Accurate Amortization Calculator
Introduction to Amortization
Create a printable amortization schedule with dates to see how much principal and interest you'll pay over time.
- Export to Excel/.xlsx and Word/.docx files.
- Calculate loan payment amount or other unknowns
- Supports 9 types of amortization.
- User can set loan closing date and first payment date independently.
- Automatically calculates prepaid interest
Create a printable amortization schedule that includes payment dates and annual subtotals. The schedule shows how much principal and interest you will pay over the life of the loan. The calculator can calculate any one unknown value: the payment amount, loan amount, interest rate, or loan term.
- What is an amortization schedule?
- An amortization schedule is a table that shows a loan’s complete repayment plan. It lists each payment, detailing how much is applied to the loan’s principal and how much to interest, along with the remaining loan balance. Ideally, the schedule includes payment dates, and year-end subtotals.
- How do I create an amortization schedule?
- Leave all inputs and settings at their default values, then:
- Enter the Loan Amount.
- Enter the expected Number of Payments.
- Set the anticipated closing date and the first payment due date.
- Enter the expected Annual Interest Rate.
- Set the Payment Amount to 0.
(This tells the calculator to solve for the payment amount.) - Click either or .
- Leave all inputs and settings at their default values, then:
That’s it. These are the only steps needed to generate your schedule.
If your loan terms differ from the calculator’s default settings, additional options are available.
Keep reading. The following sections explain each option in more detail. More…
Create an amortization schedule with user-specified dates.
To set your preferred currency and date format, click the “$ : MM/DD/YYYY” link in the lower right corner of any calculator.
Information
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Useful Details —
They Will Help You Get What You Need
First — You must enter a zero (0) in any field where you want the calculator to solve for a value.
Why is this necessary?
The calculator generates a schedule based on the loan terms you specify. The payment amount can be any value, as long as both the lender and borrower agree. There is no single “correct” payment. If the calculator always solved for the previously unknown value, this feature would not be possible.
TIP — Use the amortization schedule to verify the periodic interest charges. These interest values are the most important amounts for borrowers to double-check.
Four values you must always set:
- Loan Amount — The total amount borrowed, also called the principal. This value does not include interest.
- Number of Payments (term) — The length of the loan, measured in payment periods. This value depends on the Payment Frequency setting. For example, for a 15-year loan with biweekly payments, enter 390 as the number of payments.
(390 biweekly payments = 15 years) - Annual Interest Rate — The nominal (quoted) interest rate for the loan.
- Payment Amount — The amount due on each payment date. For a standard amortizing loan, this value includes both principal and interest.
Set one of the values above to 0 if you want the calculator to solve for it.
What two dates are critical for an accurate amortization schedule?
If you only need an estimated schedule, you can skip this section.
For a schedule that is accurate down to the penny—including correct calculation of stub period interest—it is worth taking a few moments to understand the available date settings.
- Loan Closing Date
- This is the date the loan funds become available. It is also called the origination date, loan date, or start date.
- First Payment Due
- This is the date the first payment is scheduled. For most loans, payments typically begin after the loan funds are received. For leases, this date may be the same as the loan closing date.
Important — Entering actual dates may result in interest and payment calculations that differ from those of other calculators.
That is by design.
However, if you want your results to match those from other calculators, then set the "Loan Date" and "First Payment Due" so that the time between them equals one full period, based on the "Payment Frequency" setting.
Example: If the "Loan Closing Date" is April 10th and the "Payment Frequency" is "Monthly," then set the "First Payment Due" to May 10th—if you want to estimate interest based on one full month.
More details about stub period options, including odd-day and irregular-period interest.
Four loan options you likely do not need to change
- Payment Period or Frequency — How often should payments be made? The calculator supports 11 options, including biweekly, monthly, and semiannual (commonly used for bond coupon schedules). Payment dates are calculated starting from the first payment due date, not the closing date.
- Compounding Period or Frequency — In most cases, the compounding frequency should match the payment frequency. This results in simple periodic interest. Selecting Exact/Simple calculates interest based on exact day counts using a simple interest method.
- Points — One point equals 1% of the loan amount. Points are commonly applied to U.S. mortgages.Learn more about points, fees, and APR support.
