Monthly Loan Balance Calculator for Intermittent and/or Uneven Payments

Monthly Loan Balance Calculator Sign

The Loan Balance Calculator can be used to track variable payments on any monthly installment loan. This includes auto, RV, personal or student loans, certain types of promissory notes, contracts for deed, 1st, and 2nd mortgages, and so on.

And it can be used from either a lender's perspective or from a borrower's perspective.

Specifically, the calculator will create an editable monthly payment schedule for a time period of your choosing.

From there you can then change the default payment amounts to match the actual payment amounts, and you can make adjustments to the principal balance (up or down) for any month that falls within the selected time frame.

In other words, for any monthly payment period, the calculator will allow you to:

  • Clear out a skipped or overdue payment.
  • Enter a partial payment.
  • Enter an extra payment.
  • Enter a late fee or penalty.
  • Reduce or increase the principal balance.

Plus, you can set the calculator's amortization method to either US Rule or Normal (negative amortization).

Then, once you have the payment schedule changed to match the actual, you can view and print out a revised loan amortization schedule.

And finally, you will also have the option of downloading a .csv file for importing into Excel or Open Office Calc spreadsheets.

Note that the member version of this calculator includes a feature for downloading a .csv file for importing into Excel or Open Office Calc spreadsheets.

Other Loan Balance Calculators

If you are making or receiving bi-weekly loan payments, use the Biweekly Loan Balance Calculator.

If the principal repayment is ahead of schedule, I recommend you use the Loan Pay Off Calculator instead.

Or, if you are looking to calculate the current balance on a loan that you have been making the prescribed monthly payments on, please visit the much simpler Remaining Balance Calculator.

Or, if you need to keep track of the running balance on a promissory note or personal loan, check out the Daily Interest Loan Calculator. It allows you to calculate simple or compounding interest between dates, or for a given number of days, or over the course any number of separate transaction periods.

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Monthly Loan Balance Calculator

Calculate the loan balance and revised amortization schedule for monthly installment loans when payments have been different from the original terms (irregular, extra, skipped, or partial payments).

Special Instructions

Learn More

Selected Data Record:

A Data Record is a set of calculator entries that are stored in your web browser's Local Storage. If a Data Record is currently selected in the "Data" tab, this line will list the name you gave to that data record. If no data record is selected, or you have no entries stored for this calculator, the line will display "None".

DataData recordData recordSelected data record: None
Original Loan Terms

Loan Terms:

This section is for entering the original loan terms needed to create the editable payment schedule.

Note that once you click the "Create Schedule" button, all but the "Loan Name" fields will be disabled. Therefore please make sure you have the correct numbers entered before creating and editing the schedule.

Loan name:Loan name:Name of loan:Name of the loan you are tracking:

Loan name:

If you will be printing the loan amortization schedule or you will be tracking more than one loan, enter the name of the loan here.

Beg bal:Beginning balance:Beginning principal balance:Beginning principal balance:

Beginning principal balance:

Enter the dollar amount of the principal balance that coincides with the month and year you would like the payment schedule to start. Enter only numbers and no more than one decimal point (no commas or dollar signs).

$
Rate:Interest rate:Annual interest rate:Annual interest rate:

Annual interest rate of the loan:

Enter the annual interest rate you are paying (or collecting) on the loan balance. Enter as a percentage without the percent sign (for .06, or 6%, enter 6).

Note that if the interest rate changes during the repayment period, it's best to create a second payment schedule starting from where rate change occurred. Use the balance just prior to the rate change on the old rate schedule as the starting balance for the new rate schedule.

%
Orig # pmts:Orig # pmts:Original loan term in months:Original loan term in months:

Original loan term in months:

Enter the number of monthly payments, as stated in the original loan agreement. Note that if you type in the number of years below, the calculator will automatically populate the number of payments field with the correct number of months.

# of years:
#
# of months:0
#
Payment:Payment amount:Monthly payment amount:Monthly payment amount:

Monthly principal and interest payment amount:

Enter the original monthly principal and interest payment amount (without dollar sign and commas). If this is a home loan, be sure to exclude the insurance and tax portions of the monthly payment.

Note that if you leave this field blank, the calculator will calculate the monthly payment for you (based on the entered principal, rate, and term) when it creates the payment schedule.

$
Start month and year:Start month and year:Start month and year:Month and year to start amortization:

Month and year to start amortization:

Select the month and enter the 4-digit year you would like the payment schedule to begin. The loan balance calculator will use the month and year to create a schedule of payments wherein each payment can be changed to match the actual amounts paid.

#
End month and year:End month and year:End month and year:Month and year to end amortization:

Month and year to end amortization:

Select the month and enter the 4-digit year you would like the payment schedule to end. Note that you can extend the schedule beyond the original term for cases where missed payments have postponed the payoff date.

#
Method:Amortize method:Amortization method:Amortization method:

Amortization method:

Select US Rule if it is illegal in your state to charge interest on unpaid interest (unpaid interest will be escrowed). Otherwise, if you select Normal then unpaid interest will be added to the principal as it occurs (causing negative amortization).

