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AMORTZ
Loan Schedules and More!
by
Jim Bowyer
Mountain View Software
(206) 845-2744
Version 1.30
June 30, 1991
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
AMORTZ Ver 1.30 Released June 30, 1991 All Rights Reserved
Copyright (c) 1990, 1991 by James J. Bowyer, Mountain View Software
AMORTZ - User's Guide Copyright 1991 Mountain View Software
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEX
=====
I. General Information:
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Shareware Concept . . . . . . . . . . 1
Benefits of Registration. . . . . . . . . 2
ASP Ombudsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Association of Shareware Professionals. . 3
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
About AMORTZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
For Programmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
II. Fast Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
III. How to Use AMORTZ:
The Opening Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Data Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Options Screen . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
"What If" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
IV. Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
V. Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
VI. Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. General Information
PURPOSE
Amortz is used to calculate loan amortization schedules (also known
as principal & interest or loan payback schedules). The schedules
can be viewed on a video screen (by year) or a hard copy of the
schedule (or any year within the loan period) can be printed. Amortz
can also calculate interest rates, payment amounts and so on.
THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT
"Shareware" is a term used to describe a system for distribution of
software. Under the shareware concept, software may be freely copied
and passed along to others, or distributed through bulletin board
systems, catalogs, shareware libraries and so on.
As a recipient of a shareware program, you may use the software for a
short trial period to determine if it meets your needs. If it does,
you pay the registration fee. By paying the fee, you are granted the
right to retain the software for your use. If the software is not
suitable, then you may discard it.
The shareware concept is based entirely on the honor system, and
generally works quite well. Most people are honest and wouldn't
violate the trust placed in them by the author of the software.
You should run AMORTZ through all its paces to decide whether or not
it fits your needs. However, it is a program that doesn't really
need a long "evaluation period". Typically, this type of utility is
used to generate whatever schedules are needed, and then is tucked
away in a drawer (or sub-directory) to gather dust until the next
time your mortgage payment changes. Therefore, AMORTZ either works
for you or it doesn't. If it works (it does!), and you use it, you
should pay for it.
SHAREWARE IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE - the author counts on your integrity.
To register your copy of AMORTZ, send a check for $10.00 to:
Mountain View Software
7506 85th Street E
Puyallup, WA 98371-6514
A Registration Form is included (see the last page of this documenta-
tion) for your convenience.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. General Information (Continued)
You are encouraged to make copies of this program and its documenta-
tion to share with your friends, associates, bulletin boards and so
on. However, you must distribute AMORTZ with its entire documenta-
tion and without alteration. You may not charge for AMORTZ in any
way, except for the medium on which it is distributed.
BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION
Registering AMORTZ will entitle you to the following:
1. A disk containing the latest version of AMORTZ, guaranteed to
be free of viruses, trojan horses and all other manner of
vermin.
2. A "brand" program to remove the opening Shareware screen from
version 1.30 of AMORTZ and all subsequent versions through 2.9
(no less than 12 months of free upgrades).
3. FREE Compuserve Introductory Membership, which includes your
User ID, Password, a subscription to Compuserve Magazine, and a
$15.00 credit for as much as 2.5 hours of FREE connect time
(depending on your modem).
4. Notification of future major upgrades to AMORTZ, with the
option of receiving the latest version by US Mail for a small
postage and handling charge.
5. Unlimited technical support (see page 4 for details).
6. The "Warm and Fuzzy Feeling" you get when you do the right
thing.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 3
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I. General Information (Continued)
ASP OMBUDSMAN
This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware
principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware
related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly,
ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a
dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical
support for members' products.
Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at:
ASP Ombudsman
545 Grover Road
Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 U.S.A
or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe MAIL to ASP Ombudsman
70007,3536.
ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS
The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) is a non-profit
organization whose broad goals include fostering a high degree of
professionalism among shareware authors by setting programming,
marketing, and support standards. The ASP's current code of ethics
includes:
* A member's program (evaluation version) can not be limited
(crippled) in any way. In the true spirit of Try-Before-You-
Buy, users must be able to evaluate all of the features in a
program before paying the registration fee.
* Members must respond to every registration. At the very least,
they must send a receipt for the payment.
* Members must provide technical support for their products for
at least 90 days from the date of registration.
* Members are required to cooperate with the Ombudsman when ap-
proached by him/her (see ASP Ombudsman Above)
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 4
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I. General Information (Continued)
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Questions, bug reports, and general comments and/or suggestions are
welcome from both registered and non-registered users. Comments
regarding possible enhancements to make the program more useful or
"user friendly" would be greatly appreciated.
