Loan Amortization Schedule

A loan amortization schedule is a table that breaks your loan down payment-by-payment (or year-by-year), showing exactly how much of each payment goes toward interest and how much reduces your principal balance, until the balance reaches zero.

Each period, interest is calculated on the current outstanding balance, then subtracted from your fixed payment — whatever remains reduces the principal. That new, smaller balance becomes the starting point for the next period's interest calculation.

Because interest is charged on the outstanding balance, and your balance is at its highest right after you take out the loan. As the balance shrinks month by month, the interest portion shrinks too, and more of each payment goes toward principal.

Principal is the portion of your payment that reduces what you actually borrowed. Interest is the cost of borrowing that money, calculated as a percentage of your remaining balance. Together they make up your fixed monthly payment.

On a standard fixed-rate loan, no — your total payment stays the same every month. What changes internally is the split: the interest share shrinks and the principal share grows as your balance goes down.

Negative amortization happens when your payment isn't even large enough to cover the interest due, so the unpaid interest gets added to your principal balance instead of reducing it — meaning you actually owe more over time rather than less.

Every extra dollar you pay goes straight to reducing principal, since your interest is already covered by the standard payment. That smaller principal balance means less interest accrues going forward, which compounds into meaningfully faster payoff and lower total interest.

Lenders use E = P × [r × (1+r)^n] / [(1+r)^n − 1], where P is the principal, r is the monthly interest rate, and n is the total number of payments. This calculator runs that formula, then simulates it month-by-month to build your schedule.

A 15-year mortgage has a higher monthly payment but a much steeper principal paydown and dramatically lower total interest, since the bank has far less time to compound interest against you. A 30-year mortgage spreads payments thinner but costs significantly more in cumulative interest.

Yes — this calculator's schedule table groups your results by year, showing the principal paid, interest paid, and remaining balance for each year of the loan so you can track progress at a glance rather than scrolling through hundreds of monthly rows.

Refinancing effectively restarts your amortization clock — you take out a new loan (often at a new rate and term) to pay off the old one, and the new loan's schedule begins fresh with its own principal-to-interest curve.

Yes. A higher rate means a larger share of each payment goes to interest rather than principal, especially in the early years, which slows down how quickly your outstanding balance — and therefore your equity — improves.

It's the point in the schedule where the principal portion of your payment overtakes the interest portion. On long-term loans like 30-year mortgages, this can take over a decade; shorter loans or extra payments reach it much sooner.

The underlying math is identical — a reducing balance with interest calculated on what's left each period. Auto loans just use much shorter terms (often 3-7 years), so the schedule compresses the same interest-to-principal shift into a far smaller window.

A fully amortizing loan is structured so that your regular payments pay off the entire principal and all interest by the end of the term, leaving a zero balance with no lump sum due — the type of schedule this calculator models.

A partially amortizing loan only pays down part of the principal through regular payments, leaving a remaining balance — often called a balloon payment — due as a lump sum at the end of the term.

No — this schedule covers principal and interest only, which is the core of your loan's amortization math. Property taxes, homeowners insurance, and PMI (if applicable) are typically billed separately or escrowed and aren't part of the loan's amortization itself.

Yes. The reducing-balance formula applies to any fixed-rate installment loan, whether it's a mortgage, auto loan, or personal loan — just enter your principal, rate, and tenure to see the schedule.

That's exactly what the "Total Interest" figure in your results shows — the sum of every period's interest charge across the full tenure, based on the principal, rate, and term you entered.

A one-time lump sum reduces your balance once, saving interest only on the periods after that payment. A recurring extra payment compounds that benefit every single month, which typically saves substantially more in total interest and shaves off more time.

Each period's interest is calculated on the balance left over from the previous period, so a smaller balance directly produces a smaller interest charge next time — a compounding effect that works in your favor as the loan progresses.

Your principal balance is what you still owe on the loan. It decreases each period by exactly the principal portion of your payment, which grows larger every month as the interest portion shrinks.

Total interest depends on tenure and payment size, not just rate. A longer term or lower monthly payment gives interest more time to accrue against a slowly-shrinking balance, even at an identical interest rate.

The schedule's balance column tells you exactly how much principal you'll still owe at any future point, which lets you estimate your equity and likely payoff amount if you sell or refinance in a given year.

Equity is the difference between what your asset is worth and what you still owe on it. As the schedule's balance column drops each year, the portion of the asset's value that's actually "yours" grows in step.