- Amortization Method — Leave this set to normal unless you have a specific reason to change it.See all nine amortization methods.
Five loan settings you may want to adjust
These options are available by clicking Settings.
- 360 / 365 / 366 — Days-per-year setting. Also called the day count convention, this affects interest calculations when you select a day-based compounding method (such as daily, exact/simple, or continuous), or when the loan includes an irregular first period. The 366-day option applies in leap years. Otherwise, 365 is used.
- Payment & Initial Period Interest Options — Controls how interest is calculated and displayed when the first period (from closing date to first payment) is longer or shorter than the standard interval.More details and examples.
- Last Period Rounding Options — Because payments and interest are rounded to the nearest cent (e.g., $345.0457 is rounded to $345.05), most loans require a rounding adjustment in the final period. A note on the schedule will show the exact adjustment.
- Points, Charges, & APR Options —Learn more about loan schedules with points, fees, and APR options.
- Year-End Month — Sets the month after which year-end and running totals are calculated. This is helpful for businesses with a fiscal year that does not match the calendar year.
FAQs — Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I calculate how much I can borrow?
- Set the Loan Amount to 0.
- Enter the Number of Payments.
- Enter the Annual Interest Rate.
- Enter the expected or target Payment Amount.
- Click or .
- How do I calculate how long it will take to pay off a loan?
- Enter the Loan Amount.
- Set the Number of Payments to 0.
- Enter the Annual Interest Rate.
- Enter the expected or target Payment Amount.
- Click or .
- What interest rate allows me to pay $500 a month?
- Enter the Loan Amount.
- Enter the Number of Payments.
- Set the Annual Interest Rate to 0.
- Enter $500 as the Payment Amount.
- Click or .
Printing the Payment Schedule
Printing works from any type of device. For example, you can print a clean, well-formatted schedule directly from a smartphone to a wireless printer.(This functionality was tested on various iPhone models printing to an HP LaserJet Pro.)
Do not use your browser’s built-in Print menu option.
Always print from the “Print Preview…” window. This screen includes a print button, along with export buttons for .docx and .xlsx formats.
If you’re using a modern browser, you can also print to a PDF. For example, in Chrome, open the browser menu (three vertical dots), choose Print…, then click Change… and select Save as PDF. Other browsers offer similar functionality.
If you encounter printing issues, please let us know which browser and version you’re using. While we test across several browsers, we are unable to test with all printer models (unless you’d like to donate one!).
(Chrome, Edge, and Firefox all offer a “Save to PDF” option in their print menus.)
How do I create Excel (.xlsx) or Word (.docx) amortization schedules?
From the Print Preview screen (after the title page), you’ll see options to export the full amortization schedule as either an Excel (.xlsx) or Word (.docx) file. When exporting to Excel, the schedule is saved as unformatted data. Dates and numbers are preserved as true Excel date and number values—not text—so you can apply your own formatting.
When exporting to Word, the schedule is formatted for readability. You can edit the document freely, adding notes or customizing fonts, styles, and layout as needed. (In our opinion, the Word export is more visually refined than the version printed directly using the print button.)
Amortization Equations
Payment Amount Equation
Fig. 4 — Step-by-step solution of the monthly payment amount equation.
Variables: L = 50,000; c = (5% ÷ 12 months); n = 60.
Variable Definitions
- P
- Payment amount
- L
- Loan amount
- n
- Number of months. The term of the loan.
- c
- Monthly interest rate (nominal annual rate divided by 12).
Calculation Steps
- Substitute the given values into the annuity payment formula:
P = 50,000 × ( (r/n)(1 + r/n)60 ) ÷ ( (1 + r/n)60 – 1 ), withr = 0.05andn = 12. - Evaluate the periodic rate:
r/n = 0.05/12 ≈ 0.0041666666667…, and substitute it into the formula. - Simplify the base term:
(1 + 0.0041666666667…) ≈ 1.0041666666667…, keeping the exponent of 60 in both the numerator and denominator. - Compute the fraction:
(0.0041666666667… × (1.0041666666667…)60) ÷ ((1.0041666666667…)60 – 1) ≈ 0.018871233644…, then multiply by 50,000. - Round the payment to two decimal places for reporting:
P ≈ $943.56.