In addition to telephone support ((206) 845-2744), technical support
is available as follows:
BBS Support:
BBS Support is offered on the Runway BBS, Conference 77 (Join
77) through Shareable Software International, Inc. The numbers
for Runway are:
(215) 623-6203 2400 bps
(215) 623-4897 HST
(215) 623-6845 V.32
Technical support is available -- just leave a message to Jim
Bowyer. You can also register AMORTZ on-line by following the
instructions given. The most current version of AMORTZ will
always be available on the Runway BBS, as well as any future
products relaesed by Mountain View Software and Jim Bowyer.
Be sure to (J)oin conference 77 from the main menu to find all
of the products supported by Shareable Software International.
International Services:
Compuserve - Send MAIL to 74040,533
GEnie - Send GEmail to J.BOWYER2
US Mail:
Jim Bowyer
Mountain View Software
7506 85th Street E
Puyallup, WA 98371-6514
ABOUT AMORTZ
As a CPA, I am familiar with many great financial calculation packag-
es, in both "commercial" and shareware distribution. These packages
typically feature many options that only a bean-counter could love
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 5
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I. General Information (Continued)
(such as present value computations, depreciation schedules, break-
even analysis, etc.). One of the minor features usually offered is
the ability to print an amortization schedule.
One day, my boss asked me if I had a program that would print a loan
amortization schedule for his home mortgage, as well as having the
ability to do "what if" calculations (what if I pay an additional
$100 per month, for example). I showed him an excellent shareware
package which has the ability to print his schedule, but, because of
the many features included (it is a very thorough package) the cost
was $50.00. While the program was certainly worth $50.00, we would
use only 5% of its power. We agreed that there should be a cheaper
solution.
The result is AMORTZ. This program has fairly modest goals and,
therefore, can have a very modest price. I have resisted all my
impulses to expand the scope of the program beyond the basic goal of
calculating loan variables and presenting a payment-by-payment break-
down of principal and interest. AMORTZ does a fairly simple job, but
it does its job EXTREMELY well.
FOR PROGRAMMERS
AMORTZ was written in C, compiled with Borland C++ by Borland
International, Inc. Windowing and some I/O routines make extensive
use of the TCXL User Interface Development System by Innovative Data
Concepts.
Heavily commented source code is available to registered users for
$25.00. With the exception of Borland's BCD routines used for round-
ing, the code should be portable to other compilers. If necessary,
the author will help to work-around the BCD routines to make the code
work with other compilers. Be aware, however, that THE CODE WILL NOT
COMPILE UNLESS YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE TCXL LIBRARY. TCXL is a
shareware package for the C language that I use extensively and would
highly recommend for your consideration.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 6
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II. Fast Start
AMORTZ was designed to be extremely "user friendly", another way of
saying that you should be able to run the program without referring
to the printed documentation. Start the program as you would start
any program, by typing "AMORTZ" at the DOS prompt ('>'). If your
copy of AMORTZ is still on a floppy disk, you will probably need to
type "A:AMORTZ" to run the program from drive A or "B:AMORTZ" to run
the program from drive B.
The file "README" which was distributed with the AMORTZ package has
information relating to copying the AMORTZ files to your hard disk.
III. How to Use AMORTZ
THE OPENING SCREEN
Unregistered copies of Amortz have an opening screen which invites
you to register your copy. Hit F1 at the prompt to print a copy of
the registration form, or hit any other key to advance into the
program.
THE DATA SCREEN
This is the first screen that registered users will see when running
AMORTZ. The Data Screen is used to input the amounts used in
calculating the amortization schedule. The following data is
requested:
1. Principal - The beginning balance of the loan.
2. Interest - The ANNUAL interest rate. Enter the rate as a
percentage (ie. 12.75, not .1275).
3. Payment - The periodic payment. Amortz assumes that payments
are made once a month.
4. Periods - The number of payments to be made (ie. enter 360 for
a 30 year loan).
5. Due Date - The date that the first payment is due to be paid.
6. Fiscal Year End - The month in which your year ends.
Hitting ESC at any point in the input process will escape the current
data field and re-position the cursor at the top of the screen.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 7
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III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued)
AMORTZ will solve for any ONE of the first four variables. All you
need to do is enter a zero (0) for the value that you want to
determine. If, for example, you wanted to determine what your
monthly payments would be for the car of your dreams, enter the
principal (beginning loan balance), interest rate, zero for the
payment, 60 payments (for a five year loan), and the approximate due
date of the first payment. AMORTZ will then calculate the monthly
payment and replace the zero with the calculated amount.
After all the data is input, you will be asked if you need to make
any changes. Enter "y" (for yes) if you do want to make changes, and
the cursor will be re-located to the beginning of the screen, ready
to accept new data. You should re-enter only the variables that you
want to change - hitting 'Enter' at any variable will retain the
value previously input for that variable.