Biweekly payments effectively squeeze in one extra full payment per year (26 half-payments equal 13 monthly payments), which acts like a built-in extra payment strategy and can meaningfully shorten your amortization schedule.

Simple interest is calculated once on the original principal for the whole term. Amortized interest recalculates each period based on the current, shrinking balance — which is why amortized loans usually cost less in total interest than an equivalent flat-rate structure.

The balance column shows exactly how much principal remains unpaid at the end of that period. It should steadily decrease toward zero by your final scheduled payment.

Not quite. An amortization schedule is a forward-looking projection based on your loan terms, showing what should happen each period. A payment history is the actual record of what you've paid, which may differ slightly due to late fees, extra payments, or rate changes.

On a fixed-rate loan, the schedule is locked in unless you make extra payments, refinance, or the lender agrees to a modification. Variable-rate loans can see the schedule shift whenever the interest rate resets.

It's another name for the standard amortized loan structure used here — interest is charged only on the balance that's actually still outstanding each period, rather than on the full original amount for the whole term.

Each time your rate adjusts, the schedule effectively recalculates from that point forward using the new rate on your current balance, which can raise or lower your payment or extend/shorten your remaining term depending on the direction of the change.

It shows you the real cost of the loan — not just the monthly payment, but the total interest, how long it takes to build meaningful equity, and how sensitive the loan is to prepayment — information that helps you compare offers honestly.

It depends heavily on the extra amount relative to your payment, but even modest recurring extra payments can shave years off a 30-year term and save a substantial amount in interest — enter your numbers above to see your specific "Months Saved" figure.

No — PMI is a separate cost tied to your down payment size, not part of the principal-and-interest amortization math itself. This calculator focuses purely on the loan's principal and interest breakdown.

Loan term is the total length of the loan. A longer term lowers your monthly payment but stretches out the amortization curve, meaning it takes longer before principal starts outpacing interest in each payment.

This calculator displays your schedule directly in the browser for quick reference; most browsers let you print or save the page as a PDF if you'd like a copy to keep.

In accounting, amortization schedules are used to record interest expense and principal reduction accurately over time, which matters for financial statements, loan servicing, and tracking asset or liability balances correctly period by period.

With a 0% rate, there's no interest component at all — your payment (plus any extra payment) goes entirely toward principal, and the schedule simply shows the balance declining evenly until it reaches zero.

An amortized loan's payments reduce both principal and interest from day one. An interest-only loan's payments cover interest alone for an initial period, meaning the principal balance doesn't move until amortizing payments (or a lump sum) kick in later.

Because interest is always calculated on the full outstanding balance, and your balance is largest on day one regardless of how long the loan term is — the interest share is proportionally larger only relative to how much of the balance has been paid down so far.

Some loans charge a fee for paying down principal faster than scheduled. Before making large extra payments, check your loan agreement for any prepayment penalty clause so the interest you save isn't offset by a fee.

Total cost is your principal plus every dollar of interest paid over the full term. The schedule reveals it by summing the interest column across every period, which is often surprisingly larger than the loan amount itself on long, high-rate loans.

Yes — running the same principal through two different rate/term combinations lets you see side by side how much each option actually costs in total interest, not just which one has the lower advertised monthly payment.

Yes. A refinance pays off your existing loan with a new one, so the new loan starts its own fresh amortization schedule based on its new principal, rate, and term — effectively resetting the interest-heavy early period.

Your payoff date is the point at which your balance reaches zero given your current payment (and any extra payments). It's calculated by running the amortization simulation forward until the outstanding balance hits zero.

It applies the same standard reducing-balance amortization math lenders use, so the figures are mathematically precise for the numbers you enter. Your bank's official schedule may differ slightly due to fees, exact day-count conventions, or rounding rules specific to that lender.

No. All calculations run instantly in your browser. Nothing you enter into the Loan Amount, Interest Rate, Tenure, or Extra Payment fields is transmitted or stored anywhere.

In some jurisdictions, mortgage interest is tax-deductible, and a detailed year-by-year interest figure can help you estimate that deduction. Because tax rules vary by location and change over time, confirm specifics with a tax professional before relying on it for filing.

This calculator gives you an educational estimate of your payment schedule based on the numbers you enter. For a lender-specific estimate of how much you could actually borrow, try our Loan Eligibility Estimator, then confirm final terms directly with your bank.