Step-by-step Solution – Fig. 4
P = 50,000 × ( (0.05/12)(1 + 0.05/12)60 ) ÷ ( (1 + 0.05/12)60 – 1 )≈ 50,000 × ( (0.0041666666667…)(1 + 0.0041666666667…)60 ) ÷ ( (1 + 0.0041666666667…)60 – 1 )≈ 50,000 × ( (0.0041666666667…)(1.0041666666667…)60 ) ÷ ( (1.0041666666667…)60 – 1 )≈ 50,000 × 0.018871233644…≈ 943.56
Final Answer
The final answer (P) is approximately 943.56.
Validate the calculator. Inputs for a six-year amortization.
| Loan Amount: | $50,000.00 | Number of Payments: | 60 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Interest Rate: | 5.0000% | Payment Amount: | =943.56 |
| Loan Closing Date: | First Payment Due: | ||
| Payment Frequency: | Monthly | Compounding: | Monthly |
| Points: | 0.0 | Amortization Method: | Normal |
Notes:
- This example uses the same calculation shown in Fig. 4.
- Enter a zero for the payment amount. The calculated result matches the result above.
- The “Days In Year” setting has no effect in this example because the period spans exactly sixty months with no extra days.
Amortization Equation
Fig. 6 — Step-by-step solution of the normal (general) amortization equation.
Variables: L = 50,000; R = 5%; n = 60; A = 943.56 (See Fig. 4).
Normal amortization, for any period: ending balance = beginning balance + periodic interest − payment.
Variable Definitions
- R
- Nominal annual interest rate.
- i
- Periodic interest rate.
- I
- Periodic interest amount.
- r
- Growth factor per period (also called the per-period accumulation factor).
- t
- Period number.
- Pt-1
- Outstanding balance at the start of period t.
- Pt
- Outstanding balance at the end of period t.
- L
- Loan amount.
- n
- Number of months. The term of the loan.
- A
- Monthly payment amount.
Calculation Steps
- Compute the periodic rate:
i = 0.05/12 ≈ 0.00416666666…. - Compute the per-period growth factor:
r = 1 + i ≈ 1.00416666666…. - Set the period:
t = 1. - Start-of-period balance:
Pt−1 = 50,000. - Accumulate interest for the period:
50,000 × r ≈ 50,208.33333…. - Round the accumulated balance for display:
≈ 50,208.33. - Interest for the period:
I = 50,208.33 − 50,000 = 208.33. - Subtract the payment to get the end-of-period balance:
Pt = 50,208.33 − 943.56 = 49,264.77.
Step-by-step Solution – Fig. 6 (first period)
i = 0.05/12 ≈ 0.00416666666…r = 1 + i ≈ 1.00416666666…t = 1Pt−1 = 50,000= 50,000 × 1.00416666666… ≈ 50,208.33333…≈ 50,208.33I = 50,208.33 − 50,000 = 208.33Pt = 50,208.33 − 943.56 = 49,264.77
Validate the calculator. Five-year, sixty-month amortization schedule proof.
| #/Year | Date | Payment | Interest | Principal | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loan start | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 50,000.00 | |
| 1:1 | 943.56 | 208.33 | 735.23 | 49,264.77 | |
| 2:1 | 943.56 | 205.27 | 738.29 | 48,526.48 | |
| Periods 3–59: Intermediate calculations. | |||||
| 59:5 | 939.75 | ||||
| 60:5 | 943.56 | 3.92 | 939.64 | 0.11 | |
| Without any final rounding, a $0.11 principal balance remains. | |||||
| 60:5 (final adjustment) | 943.67 | 3.92 | 939.75 | 0.00 | |
| Last payment increased by $0.11 due to interest rounding. | |||||
Notes:
- The results in the above table are taken from the calculator. They match the calculation shown in Fig. 6.
Beyond Basic Amortization Schedules
Need more options?