When all of the data is correct, just answer the question 'n' (for
no) or simply hit 'Enter'. The data will then be accepted and the
amortization schedule will be calculated.
THE OPTIONS SCREEN
After the data has been accepted and the amortization schedule calcu-
lated, you will be presented with the following options:
F1 - Screen Display
F1 generates a screen display of the amortization schedule
beginning with the first year of the loan. Hitting 'Page
Down' (or the 'Down Arrow' key) will display each succeeding
year until the last payment date is reached. 'Page Up' (or
the 'Up Arrow' key) will scroll the display backwards, giving
you the opportunity to move either forwards or backwards
through the schedule.
F2 - Display One Year
This option generates a screen display for a specific year.
You will be asked what year you want, followed by a display
of the amortization schedule for that year. This is a handy
method to see a specific year without having to page down
through several screens of data.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 8
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III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued)
F3 - Print Entire Schedule
F3 produces a hard copy amortization schedule for the entire
life of the loan. You will be given the opportunity to input
a title for the report which could be used to identify the
purpose of the loan (just hit 'Enter' if you don't want a
title). The schedule will then be sent to your printer.
F4 - Print One Year
Prints a hard copy report for a single year. You will be
given the opportunity to input a title for the report.
F5 - Loan Totals
Hit F5 to get a display of total payments on the loan, in-
cluding total principal, interest and payments and the due
date for the last payment. This function is very handy for
determining what the effect of slight increases in your
monthly mortgage principal payment can have over thirty
years.
Hit any key to escape from the Loan Totals screen back to the
Options Screen.
F9 - Prnt Registration Frm
Unregistered users are given the opportunity to print a form
(identical to the form at the end of this documentation) to
mail with their registration fee. This option does not
appear in registered versions of AMORTZ.
F10 - Change Data
Hit F10 to return to the Data Screen to input a different set
of data. Hitting 'Enter' at any line will retain the exist-
ing value for that line.
ESC - End Program
Hitting the ESC will end the program.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 9
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III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued)
EXAMPLE
Lets return to that car of your dreams, and see what AMORTZ could do
to help you in your purchase decision:
Assume that you have A $4,000 trade-in to put down on that new
"Turbo 287 ZHQ", you are willing to get strung-out for 5 years on
the loan (60 payments), and your credit union has told you that
your excellent credit rating entitles you to a loan at 13.75%. You
talk it over with your spouse and decide that, by postponing
junior's braces for another year, you can swing payments of $275.00
a month.
Now the big question --- HOW MUCH CAN I AFFORD TO PAY for my
"Turbo 287 ZHQ"?
Fire up AMORTZ (by entering AMORTZ at the DOS prompt) and enter the
following data:
Principal : 0 (0 means to solve for this)
Annual Interest Rate: 13.75
Payment Amount : 275.00
Payment Periods : 60.00
Initial Payment Due : 04/01/XX (Enter the correct date here)
Year Ends in (month): 12
After entering the 12 in 'Year Ends' you will see that the '0' in
the principal field has been replaced with $11,884.78. This means
that the total you can pay for the car of your dreams is $15,884.78
($4,000 trade-in plus 11,884.75 financed).
"NOT ENOUGH!" you cry, "the Turbo 287 ZHQ I want lists for $25,000!
What would my payments be if I ended up paying, say, $24,000?"
To determine this (ie. to solve for the payment amount), answer 'y'
to the "Any Changes" prompt, and the cursor will be positioned back
at the top of the screen, at the principal line. Enter 20,000
(total cost of $24,000 minus the $4,000 trade-in), hit return to
retain the 13.75% interest rate, enter 0 (zero) for the payment
amount and then hit enter three more times (to accept existing
data). AMORTZ will then solve for the Payment Amount and place it
on the screen for you ($462.78).
After picking yourself up off the floor, you are now in a better
position to determine whether the "good old sedan" can make it for
another year ("Hey. It still runs perfectly!")
Be sure to print an amortization schedule after the purchase is
made. This is an excellent means to keep track of your payments
and to see how "quickly"(?) the equity in your new car builds.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 10
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III. How to Use AMORTZ (Continued)
"WHAT IF"
AMORTZ can be used to compare different loan assumptions and scenari-
os (ie. "What if" we added another year to the loan, or "What if" I
increased the principal payment by $25.00 a month). You can cycle
through the Data Screen as many times as necessary (just keep answer-
ing yes to the changes prompt) changing as many variables as you want
to see the effect of any of the changes. Just remember to enter zero
(0) for the value that you want to compute.
