Amortization Schedule Calculator

How to Read Your Amortization Table

Each row in the schedule represents one monthly payment. The columns show the payment number, the amount going to interest, the amount going to principal, and the remaining balance. In the early years the interest column dominates because interest is calculated on the outstanding balance, which is still large. As you pay down principal, each successive payment sends a little more toward the balance and a little less to interest.

The yearly summary rows let you see how much principal you actually retired in a given calendar year versus how much you paid the lender for the privilege of borrowing. This bird's-eye view makes it easy to spot the crossover point — the month when your principal portion finally exceeds your interest portion. On a standard 30-year loan, that crossover often does not arrive until year 18 or later.

Why Early Payments Are Almost All Interest

The amortization formula keeps your monthly payment constant, but the allocation changes every month. In the first payment on a $280,000 loan at an illustrative 7% rate, interest alone is about $1,633 because the lender charges 7% annually on the full balance. Only the leftover — roughly $230 — reduces what you owe. By payment 180, the interest share has dropped noticeably and the principal share has grown, but you have already sent tens of thousands of dollars to the lender in pure interest.

Understanding this front-loaded interest structure is the reason many borrowers explore extra payments, biweekly schedules or shorter terms. Each strategy attacks the principal balance sooner, which reduces the interest charged on every future payment. The schedule makes the cumulative impact visible, and you can download it as a CSV to run your own comparisons.

The schedule assumes you make every payment on time and that your rate does not change. Adjustable-rate loans will produce different figures after the fixed period ends.