Time for action - calculating mortgage payments

You are planning to borrow $30,000 from the bank towards the purchase of a truck for your business. You will be paying it off fully in three years in 36 equal monthly payments. The bank has told you that the interest APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is 9.5%. You asked and found that the APR will be compounded monthly at the end of the month. You want to calculate and see what the monthly payment will be before heading to the bank for finalizing the loan.

  1. From the menu, select Tools | Financial Calculator. The Financial Calculator window will open with a sample calculation already filled.
  2. Change the Present Value to $30,000, Interest Rate to 9.50%, Payment periods to 36, and Future Value to 0.00. Clear the Periodic payment. As soon as you clear one of the fields, the Calculate button will become enabled. Click it.
  3. The Periodic payment will be filled with an amount in parentheses. This is the equated monthly installment. The Payment Total at the bottom of the right pane will also be recalculated as shown in the following screenshot:
    Time for action - calculating mortgage payments

What just happened?

The GnuCash Financial Calculator is used to calculate loan payment and mortgage payment by applying compound interest. It provides a way of entering the amount you wish to borrow, the interest or Annual Percentage Rate (APR) applicable, the repayment period and calculates the Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) payments to pay off the entire loan. Alternatively, if you know your capacity to pay and the repayment period, you can calculate the maximum amount you can borrow to keep within that limit.

Tip

Simple calculations in GnuCash

As we saw earlier, you can enter calculations in any amount field in the account registers. GnuCash will do the calculation for you and put the result in that field.

Some banks compound interest once a month, while others may compound continuously. Most banks will ask you to pay at the end of the month. This calculator allows you to set any of those options.

Pop quiz - calculating mortgage payment

  1. You want to pay off the entire loan. Which amount should be set to zero?

    a. Present value

    b. Future value

    c. Payment Total

    d. Periodic payment

Have a go hero - maximum borrowing limit

Looking at the cash flow projection, you find that your business can only afford to pay $500 per month. Assuming a three-year repayment period, calculate the maximum amount your business can borrow.

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