Remaining Balance Calculator
The remaining balance calculator calculates a loan's principal balance after a particular payment number. It is not the loan balance at the time a payment is due. This distinction is essential to understand. More below
Information
The Accurate Remaining Balance Calculator calculates any loan's unpaid principal balance.
- Create a printable schedule.
- Solves for multiple unknowns.
The key to understanding the distinction is understanding accrued interest. When a payment is due and paid, the principal amount owed on the debt is the balance as shown on the amortization schedule. That's the remaining balance, and that's what this calculator is calculating.
But, one day later, after the payment is paid, the balance is no longer the same as it was the day before.
There is one day's interest due on the previous day's balance. This interest is known as accrued interest, and it is the reason the interest balance (and thus the loan balance) increases every day until the next payment.
The report shows this repeating pattern. A payment gets applied to the accrued interest with the remaining amount used to reduce the principal balance, and the amortization table shows the balance after the payment (plus or minus a small rounding adjustment).
If you want to know the loan pay off amount (balance), including the accrued interest, then use the balloon payment calculator. A balloon payment is equal to the prior period's loan balance plus the accrued interest. That is, the balloon amount the balance on a scheduled due date, but before accounting for any payments.
Other uses for this Loan Balance Calculator
Need a loan with a specific balance?
At times a borrower might want to make a periodic payment that results in a specific balance after making payments for say four or five years. What should the monthly payment be to achieve this goal?
This calculator will tell you.
Enter the loan amount, interest rate, and balance after payment (48 months, for example, for four years). Then, rather than enter 0 for the loan balance after a payment number, enter the balance that you want and enter 0 for the periodic payment.
Pay the periodic payment amount calculated, and the loan balance will be the one you entered.
Check out the payment schedule and see for yourself.
You can also calculate a particular loan amount or interest rate needed using the same technique.
Or you can calculate when the balance will be a particular amount.
The calculator is very flexible!
Remember, there are a lot of financial calculators on this site. If you can't find what you need, ask. Remaining balance and loan payoffs are essential calculations, and this site is here to help. Whether you hold the note or are the borrower, "don't under collect, don't overpay."
The remaining balance calculator calculates the principal balance after a specified payment number. Example, if you have a four year car loan and you've made a year and a half of monthly payments (18 months), this calculator will tell you the balance of the loan.
Or given a desired remaining balance, the calculator will calculate one of the four other inputs. Use this calculator to tell you what your periodic payment needs to be to result in a specific balance after "X" payments have been made.
To calculate a loan balance, enter the original loan amount, say $28,500. Enter 6.5% for the "Annual Interest Rate" and 18 for the "Balance After Payment (#)". Enter your "Periodic Payment". We'll assume $675.88. Enter "0" (zero) for the "Loan Balance After Payment #". Leave the other setting set to their default values. Click the "Calc" button (or if you want to see a more detailed schedule, click "Payment Schedule" or for charts click the "Charts" button of course. (With this calculator, there is no need to click the "Calc" button first.) The result is $18,667.96.
NOTE: The actual balance may vary slightly. This is because the calculator calculates the balance after the payment. If some days have passed since the payment was made, then interest is accruing for those days since the last payment. You can use our Exact Day Compound or Simple Interest Calculator to calculate any odd days of accrued interest.
The "Payment Method" option is normally left set to "Arrears" for loans. You would use "Advance" for finding the balance of a lease. The difference between the two is this: If the first payment is due and paid on the same date that the loan was made, then you would set this option to "Advance", otherwise you would set this to "Arrears".
Dick says:
I am trying to get a lease payment amount on the remaining balance calculator. There would be a balance of $2,500 after 26 bi-weekly payments. It will figure a payment if I use loan arrears, but when I use lease advance it will not compute. Am I doing something wrong?
Karl says:
Dick, I agree with what you are saying. It looks as if I need to revisit that calculation. It’s not working for me either.
One question.
If you want the balance after 26 biweekly payment to be $2,500, does that mean you want (A) the 27th payment to equal $2,500 to pay it off, or do you want the 27th payment to (b) equal $2,500 plus accrued interest since the 27th payment?
If (B), then you should use this balloon calculator.
I tried the calculation and it works. (Set the loan date and first payment date to be the same day for advance.
Dick says:
(A) the 27th payment to equal $2,500 to pay it off
Karl says:
Okay, in that case, you need to use the balloon payment calculator anyway. The difference between the two calculators is this:
The remaining loan balance calculator assumes the "Loan Balance After Payment" is the payoff amount for a loan immediately after a payment is received. There is no interest due since the last payment would have paid interest first and then principal.
The balloon payment calculator assume the "Final/Balloon Payment (can be 0)" is the payoff amount for the loan on the day a payment is due. That is, is also includes the interest accrued since the last payment.
A subtle, but important difference.
I confirmed that the balloon payment calculator will work when the payment is set to advance. (Set the loan date and first payment date equal).
Also, in case you ever need it, I have fixed the problem you reported with the remaining balance calculator. I’ll release an update over the weekend, so users will have it by Monday.
Dick says:
Thanks Karl. I did try using the balloon payment calculator, but the problem I am running into is that this is a lease so the first payment is due the day the lease is signed.
Dick says:
Karl, I figured it out. I did not see the additional tab to set the dates. Thank You
Karl says:
Right, that’s typical for leases.
That’s handled on the "Set Dates or Extra Payments" tab.
Set these two dates to be the same:
chase priester says:
what is my ending balance if my principal is 80$ and my interest rate is 10% over 3 years.
Karl says:
I think you want to know the future value if the money were invested, right? Not the balance if it’s borrowed? The remaining balance calculator is for loans.
If this is an investment, then please see the future value calculator or savings calculator which allows for additional deposits along the way if you ever need that feature.
chase priester says:
thank you, I will look into that.
Gian Hodgson says:
Hi, when I try to calculate remaining balance after payment# 1 it calculates it as if 2 payments have been made. So:
Amount of Loan = 2,000
Annual rate = 10%
Balance after Payment = 1
Periodic Payment = 200
Loan Balance after payment = 0
The result says Total Principal & Interest = $400
Shouldn’t it be 200?
Karl says:
hi Gian, you are correct. The calculator has what is known as a "one off" error, but only if the user sets the "Balance After Payment" to 1. The "Loan Balance After Paymen" is calculated correctly either way.
The problem is, the "Total Interest Paid" and "Total Principal & Interest" show the same value whether the user enters 1 or 2 for balance after period.
For accurate numbers, please look at the schedule. I’ll fix this shortly and I’ll let you know once I do.
Karl says:
Gian, I fixed the problem when calculating the loan’s remaining balance after one payment. Thank you for taking your time to let me know, and sorry again for the problem.
If you do not see the fix, you may have to perform a hard refresh of the page:
Depending on your operating system all you need to do is the following key combination:
Above, from Refresh Your Cache.
Matt says:
Is there a calculator that will show me my descending monthly payment on a loan of $20,000 @ 11.5% interest over 60 months?
Thanks.
Karl says:
For starters, you can use this loan calculator.
If you really want a descending payment, set the "Amortization Method" to "Fixed Principal."
However, if you are in the U.S., normally payments are not descending – they are level. The amount that is allocated to interest each period is descending. And if this is what you want you would need to leave the "Amortization Method" set to "Normal."
Let me know if you have any other questions.