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Amortization Schedule

The full payment-by-payment breakdown of a loan — where every payment goes, and how the split between interest and principal shifts over time.

Works for any loan: mortgage, auto, student, personal.

Inputs

Loan Amount — the principal.

Interest — the rate.

Loan Term — entered in Years or Months, whichever suits the loan.

View — Monthly or Yearly. Monthly gives you every payment; yearly summarizes by year, which is far more readable on a thirty-year mortgage.

What the schedule shows

For each period: how much of the payment goes to interest, how much to principal, and what balance remains.

The thing worth seeing

Your payment stays the same. What it does changes completely.

Early in a loan, most of each payment is interest. On a long mortgage, the first few years barely touch the principal — you can make twelve payments and watch the balance move a few thousand dollars. Late in the loan the reverse is true, and nearly the whole payment goes to principal.

This is the single most useful thing an amortization schedule teaches, and it explains two things at once:

Why early extra payments matter so much. An extra payment in year two goes almost entirely against principal, removing every future interest charge that principal would have generated. The same payment in year twenty-five removes far less.

Why the first years feel like nothing is happening. Because, in balance terms, very little is. That's the structure of the loan, not a sign you're doing something wrong.

How to use it

Before borrowing — look at the total interest. On a long loan it can approach or exceed the principal, which is a number worth confronting before you sign rather than after.

When comparing terms — run 15 and 30 years on the same loan. The monthly payments differ by a manageable amount; the totals differ enormously.

When deciding about extra payments — see where you are on the curve. If you're early, extra payments are working hard. If you're near the end, the case is weaker and the money may do more elsewhere.

Yearly view first. Monthly is exhaustive to the point of being hard to read. Start yearly to see the shape, then go monthly if you need a specific period.

Add To Budget

Add To Budget pushes the loan into your Budget Builder inputs, confirming with Loan added to budget and a Go To Budget shortcut.

Related calculators

This one shows you the schedule. Others answer specific questions: