Accurate Amortization Calculator

Create a printable amortization schedule, with dates and subtotals, to see how much principal and interest you'll pay over time. This calculator will calculate an uknown payment amount, loan amount, rate, or term.

An amortization schedule is the loan report showing the amount paid each period and the portion allocated to principal and interest. The schedule will frequently also show the date the payment is due or paid and subtotals for each year.

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

Click to Try It Now!

1. Leave all inputs and setting set to their defaults, and:
   • Enter the "Loan Amount."
   • Enter the expected "Number of Payments."
   • Set the anticipated closing date and first payment due date.
   • Enter the anticipated "Annual Interest Rate."
2. Set "Payment Amount" to "0."
   (the unknown)
3. Click either "Calc" or "Print Preview".

That's it! That's all you need to do to create your schedule quickly.

But what if the terms of your loan do not conform to this calculator's default settings?

Then keep reading. I'll explain all the options below. More

Always enter (and reenter) a 0 for the unknown value.

Note - You must enter a zero if you want a value calculated.

Why?

Because we want this calculator to create a payment schedule using the loan terms you need. The payment amount can be whatever you want it to be. A payment is "correct" as long as both the lender and debtor agree on the amount! (If the calculator always recalculated the last unknown, then this feature would not be possible.)

TIP - Use an amortization schedule to confirm the periodic interest charges. Interest amounts are the calculations that borrowers should be validating.

Four values you will always need to set:

• Loan Amount - the amount borrowed, i.e., the principal amount. It does not include interest.
• Number of Payments (term) - the length of the loan. The "Payment Frequency" setting also impacts the loan's term. For a term of fifteen years, if the payment frequency is biweekly, you need to enter 390 for the number of payments. (390 biweekly payments = 15 years)
• Annual Interest Rate - the nominal interest rate. This the quoted interest rate for the loan.
• Payment Amount - the amount that is due on each payment due date. For "normal amortization," this includes principal and interest.

Set one of the above to 0 if unknown.

• How do I calculate how much I can borrow?
  1. set the loan amount to zero
  2. enter the number of payments
  3. enter the annual interest rate, and
  4. enter the expected or desired payment
  5. click "Calc" or "Print Preview"

• How do I calculate how long it will take to pay off a loan?
  1. enter the loan amount
  2. set the number of payments to zero
  3. enter the annual interest rate, and
  4. enter the expected or desired payment
  5. click "Calc" or "Print Preview"

• What interest rate allows me to pay $500 a month?
  1. enter the loan amount
  2. enter the number of payments
  3. set the annual interest rate to zero, and
  4. enter $500 for the payment amount
  5. click "Calc" or "Print Preview"

If you want an estimated schedule, you may skip over this section.

But, if you want an accurate, to the penny amortization schedule, you should spend a minute or two understanding these options.

Which two dates are most critical to an accurate amortization schedule?

To Quickly
Pick a Date

• Loan Closing Date - the date the money is available. It is also known as the origination date, loan date, or start date.
• First Payment Due - for leases, it may be the same as the closing date; otherwise, payments will usually start sometime after the borrower has had access to the loan proceeds.

Important - Selecting dates will result in interest charges as well as payment calculations that do not match other calculators.

And that's the point!

However, if you want to match other calculators, then set the "Loan Date" and "First Payment Due" so that the time between them equals one full period as set by "Payment Frequency."

Example: If April 10th is the "Loan Date" and the "Payment Frequency" is "Monthly," then set the "First Payment Due" to May 10th, that is if you want an estimated interest calculation.

More details about the settings available for odd day and irregular period interest.

Four loan options you most likely don't need to touch.

• Payment Period or Frequency - how often do you want to schedule payments? The calculator supports 11 options, including biweekly, monthly, and semiannual (useful for bond coupon interest schedules). The schedule calculates the payment dates from the first payment due date (not the closing date).
• Compounding Period or Frequency - usually, the compounding frequency should be set to the same setting as the payment frequency. Doing so results in simple, periodic interest. Setting this option to "Exact/Simple" results in simple, exact day interest.
• Points - one point is one percent of the loan amount. Points are generally applicable to U.S. mortgages. More about loan schedules with points, fees, and APR support.
• Amortization Method - leave this setting set to "normal" unless you have a specific reason for setting it otherwise. For a complete explanation of these options, see Nine Loan Amortization Methods.

Five loan options you may want to tweak.

These options are available by clicking on "Settings."

• 360 / 365 / 366 - days-per-year option. This setting, also known as the day count convention, impacts interest calculations when you set compounding frequency to a day based frequency (daily, exact/simple or continuous) or when there are odd days caused by an initial irregular length period. The 366 days in year option applies to leap years, otherwise the interest calculation uses 365 days.
• Payment & Initial Period Interest Options - settings for how interest is shown on the schedule when the initial payment period (the time between the closing date and first payment date) is longer or shorter than the selected payment frequency. Click for more details and examples.
• Last Period Rounding Options - due to payment and interest rounding each pay period (for example, payment or interest might calculate to 345.0457, but a schedule will round the value to 345.05), almost all loan schedules need a final rounding adjustment to bring the balance to "0." A footnote on the payment schedule informs you of the rounding amount.
• Points, Charges, & APR Options - see loan schedules with points, fees, and APR support.
• Year-End Month - this setting establishes after what month the calculator shows year-end and running totals. This option is to accommodate businesses with fiscal year ends that do not coincide with the calendar year-end.

Printing will work from any type of device. It's pretty cool to print a well-formatted schedule from a smartphone that is connected wirelessly to a modern printer. (I've personally tested this using various iPhones printing to an HP LaserJet Pro printer.)

DO NOT USE THE PRINT SELECTION FROM YOUR BROWSER'S MENU.

Make sure you are printing from the "Print Preview..." window where there is a print button along with .docx and .xlsx buttons.

If you are using a modern browser, you can print to a PDF as well. For example, if you are using Chrome, click on the menu (the three verticle dots) and select "Print..." Click on the "Change..." button and select "Save as PDF." Other browsers will work similarly.

If you have any problems, please let me know what browser and version you are using. I can test various browsers, but unfortunately, I can't check too many printers (unless you plan to donate one to the cause!).

How do I create Excel/xlsx or Word/docx amortization schedules?

From the "Print Preview" screen (after the title page) along with the print option, you'll be given the option to save the full amortization schedule to either an Excel/xlsx file or a Word/docx file. When exporting to Excel, the schedule is exported as data (no formatting). The dates and numbers are are represented in Excel as true dates and numbers and not text. The user can apply their own formatting as desired.

If you save to a Word/docx file, the amortization schedule is nicely formatted. You are free to add your own notes or to change the formatting, fonts and style as needed. Also, in my opinion, the Word amortization schedule is a bit prettier than the one you can print using the print button.

Hopefully, you'll find this to be a full-featured amortization calculator. If there's something you need, and it's not clear how to accomplish it, you may leave your question in the comments below