Explore seven additional loan amortization calculators
- Mortgage Calculator — estimate future home value and compare it to the total mortgage cost
- Extra Payment Calculator — apply lump-sum or recurring extra payments with a full amortization schedule
- Loan Calculator — includes support for date-based calculations in a mobile-friendly layout
- Auto Loan Calculator — evaluate the full cost of vehicle ownership
- Biweekly Calculator — compare a biweekly schedule to a standard monthly repayment in a single view
- Ultimate Financial Calculator — build schedules with skipped payments, rate changes, and more advanced conditions
- Loan Payoff Calculator — track regular or irregular payments on any date
We hope you find this to be a comprehensive amortization tool. If you need help with a specific scenario or are not sure how to achieve your result, feel free to leave a question in the comments section below.
FRED ALEXANDER says:
Your suggestion of changing browsers worked with Google Chrome. I was able to print the schedule.
Thanks.
Fred Alexander
Karl says:
Good to hear. Thanks for letting me know. (But printing should work from Edge too, assuming it’s the current version of Edge.)
Steve B says:
The Settings for “initial period interest payment options” seem to need adjustment?
I tried doing a schedule for a loan with equal monthly payments of a given amount, and an initial short period of 1/2 month. Setting the radio button for “reduce first”, the result was a schedule with first payment HIGHER than the fixed given monthly payment.
Playing around, I found that setting the radio button for “no payment reduction” produced the schedule with the proper first payment.
Either I’m mixed up about definitions or the program is mixed up
Karl says:
I’m happy to look, but the details are important. Please provide all details about the loan, including the dates and how the compounding option is set.
One observation, if you set the payment amount to an amount that would not be enough to fully amortize the loan (bring the balance to 0 at the end of the term) then the payment for the short period would have to be higher than other payments because this calculator assumes the balance will be 0 at the end.
If you don’t necessarily want a 0 balance at the end, I’ll recommend a different calculator to you.
Steve B says:
Loan details – $119,597.72 available 31 December at 2.25% simple interest with fixed monthly payments of $990.02 due the 15th of each month beginning 15 Jan. Zero balance at end.
For the calculator, the number of payments is set to zero; and “reduce first” for the initial period option setting. The resulting first payment is $1,167.23, with 137 total payments.
Changing only the setting “reduce first” to “no payment reduction” corrects the first payment to $990.02
Karl says:
This is an interesting example. The key to my understanding of the problem was telling me that initially, the loan’s term was unknown.
The calculator is accurate. The problem is a lack of documentation.
When solving for a loan’s term, the calculator will never return a fractional period. After all, a lender will never quote the borrower a term of 180.5 payments, even if for the payment amount such a term is required to reach a 0 balance. Instead, one of the payments will be adjusted to eliminate the 1/2 period. Given that, the user should not, when solving for the term, set up an initial short (or long) period (that fact is missing from my documentation).
Let’s walk through your example.
Loan Amount: $119,597.72
Rate: 2.25%
Payment: $990.02
Loan Date: 12/15/2021 <-- note the change First Payment Date: 01/15/2022 The term is 137 payments. But, notice that regular payments of $990.02 are not large enough to reach a 0 balance. The final payment needs to be adjusted to $1,374.30. (This adjustment is made because the default setting for "Last Payment Rounding Options" is set to "Adjust last amount to reach "0" balance") The calculator could have also calculated a term of 138 periods (either is "correct"), and then the amount for the final 138th payment would have been less than $990.02. As the user, you can look at these numbers and pick whichever term you want! Now, to your specific case, that is, with the loan date set to 12/31/2021. My earlier statement is applicable here:
With the loan date adjusted to 12/31 and using a term of 137 payments of $990.02, the final payment is now $1,219.53 when the short period option is set to "No payment reduction."
The short and long period options are guidelines for the calculator. They are not absolute directives. And in your case, when you change the option to "Reduce first", this isn’t meaningful because the payments aren’t large enough, to begin with. What is happening is, when the option is selected, the first payment is adjusted rather than the last payment. The calculator won’t show an incorrect result and therefore it increases the first payment to make up for the shortfall in the regular periodic payment amount. After the first payment increase, the final payment is only adjusted by a penny, i.e. to $990.03. (It would be better if I called this option simply "Adjust first payment" rather than "Reduce first". But reduce first will be correct in probably 90% plus of cases because users will likely be using a normally calculated payment amount, which for your case with 137 equal, full-term payments would be $992.48.)
Term calculations can be confusing. I might add additional documentation, but I’m not sure how many people will read it.
