Before you take out a loan, apply for a mortgage for your business or buy a bond, check the loan amortization schedules. Amortization schedules break down the amount of loan and bond payments that go toward principle and interest paid. This allows you to see exactly how the loan depletes every month. Use amortization schedules to choose the beast loans and bonds for your business.

Amortization schedules help manage loans and find out how much you could save if you pay off the loan early. Use an online amortization schedule to make sound financial decisions. Compare and contrast different loans before you sign on the dotted line.

1. Learn how amortization schedules work.

2. Compare a lease amortization schedule with an auto loan amortization schedule to decide if you should buy or lease a car.

3. Keep tabs on your investments with a bond amortization schedule.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Become an expert on loan amortization schedules

Before you apply for a loan or a mortgage, find out as much as possible about amortization schedules and what they mean to you as a prospective borrower. Begin with a basic understanding of the role that the principal, interest rate and the term of the loan play within your amortization schedule. Then move on to reading and creating your own amortization schedule.

I recommend: Money-zine.com and Freddie Mac provide guides to give you an understanding of amortization schedules. Learn how to use amortization schedules to your advantage by paying a loan off early and saving on the interest at both MortgageLoan.com and LoanShoppers.net.

Decide whether to buy or lease by referring to a car loan amortization schedule

If you are having a tough time deciding whether to lease or buy your next car, an auto loan amortization schedule might help you decide. There are several calculators online that compare and contrast your loan options. Pay particular attention to the payment and interest amortization schedules.

I recommend: Use the loan amortization schedule tool at HSH Associates to preview the full cost of leasing a car. Create a payment amortization schedule for your potential auto loan at Bankrate.

Use a bond amortization schedule to track your investments

Amortization schedules aren't just for loans. You can also use a bond amortization schedule to help track your investments. These schedules show how much you are earning and what your investment's potential is if things keep moving along a similar financial track.

I recommend: Use the bond calculator at SmartMoney.com to find your bond's amortization. TD Ameritrade provides a similar online calculator. Find the amortization of your U.S. Savings bonds at Treasury Direct.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  An online amortization schedule gives you a good idea of your payments and interest rates. Double-check your amortization table calculator results with your lender to be sure everything matches up.
• •  After you create an amortization schedule, plug in different numbers to figure out which loan is the right loan for you. Consider using the same theory to create a mortgage amortization schedule when deciding on a home loan.

People in all kinds of accounting situations use loan amortization schedules to figure out how loans or mortgages are really breaking down; the amortization schedule identifies how portions of a loan payment are applied to interest or to the principal amount. This is useful in figuring out either anticipated or theoretical payments of a mortgage, student loan, car loan or any other kind of similar transaction.

For learning about amortization schedules education and training, business staff can use the power of the web to get a lot of information about how to create these tools using common office software, how to understand the prognostications of a mortgage, loan or lease amortization schedule and how to use them in every day work. Business leaders can find these resources online, to:

1. Help staff get confident in using a loan or mortgage amortization schedule when talking to customers in any kind of sales or loan processing capacity.

2. Allow staff to get the knowledge to make their own amortization schedules customized to their accounting situations.

3. Provide across the board training in using amortization schedules in general business accounting.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look for school options for training staff in amortization schedules

If a business leader thinks a staff person could benefit from formal training on the general environment that includes a print or online amortization schedule, he can direct staffers to programs from schools all over the continent that can deliver in-depth accounting content on loan transactions and the tools used to administrate them.

I recommend: Course sites like this one at Seneca College's School of Computer Studies show how working with amortization schedules is included in a general business accounting course. Community colleges frequently include several segments on amortization schedules in courses involving spreadsheet software, as in this syllabus from Metropolitan Community College.

Find tools for creating in-house amortization schedules

Another great way the web can help is to provide pages showing businesses how to make their own quarterly amortization schedule or other fiscal tool 'from scratch' -- the very common Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet can provide the basis for a customized home or auto loan amortization schedule for short or long term use.

I recommend: Find out how to create an amortization schedule at Joseph Rubin's ExcelTip.com. Or get this kind of guidance directly from Microsoft Help and Support.

Locate quick online tools and materials for experimenting with amortization schedules

Staff members can also be pointed toward sites where they are able to use amortization schedules on a trial basis or learn more about how these tools work to prepare them for using them in a 'real' situation (for example with clients).

I recommend: Use sites like MyAmortizationChart to play around with demos of how to create amortization schedule models online. This can help a staff member quickly recognize how these tools work in breaking down the interest and principal of a loan. Get more quick resources from sites like SimpleJoe.

Amortization schedules are important tools used to forecast whether or not a specific loan is the right one to meet your needs. From mortgage loans to auto loans, amortization schedules utilize factors such as loan principal, fixed rate interest and the duration of the loan to determine your monthly payment schedule and payoff date.

If a business or personal loan is in your future, familiarize yourself with these essential amortization schedules key terms to ensure you understand amortization schedule fundamentals.

Action Steps
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Amortization

Amortization is paying off the principal and interest of a debt, usually in the form of a loan, in even, scheduled payments.

I recommend: Learn more about amortization at HJVentures.com.

Amortization calculator

An amortization calculator is a tool used to determine scheduled payment amounts for a loan. Factors such as the amount of the mortgage, the interest rate and the term of the mortgage are used to figure the monthly loan amount.

I recommend: Bankrate.com provides a working example of an amortization calculator.

Loan principal

The loan principal is the complete amount of a loan without interest. An amortization schedule shows how much of a monthly payment goes toward the loan principal and how much goes toward interest.

I recommend: InvestorWords.com offers more extensive information on loan principals.

Balloon payment

A balloon payment is a large payment on a loan that fulfills the payoff amount. A flexible amortization schedule allows for balloon payment figures in the forecast of payments.

I recommend: WiseGeek.com offers extensive information and the advantages of balloon payments.

Refinancing

Refinancing is the reconfiguring of a home loan at a better interest rate to decrease the monthly payment or to alter the loan duration. The initial mortgage contract is replaced with a new mortgage with a better interest rate. In loan refinancing, an amortization schedule is created with a new interest rate and loan duration factored in to determine the new monthly payment.

I recommend: MortgageLoan.com offers in-depth information on the benefits of refinancing a mortgage loan.

Fixed rate loan

A fixed rate loan is a loan that has an interest rate that remains the same throughout the duration of the loan. An amortization schedule uses the fixed interest rate with other loan factors to determine the monthly payment.

I recommend: Kiplinger.com offers background information on fixed rate loans and explains the advantages and disadvantages of fixed rate loans.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many reputable banking institutions offer free online amortization calculators that can be used to create a amortization schedule.