Feature Requests

It occurs to me that the blog format isn’t entirely conducive to conversations initiated by you folks out there in big wide world. If you’d like to see particular features implemented for the calculator, this page can be a home to those requests. Tack your comment onto this page for easy reference.

93 Replies to “Feature Requests”

  1. It would be great to set the number of payments in the first year. That would generate breaks different from the 12th year. Also nice to show cumulative interest for that year.

  2. Hi, Bret!
    I love your calculator. I use it ALL the time! Is it possible for me to enter partial payments? Sometimes I also have a different interest rate for the money that is past due. Is it possible to include a default interest rate on the funds that have matured but are unpaid?
    Thanks so very much!

    1. The calculator only accommodates regular payments at regular intervals. You’ll need a spreadsheet or a fancy tracking program for doing what you want to do.

  3. Hi Bret,

    I really like your calculator. It is the first one we could get to work with fixed payments. I am helping take over some mortgage loans for my dad. He has been using an old program that allows you to put in the date each month that a payment is made. Is this possible with your calculator? If so, it would be so appreciated as he is not going to be happy without it and I cannot find anything that allows for this. Thanks so much!

  4. Bret, your amortization calculator is the greatest. However we need the ability to make four nonvariables, total principal, payments per year, interest rate and total monthly payment. The system then will calculate the number of payments and the amount of the balloon payment. The way it works now it changes the monthly payment so there is no balloon payment. Thanks, keep up the great work, Bud Allen.

    1. Hi, Bud. Once you know what the total number of payments is, reset the monthly payment to the value you want, and re-calculate to get the balloon payment. (With the total number of payments fixed, the balloon payment is the only other empty field, and it will then be calculated from the rest of the parameters.)

  5. I love your calculator it is so user friendly. Is there a calculator simalar to yours that can be used to calculate the Rate Of Return on Investments? If not maybe you can build one! Thank you

  6. Hi Bret, thanks for making this calculator available to all- very helpful.
    Feature request (maybe it’s already there?):
    Optonization/comparison feature.
    Ex. If I could get a monthly adjustable mortgage at 1.65% or a 7yr ARM at 3.10%; How would I determine the cross-over point where a rising rate environment caused the monthly adjustable to cost more than the fixed option?
    Thanks and sincerely, Gary

  7. Brett,

    Hi my name is Wes. I use your calculator frequently to play “games” with mortgage payoffs and retirement savings.

    For retirement I just assume a certain percentage above inflation (say 2.0%) on my investments and see what the xx year payoff is on that amount.

    My wife has a fixed annuity. That is it is not inflation adjusted.

    Is there a way to use the calculator to predict the monthly equivalent payout?

    That is if it pays 2000 per month today, what would it pay (in todays dollars) in 73 months given a 2% annual inflation rate.

    Maybe a negative interest rate would be appropriate.

    Thanks for Your Time and
    Thanks for the Calculator,

    Wes

  8. Hi Brett,

    I remember using your calculator several months ago (I loved it) to find out the term and the balloon payment, but I just tried it again and this time got an equal amortization schedule instead.
    The amount is $5,000. The interest is 4.00.
    The monthly is $250. How long to pay off and what is the balloon? And how come the calculator gives me exactly 21 months at $246.92 per month? Help!

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