Interest you can see
Excel’s IPMT gives the right number and no idea why. Principal computes each month’s interest
from the previous balance — balance × rate ÷ 12, rounded to cents, the way a lender does —
and the payment is capped at what’s owed, so the last row lands on exactly 0.00 instead of
leaving three cents behind. Every row is a formula you can follow.
Type a monthly extra, or a one-off in any month’s Extra column, and the schedule shortens.
The summary shows payments made, interest paid, interest saved against the scheduled loan,
months saved and the payoff date. The Compare sheet lays your amount across five rates and
five terms — payment in one grid, total interest in the other — with your rate highlighted.
Checked, not just built
The build recalculates the workbook in LibreOffice and in a second engine, runs an independent amortization in Python with the same rounding, and compares
thirteen values — the payment, the payoff month with extras, total interest, the zero on the
last row — against the workbook. If any drift, the file doesn’t ship.