For example, assume that you are currently paying $684.33 per month
in principal and interest on your mortgage (DO NOT include "escrow"
payments such as taxes, insurance and PMI in these calculations!).
Your rate is 9.00% and you have 19 years (19 years * 12 months = 228
payments) remaining on the loan.
Enter this data into AMORTZ, using 0 (zero) for the principal, and
AMORTZ will determine that the current principal amount is
$74,624.54. Enter 'y' to accept the data, and the amortization
schedule will be calculated.
When the option menu is presented, hit the F5 key, and the loan
summary will be displayed.
Total Principal $ 74,624.54
Total Interest $ 81,379.78
Total Payments $ 156,004.32
Now you ask yourself "WHAT IF I paid an additional $50.00 per month.
How much would I save in the long-run?"
Simply hit ANY KEY to return to the Option screen, and choose option
F10 to change your assumptions. At the Data screen, hit enter at the
Principal and Interest lines (those values don't change), enter
734.23 at the Payment line (the original $684.23 plus your additional
$50) and 0 (zero) at the Payment Periods line. Amortz will calculate
the remaining periods at the new payment rate (192.27 months).
Choose F5 again to see what effect the increased payment has had.
You may be surprised at how much you can save by this additional
payment!
Of course, you could take a look at the amortization schedule (on
screen or by printing a hard copy) after any of your assumptions to
see how quickly the principal of your mortgage is declining.
WARNING - YOUR PARTICULAR MORTGAGE AGREEMENT MAY NOT ALLOW ADDITIONAL
PRINCIPAL PAYMENTS, OR MAY REQUIRE CERTAIN MINIMUM
INCREMENTS!
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 11
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III. Error Messages
The following is a list of error messages that AMORTZ could generate,
along with recommended corrective action:
Amortization period exceeds program maximum.
It is quite possible to enter loan data that results in the
loan never being completely paid-off. This is usually due to
input errors or erroneous assumptions. To catch these types
of errors, AMORTZ terminates calculating after 601 payments
are reached. You could still print the schedule up to the
600th payment if you wanted to.
Formula Cannot be Resolved
AMORTZ has tried to solve for an unknown variable, and has
found no real answer. This is probably due to input errors
or invalid assumptions. Review your data and re-enter the
variables.
Number is too large!
AMORTZ has the following input maximums:
Principal - $9,999,999.99
Interest Rate - 99.99%
Payment Amount - $99,999.99
Payment Periods - 600
These maximums are absolute. There is no effective work-
around if you have figures larger than these.
Printer is not Ready!
Make sure your printer is turned on, is currently on-line,
and is not out of paper.
Program Terminated Abnormally. Memory Allocation Error.
AMORTZ needs less than 256K of RAM to run successfully. If
you get a memory allocation error, try removing any other
programs that may be occupying memory and run AMORTZ again.
AMORTZ - User's Guide Page 12
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IV. Revision History
1.30 - June 1991
` a. Added Installation Shell to the AMORTZ package.
b. Eliminated one line from each page of the printed
amortization schedule to allow for lower capacities of
some laser printer models.
c. Swatted several minor bugs as reported by users.
1.20 - April 1991
a. Added the ability to change the Fiscal Year-End
b. Corrected a "no way out" bug when AMORTZ detected a
printer error
c. Various documentation and evaluation refinements to
conform to ASP standards
1.10 - January 1991
a. Added a function to calculate principal, interest rate,
payment amount or number of payment periods.
b. Added option F5 - Loan Summary.
c. Corrected various bugs in screen display.
1.00 - October 1990
Initial Release of AMORTZ
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to:
Steve Bohrer - For the inspiration and for endless
proofreading and testing
BETA Testers - Al Hess, Mark Thimell, Bob McGargle,
Larry Anhutt, Jan Fisher & Mark Jones
Mike Smedley & Chip Rabinowitz - For the TCXL Library
Chris Bowyer - For all of the encouragement and support
AMORTZ v1.30
Registration Form
Qty Item Price Total
____ Registration and Program Disk . . . . . . .@ $10.00 ea $________
____ Source Code (Separate Disk) . . . . . . . .@ $25.00 ea $________
(You MUST ALSO register or be previously registered)
Add $1 each for 3.5 in. disks $________
TOTAL $________
Remit in US Funds to:
Mountain View Software
7606 85th Street E.
Puyallup, WA 98371-6514
Check or money orders accepted. Please do not send cash.
Allow 3 - 4 weeks for delivery.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Name _____________________________________________________________
Company _____________________________________________________________
Address _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Where did you obtain your copy of AMORTZ? ___________________________
Comments, Bug Reports, Questions, Suggestions and such: _____________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Your comments are appreciated - whether you register or not.
Thank you for your support!
1015A
