Comments on: Software for Loan Debt?

Question: Software for Loan Debt?

luciddream928 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:06:59 -0800

Hi everyone, I'm looking for financial software to analyze student loan debt. I downloaded "Pay It Down" which is excellent for credit cards. I love this software for its graphing capability and rollover feature, but it doesn't calculate payments that are graduated (i.e., x amount for 10 months, then x amount for 120 months, then another amount for 35 months). I am looking for a program that can analyze the principal x interest rate, and allow for graduated payments. A graphing feature would be nice, and rollover feature so I can see one payment paid down faster when I put more money towards it. Hope this makes sense...... thank you!!

By: luciddream928

luciddream928 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:26:41 -0800

I forgot to mention - I have a Mac : )

By: jon1270

jon1270 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:36:48 -0800

If you can't find a premade tool, there's always Excel...

By: luciddream928

luciddream928 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:47:11 -0800

Thanks Jon1270, but I'm not sure how to do this in Excel.... that's why I'm looking for a program ; )

By: pwnguin

pwnguin — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:47:36 -0800

Spreadsheets. Creating amortization schedules like that is the canonical selling point of them.

You can easily tweak the 10, 120 and 35 month payments by using cell references; the real trick is making sure you've got the right interest calculation. Seems my car loan uses a daily weighting, ie February has 28 days so they charge me 28 days of interest instead of 30. Basically you take the APR, divide it by 365 (.25?), and multiply by the number of days in the payment period.

So you'll have columns of roughly:
Period Start, Period End, Days in Period (End - Start), Minimum Payment, Overpayment, Interest Accrued (previous balance * APR * Days in period / 365), new balance (previous balance - minimum payment - overpayment + interest accrued).

Then you can create the graph using period end vs new balance, and tweak the payment schedule by dropping in overpayments as desired.

By: luciddream928

luciddream928 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:55:20 -0800

Thanks Pwnguin. You make it sound so easy ; ) If I don't hear back from other users about specific software, I'll try the spreadsheet. My field is not in computers or financial management so this would certainly be a challenge. Thank you for the tips though! I admire those who are more computer savvy than myself ; )

By: magnetsphere

magnetsphere — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:11:48 -0800

You can always google Amortization Schedule or Amortization Spreadsheet. There are online calculators that can do this and I bet someone has made and posted an excel spreadsheet for it. I don't want to recommend a specific one since I haven't personally looked at any of them.

By: luciddream928

luciddream928 — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:11:10 -0800

Update - I looked up the Amortization Schedule and the issue with these is that 1. They only do one loan at a time, and 2. I can't figure out a way to incorporate the graduated payment plan. Ultimately what I want is a rollover snowball-type program that will show me when 1st loan will be paid off, how much I can put to the 2nd loan, when that will be paid off and how much I can put toward the 3rd.

By: clone boulevard

clone boulevard — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:25:39 -0800

Unless you have a different plan, the graduated payment plan means you're only paying interest as it accrues at the beginning of your repayment. You won't be touching principal, anyway. When they step you down a bit, you'll be paying the tiniest amount of principal. Maybe wait until you're actually in full repayment before you worry about it?

Sorry, not a great answer. But something to consider!

By: luciddream928

luciddream928 — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:34:08 -0800

I hear what you're saying, clone, but I have a lot of debt and it makes financial sense to be aware of the most efficient way to pay it off. All of that starts now, not ten years from now when I start paying off the principal.

By: pwnguin

pwnguin — Tue, 17 May 2011 13:49:26 -0800

I do see now what you mean by rollover. The most efficient way to pay them off is highest interest rate first. I can prove it mathematically if you disagree, but I gather you want to know something else.

I gather your real question is whether you can afford the high monthly payments at a later date, assuming other loan repayments settle over time. I wonder if GNUCash (free but the default calculation fucks up my auto principle/interest split) or Quicken might be useful here, to construct a repayment plan. You can model the graduated plan as 3 loans with different repayment terms and starting dates. Then you can cook up a monthly expense chart to see whether this plan is realistic.