Steve B says:
Wow! Thank you, sir, for sorting this out!
And before going any further I write a hearty thank you and expression of appreciation for making this powerful tool available.
You may be interested to learn that the challenge I was trying to meet is a re-amortization for a loan made 68 months ago, on which a major pre-payment of principal was made at year end, right in the middle of a payment period. Hence the oddball numbers, which conspired to become an exception.
I had gotten around the problem first by simply doing a manual computation for that initial payment, then using the calculator to produce the remaining eleven years or so of the amortization table. And then, as already stated, I played around with what was clearly a very sophisticated device until I blundered into a result much better than my patchwork solution.
I’m glad I raised the question anyway, and that it was of interest.
Karl says:
You’re welcome. I’m happy to hear that the information was useful. Thanks for letting me know.
You may be interested in trying this loan payoff calculator. It gives the user the ability to track payments on the date paid. Users can also save their entries to a file for later recall.
Tracy Eldridge says:
Great template. I’m trying to create a table with missed payments at different periods. How can I put zero in on the months missed?
Karl says:
Thank you.
You can’t. Not with this calculator.
But you can with this loan payoff calculator which will also create an amortization schedule for you.
Jerry Gibson says:
I like the way this layout is, except I need 2 additional things: (1) A way to change the payment date and/or amount or a way to add additional payment amount so the program will self re-calculate and come up with the correct figures. (2) A way to save the program so if next year I need to change any dates or amounts or add additional payments or dates I can edit where the changes need to be made.
Also it would be handy to have a print button so it could be printed out in pdf formant (or automatically convert xml to whatever format we need (like open office calc).
Also a way way to add at the top Seller and Buyer information (and anything else we want to add especially for installment sales), and a way at the bottom to show breakout of how loan amount was arrived at.
Once I figure out how to save this in pdf format (again, ) it it easy to put at the top Seller and Buyer info and at the bottom any additional notes pertaining to loan break out info. But if I have to make changes on future printouts, then I have to re-invent the wheel by re-typing all that header and footer info again. Is there a way to add to this existing program a way to do this. There was an answer to one question that said use another program that would let you add payments. However, when I looked at it, it left off the beginning info such as beginning date, beginning amount, payment amount, and other things this 1st program had.
As I mentioned, I like the format of this 1st program, it just didn’t go far enough to let us add additional amount or dates or edit what needs to be edited.
Karl says:
Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate the time you spent on this.
As to your two requirements, I already have a calculator on this site that will fulfill them. Please see the Ultimate Financial Calculator. The UFC allows the user to enter any payment amount, as of any date into the schedule, and the schedule’s layout is the same.
If you try the calculator, check out the tutorials. There’s a link to them on the calculator’s page.
As to your other points, whenever you click on a calculator’s "Print Preview" button (or sometimes labeled "Payment Schedule" or similar), the window which opens will always have a print button in the top left corner and at the end of the schedule.
As to PDFs, all modern browsers (to my knowledge) will give the option to the user to print to PDF rather than the printer. Look at where you select your printer (after clicking print) and the dropdown should have PDF as an option.
As for saving your data for later recall, that’s what the "File" button is for.
The calculators also give the user the option to enter (and save) various items of metadata (though admittedly not all the data points that you want).
Christine says:
Instead of printing, why don’t you change your printer to “Save as .pdf” and it will save as a file to your hard drive.
Ariella Falkowski says:
Hi there,
I seem unable to save this file in a form that my computer can open. I have Excel, but it won’t open it in a readable format with the date properly inputted/displayed.
Can you help with this?
Thank you!
Karl says:
I’ll try. Are you using the file save feature? And you are then loading the saved XML file into Excel? How is the date begin shown? And how are you expecting it to be shown?
TJL says:
print function does not work, cannot save to pdf or print, please advise
Karl says:
How are you trying to print? Did you click on "Print Preview" fill in or skip the title page information and then click on one of the "Print" buttons?
If so, then can you print from other applications? My guess is, your printer driver has crashed and you’ll need to reboot. For if you followed the above steps, there should be no issues with printing.
T Landau says:
thank you – however, print buttons were not appearing. I had no trouble with any other printing, perhaps check into this….not sure why? I have since purchased the SolveIT! product and am now able to print.