Create & Edit Schedule

Schedule Buttons:

Pressing the "Create Schedule" button will populate the monthly payment chart below based on the loan's original terms. You can then change any of the monthly payment amounts to the actual amounts, as well as enter any extra and/or balloon payments that you have made, or that you plan to make.

If you would like to make changes to the original terms after creating the schedule, click the "Edit Loan Terms" button. Note that this will clear out the payment schedule and any changes you have made to it. So be sure to save the record under the Data tab if you'd like to keep a copy of the schedule that will be overwritten.

# rows:Number rows:Number of rows:Number of rows to display:

Number of rows to display:

Select the number of payment rows you wish to display at one time. The lower the number of rows, the more likely the summary results will remain in view as you make changes.

Use the "Prev" and "Next" buttons beneath the displayed rows to navigate the payment schedule. Or select the desired period from the dropdown menu next to the buttons.

#
M/Y
Payment

Payment column:

This column will list the default payment amount for each month that falls within the beginning and ending dates. You can change these to reflect instances where the actual payment made was more or less than the amount listed (enter zero if payment was skipped altogether). Note that the Balance column will update as you make changes.


Adjust

Adjustment column:

Use the fields in this column for adding late fees to the principal balance (enter fees as a negative number, e.g., enter -10 for a $10 fee), or for cases where a second payment is made during any one month (enter principal payments as a positive number). Note that the Balance column will update as you make changes.


Balance

Balance column:

This column will display the revised month-to-month loan balance based on your entries in the Payment and Adjustments columns. Note that the loan balance calculator will recalculate this column as you adjust the payment amounts and late fees.

Amortization Period Results

Amortization Period Results:

The result fields below will update as you make changes to the editable payment schedule. Note that the results are calculated from the start date of the amortization to the end of the amortization, as entered in the top section of the calculator.

Principal:Principal paid:Principal paid during amortization period:Principal paid during amortization period:

Principal paid during amortization period:

The total of the amounts applied to the principle during the selected repayment period.

Interest:Interest charges:Interest charges for the period:Interest charges for the amortization period:

Interest charges for the amortization period:

The total of the interest charges that have accrued during the selected repayment period.

End balance:Ending balance:Principal balance at end of period:Principal balance at end of amortization period:

Principal balance at end of amortization period:

This is the balance owed as of the last month of the selected repayment period (includes the payment amount for that month).

Escrowed:Escrowed int/fees:Escrowed unpaid interest & fees:Escrowed unpaid interest and fees:

Escrowed unpaid interest:

If you selected US Rule and any of your payments (less any fees) were not large enough to cover the interest charge for their respective payment periods, the unpaid interest and fees will be escrowed -- the total of which will display on this line. Otherwise, if Normal amortization is selected, unpaid interest and fees will be added to the principal in the period it occurred (causing negative amortization) and a zero will be displayed on this line.

Total owed:Total owed:Total owed at end of amortization period:Total owed at end of amortization period:

Total owed at end of amortization period:

This is the balance owed as of the last month of selected repayment period (includes the payment amount for that month), plus any escrowed unpaid interest.

If you would like to save the current entries to the secure online database, tap or click on the Data tab, select "New Data Record", give the data record a name, then tap or click the Save button. To save changes to previously saved entries, simply tap the Save button. Please select and "Clear" any data records you no longer need.

Help and Tools

Learn

The difference between US Rule and Normal amortization.

US Rule vs. Normal, or Negative Amortization

  • US Rule: Unpaid interest and late fees are escrowed, or banked, and added to the end of the loan.
  • Normal: Unpaid interest and late fees are added to the loan's principal balance in the payment period they occur. This results in charging interest on unpaid interest and fees, which is commonly referred to as Negative Amortization (What is negative amortization?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

From the borrower's perspective, negative amortization can be very costly -- especially if the missed payment occurs early on in the repayment schedule. The following mini calculator helps to illustrate this point.

US Rule vs Negative Amortization Calculator
Original loan amount:
Interest rate:
Number of monthly payments:
Late fee:
nth payment missed:
Unpaid interest:
Interest and penalty:
Amortized interest and penalty:
Summary:
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Adjust Calculator Width:

Move the slider to left and right to adjust the calculator width. Note that the Help and Tools panel will be hidden when the calculator is too wide to fit both on the screen. Moving the slider to the left will bring the instructions and tools panel back into view.

Also note that some calculators will reformat to accommodate the screen size as you make the calculator wider or narrower. If the calculator is narrow, columns of entry rows will be converted to a vertical entry form, whereas a wider calculator will display columns of entry rows, and the entry fields will be smaller in size ... since they will not need to be "thumb friendly".

Show/Hide Popup Keypads:

Select Show or Hide to show or hide the popup keypad icons located next to numeric entry fields. These are generally only needed for mobile devices that don't have decimal points in their numeric keypads. So if you are on a desktop, you may find the calculator to be more user-friendly and less cluttered without them.

Stick/Unstick Tools:

Select Stick or Unstick to stick or unstick the help and tools panel. Selecting "Stick" will keep the panel in view while scrolling the calculator vertically. If you find that annoying, select "Unstick" to keep the panel in a stationary position.

If the tools panel becomes "Unstuck" on its own, try clicking "Unstick" and then "Stick" to re-stick the panel.