)
03/01/93 (displays in dBase file)
[Record1].Advance = Dollars of Prepaid Interest
[Record1].Int = Dollars of Points plus Dollars of
Long
Period Interest
[Record1].IntAccrued = Dollars of Odd Days Interest
Notes
[Record1].RemBal will equal the principal amount of the loan
unless either Points or Long Period interest are amortized. In
that case, the field will equal the initial loan amount plus the
dollars of points or long period interest that is to be
amortized.
The values in the other fields of the first record should be self
explanatory.
The last record will contain the following information:
[TotPer+2].RemBal = Initial Loan Amount
[TotPer+2].PmtDate = Balloon Payment Number
[TotPer+2].Prin = Points (percentage)
[TotPer+2].RatePaid = Initial Interest Rate
[TotPer+2].PmtNO = Total Periods
[TotPer+2].Pmt = Payment Period where:
1=Weekly;2=BiWeekly;3=Monthly
4=BiMonthly;5=Quarterly;
6=SemiAnnually;7=Annual
[TotPer+2].XPmt = Compounding Period; as Payment
Period
plus 8=Continuous
[TotPer+2].IntAccrued = Amortizing Method where:
1=Normal;2=Rules78;
3=USRule;4=Fixed
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 69
Principal;5=Interest Only
[TotPer+2].RateAccrued = Rate Basis where:
1=Ordinary;2=Actual/360
3=Actual/365
[TotPer+2].Int= prepaid interest, points & long period
[TotPer+2].Fee = 1=Payment Increased Due to
Miscellaneous Fees
0=Payment NOT Increased Due to
Misc. Fees
[TotPer+2].Penalty = 1=Payment Increased Due to
Miscellaneous Penalties
0=Payment NOT Increased Due to
Misc. Penalties
[TotPer+2].Taxes = 1=Payment Increased Due to
Miscellaneous Taxes
0=Payment NOT Increased Due to
Miscellaneous
Taxes
[TotPer+2].RunPmt = Short Initial Period Payment where:
1=No Reduction;2=Reduce First Pmt
3=Reduce All
[TotPer+2].RunXPmt = Long Initial Period Payment where:
1=Amortize Interest;2=Interest
w/1st Payment
2=Interest as Prepaid
[TotPer+2].RunPrin = Short Period Interest Calculation
Method where:
1=Prorated;2=Simple 360;3=Simple
365
[TotPer+2].RunInt = Long Period Interest Calculation
Method where:
1=Simple 360;2=Simple 365;
3=Compounded 360;4=Compounded
365[TotPer+2].
RunAccInt = Points collect where:
1=with First Payment;2=as Prepaid
Interest
3=Amortized
[TotPer+2].PmtSC = 1=Biweekly Acceleration
0=NOT Biweekly Acceleration
[TotPer+2].PrinSC = 1=Prepaid Principal Acceleration
0=No Prepaid Acceleration
[TotPer+2].IntSC = 1=ARM Loan
0=NOT Adjustable
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 70
APPENDIX H: EXPLANATION OF THE RULE OF 78'S
Contributed by Morris A. Nunes, Attorney, (703) 241-4917
Outside of banking circles, the Rule of 78's is little
understood, even though it is commonly applied to many consumer
and business loans. For the borrower, it tends to have a
pernicious effect in the nature of a hidden prepayment penalty.
The borrower's disadvantage is heightened by the fact that the
operation of the Rule of 78's is often referred to as a "Rebate
of the Finance Charge." Any consumer who heard the word "rebate"
is always tempted to say, "Where do I sign?"
Not so fast!
Here's how it works: The name comes from the sum of the numbers
one through 12, there being 12 months in a year. Yes, that adds
to 78.
The theory of the Rule of 78's is that at the moment a borrower
signs the Note, the borrower is immediately obligated to pay back
all of the principal and ALL of the interest that will accrue in
the future over the agreed term of the loan.
Now, if the borrower prepays, the lender "generously" forgives
some of the interest EVEN THOUGH at the time for it to accrue has
not yet elapsed and so that additional interest has not been
earned. That's the so-called "Rebate." Lenders argue that the
uncertainty created about an early payoff entitles them to some
compensation for being at the borrower's whim for payoff. In a
time of falling interest rates, that argument may have more merit
than when interest rates are rising as the lender gets to put the
money back to work at a higher rate and earn more.
In any event, the Rebate is calculated by summing the number of
payments elapsed in inverse order as a denominator for the
fraction in which the sum of the term is the numerator. That
fraction times all interest over the life of the loan is the
amount earned by the lender.
Watch this example:
Assume a two-year loan (so we'll assume the numbers 1 through 24)
for $10,000 with interest at 12% per year. Using AmortizeIT!'s
Loan Calculator, we know the monthly payment is $470.73. The
"Loan Table" module's Running Totals also tells us that over the
life of the loan the total amount of aggregate interest to be
paid would be $1,297.65 (using a 365-day year).
After the fourth month, our borrower reaps a windfall and wants
to prepay the whole loan. The fraction of the total interest
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 71
earned by the lender is:
(Sum 24 to 21) over (Sum 1 through Sum 24)
90/300 = 30%
Now, let's compare that to the interest actually paid to date to
see what the penalty will be. From running the "Loan Table"
module, we found the total interest to be $1,297.65 and the
interest paid after four payments is $377.61, so the penalty is:
Earned Interest Per Rule: (30%) ($1,297.65) = $389.30
Interest Paid to Payoff: $377.61
Additional Interest Owed: $11.69
Maybe that doesn't look like too big a number, but it's an
additional 3.1% interest. Had this been a $100,000 loan, the
increased penalty works out to ten times as much, $116.84.
Paying off at different times for different maturities and
different interest rates produces differing penalty sizes. Two
general rules of thumb can be adduced:
1. The higher the interest rate, the greater the penalty amount.
2. The earlier the prepayment in relation to the term, the
greater the penalty amount.
So if you're a lender, you should love using the Rule of 78's. If
you're a borrower, you should try to avoid it. A caution for
lenders: Some states have usury and other laws that may limit use
of the Rule of 78's.
The printed manual provided with the registered version
of the program has a very detailed index.
AMORTIZEIT! USER MANUAL page 72