See your monthly payment and a full year-by-year breakdown of principal vs interest. Know exactly where every dollar goes.
See how your loan balance decreases over time and the split between principal and interest each year.
Amortization is the process of paying off a loan through regular fixed payments over time. Each payment covers both interest (the cost of borrowing) and principal (reducing the outstanding balance). Early in the loan, most of each payment is interest. As the balance decreases, more of each payment goes to principal.
This is why making extra payments early in a loan saves a disproportionately large amount of interest. An extra $100/month in year 1 of a 30-year mortgage saves far more total interest than the same $100 extra in year 25 — because it reduces the principal balance that interest accrues on for the remaining 29 years.
The table shows, for each year: total principal paid, total interest paid, and remaining balance. In early years of a 30-year mortgage, you'll see the balance declining very slowly — this is normal. By year 20, principal payments accelerate significantly. The table makes this progression visible in a way that a single monthly payment figure never could.
If you pay an extra $200/month on a $200,000 loan at 7% for 30 years, you shorten the loan by roughly 8 years and save over $80,000 in interest. The amortization table doesn't simulate extra payments directly, but you can use it to see your baseline — then compare to a scenario with a higher monthly payment to understand the impact. Read the amortization guide →
An amortization schedule is a table showing each payment broken down into principal and interest, along with the remaining loan balance after each payment. It reveals how slowly the balance decreases early in the loan and how rapidly it falls near the end.
Because interest is calculated on the outstanding principal balance. Early in the loan, the balance is high, so the interest portion of each payment is high. As you pay down principal, less interest accrues, and more of each payment goes to principal.
Extra payments reduce principal immediately, which reduces interest accrued for all remaining months. On a 30-year mortgage, an extra $100/month from day one can shorten the loan by 4-6 years and save tens of thousands in interest — the earlier you start, the larger the effect.
Most installment loans (mortgages, personal loans, auto loans, student loans) use standard amortization. Credit cards are different — they use minimum payments based on balance, not a fixed amortization schedule, which is why balances can grow despite making payments.