Amortization Calculator
Create a detailed amortization schedule showing how each payment breaks down into principal and interest over the life of your loan.
Loan Details
Amortization Results
| Payment # | Date | Payment | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|
Amortization Calculator: See Your Loan Payment Schedule
Our comprehensive amortization calculator creates a detailed payment schedule showing exactly how your loan payments break down into principal and interest over time. Understand how each payment reduces your balance and builds equity in your home or asset.
Using an amortization calculator is essential for understanding the true cost of borrowing. It shows you exactly how much interest you’ll pay over the life of your loan and helps you plan for early payoff strategies. The schedule reveals how payments shift from mostly interest to mostly principal over time.
How Amortization Works
Amortization is the process of paying off a loan through regular payments over time. Each payment covers both interest and principal, but the proportion changes over the loan term:
- Early Payments: Mostly interest, small principal reduction
- Middle Payments: Balanced between interest and principal
- Late Payments: Mostly principal, small interest component
Key Features of Our Amortization Calculator
Our calculator provides detailed insights including:
- Complete payment-by-payment schedule
- Visual charts showing principal vs interest over time
- Impact of extra payments on loan term and total interest
- Year-by-year breakdown of payments
- Export options for saving or sharing your schedule
- Comparison of different loan terms and interest rates
Benefits of Understanding Amortization
Understanding your amortization schedule helps you make better financial decisions. You can see exactly how extra payments shorten your loan term, identify the best time to refinance, and understand the true cost of different loan options. This knowledge empowers you to save thousands in interest payments.
Frequently Asked Questions About Amortization
An amortization schedule is a table that shows the breakdown of each loan payment into principal and interest components, along with the remaining balance after each payment. It provides a complete timeline of your loan from start to finish, showing exactly how much interest you’ll pay and when your loan will be paid off.
Early payments are mostly interest because interest is calculated on the outstanding principal balance. At the beginning of the loan, the principal balance is highest, so the interest portion is largest. As you make payments and reduce the principal, the interest portion decreases while the principal portion increases. This is called “front-loaded interest” and is a standard feature of amortizing loans.
Extra payments directly reduce the principal balance, which has a compounding effect on interest savings. Each extra payment reduces future interest calculations and can significantly shorten your loan term. For example, adding $100 to a monthly mortgage payment on a 30-year loan could shorten the term by several years and save tens of thousands in interest.
The best time to make extra payments is as early as possible in the loan term. Since interest is front-loaded, early extra payments have the greatest impact on reducing total interest paid. Even small extra payments at the beginning of a loan can save significant amounts over time compared to making the same payments later in the loan term.
Amortization works similarly for most installment loans (mortgages, auto loans, personal loans), but there are differences: Fixed-rate loans have consistent payments throughout; adjustable-rate loans may have payment changes; interest-only loans delay principal payments; and balloon loans have a large final payment. Our calculator handles standard fixed-rate amortization, which is the most common type.