The Loan Repayment Calculator is used to calculate compound interest. It provides a way of entering four of the five parameters of a compound interest calculation and then calculating the remaining figure.
The calculator is split into two panes. The left pane has five fields with a Calculate button and a button. The button is used to select the figure to calculate. The button is used to clear any amount in the field.
Payment Periods: This field is used to select the number of payments you wish to use in the calculation.
Interest Rate: This field is used for the interest rate percentage.
Present Value: This field usually contains the amount you have borrowed. It is the base amount you wish to compound.
Periodic Payment: This field contains the amount that is the payment for the period selected (IE monthly, weekly, etc). If it is for repaying a loan it should be a negative number.
Future Value: This field contains the final value at the end of the periods above. If we are repaying a loan in full it would be 0.
The right pane contains buttons to select what sort of payments and compounding is used for the left pane calculations.
This button allows you to select the interval used if the Discrete Compounding button is selected.
This button allows you to select the interval used for the Payment Periods field.
Use this button if the payment is at the end of the period.
Use this button if the payment is at the beginning of the period.
This button is used where interest is charged at a discrete interval defined by the button above.
This button is used when the interest is charged continuously.
This field shows the total amount paid.
Examples of using the Loan Repayment Calculator are given in the Tutorial and
Concepts Guide. GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts
Guide’s Chapter on Loans