However, I now have another question. I notice when I print my reports the author is the IT person at my firm. Is there a way to change this? Thanks again
Karl says:
Thank you for your purchase.
For the prepared by, click on "Preferences" in the menu at the top of the main window. Then select "Global Options." At the bottom of the window that opens is the "Prepared by" setting.
About not seeing the print buttons on the online calculator. They certainly should be there. I’m wondering what device you are using? Was it a mobile device and the print preview was too large to see all of it? Or if a desktop computer, do you have your fonts set to a larger size which may have pushed the buttons off-screen. Either way, I’m surprised you can’t see the button at the end of the schedule, in the bottom center.
T Landau says:
Prepared by worked! thanks
As far as the Printing…….I am working on a desktop. My font is a standard 10 or 12 point.
FYI I have used this calculator before, and never had an issue. Not sure what caused the change. But thank you for your thoughts.
Hlee says:
Hi there, please forgive me if this is a foolish question –
Yesterday 2/9/22 I created an amortization schedule with these inputs:
Loan amount: $788,081.13
Annual interest rate: 6%
Loan date: 3/1/22
Payment frequency: Biweekly
Periodic payment: $12,500
1st payment due: 4/1/22
When we generated the amortization the first line says:
#/Year Date Payment Interest Principal Balance
Loan: 3/1/22 2,235.88 2,235.88 0.00 788,081.13
The rest of the amortization makes sense. Can you please help me understand this line? It is not really a payment that we are receiving but it adds to the payment and interest column. Thank you!!!
Karl says:
I hope I can.
Per the dates you provided, you have what we call a long first period. That is, your payment frequency is biweekly, by the time between the loan date and the first payment date is a month. A long(er) first period creates odd days – March 1 to March 18. How should the interest for these odd days be collected? The calculator defaults to the loan’s origination date. However, the user has control over this. If you would rather see the odd day interest rolled into the first payment, click on "Settings," and then click on "Long/Short Period Options." Change the setting to "With first." Save the changes and recalculate.
The "None" option means the calculator will "forget" about these odd days – no interest will be calculated for them.
The "Amortize" option means that each payment will be increased slightly so that a little bit of the odd day interest will be rolled into each payment.
How’s that? Does that help?
Hlee says:
Perfect, thank you very much!
ravi says:
Hi,
May I know how the last installment is same as the other emi’s even we are going with actual/actual calculation, whats the calculation process
Karl says:
I don’t know that it’s the same. You didn’t provide all the necessary details including what the inputs are and how options are set.
Sorry, but I can only deal with specifics when someone is questioning an amount. Note though, the "Last Period Rounding Options" under "Settings" impacts the last payment calculation.
ravi says:
HI,
My calculations are done for below parametres :
IR12%
Date of Disbursement :2/25/2022
Loan amount :1,000,000.00
EMI start Date :3/25/2022
TENURE :24 months
COMPOUNDING : Exact/Simple
PAYMENT FREQUENCY : Monthly
AMORTIZATION METHOD : Normal
SETTINGS :366 (for leap years otherwise 365)
Rounding Options: Adjust last interest
My question is if am doing actuals / actuals am getting 2 scenarios :
1.Some left over balance in principal and getting uniform emi across all installments
( OR )
2.Last emi amount is different from actual emi and my principal balance is zero
If am using your calculator with above said specification like rounding off options am getting correct values , my emi is uniform even for last installment and principal balance is also becoming zero .
Kindly explain how it is working
Karl says:
"My question is…"
You actually didn’t ask any questions. 🙂 I don’t see a single question mark.
Are you trying the calculation yourself? And you are asking me why you are getting 2 different results? If that’s the question, I don’t know. You haven’t provided the details.
"Kindly explain how it is working"
What is "it"? The calculator? That’s a very general question and one that I can not take up here. Sorry.
Erica Osborne says:
Hello,
I’m looking for a calculator that the note is paid in say 108 payments but fully amortized over 360. is there a calculator that does that??
Karl says:
Hi, yes there is. That would be the balloon payment calculator. If this doesn’t do what you need, let me know what is not meeting your needs and there’s are other calculators on the site that should work for you.