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Money · Guided lesson

Identify the loan cash received

About 8 minutes · 3 reading + 5 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
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A checked amortization schedule and loan-offer comparison separating cash received, interest, fees, total cost and early-payment rules.

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • A loan-proceeds comparison with a funding-gap calculation and disclosure questions.
  • A checked one-period payment allocation and principal roll-forward.
  • A four-period amortization table with final payoff and total-interest checks.
  • A term/cost/affordability scorecard for comparable loan offers.
  • An extra-payment scenario with principal application and prepayment questions.
  • A borrowing-or-wait decision brief with a savings path, cost and review trigger.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • All supplied records reconcile and the decision uses the named case rules.
  • Calculations show units, intermediate values and a second check.
  • Changed-input practice revises the affected result and identifies uncertainty.
  • The final project combines six lesson records, separates fictional assumptions from current rules, and states a supported next step.
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Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

This is an original fictional practice case. No account, payment, personal record or outside participation is required. Offer A owes $1,000 principal with a $50 fee withheld; offer B owes $1,000 with no upfront fee. Ignore later interest here.

The idea

Principal owed, cash delivered and fees can differ; compare borrowing cost against what is actually usable.

Follow along

Identify the loan cash received — worked practice

Principal owed, cash delivered and fees can differ; compare borrowing cost against what is actually usable.

Use paper or a local table; label all amounts as fictional USD unless the case names another unit. Offer A owes $1,000 principal with a $50 fee withheld; offer B owes $1,000 with no upfront fee. Ignore later interest here.

Disbursed cash comparison

Paste at A1.

AOfferBPrincipal owed USDCFee withheld USD
A100050
B10000

Copy as plain text
  1. 1. Step 1: Record principal separately from withheld charges

    Record principal separately from withheld charges.

    You should see: A: $1,000 principal, $50 withheld; B: $1,000 principal, $0 withheld.

    Principal owed, cash delivered and fees can differ; compare borrowing cost against what is actually usable.

  2. 2. Step 2: Calculate cash delivered

    Calculate cash delivered.

    You should see: A $950; B $1,000.

    Keep this intermediate result so the final decision can be checked.

  3. 3. Step 3: Compare with a $1,000 cash need

    Compare with a $1,000 cash need.

    You should see: A leaves a $50 gap; B meets it.

    Keep this intermediate result so the final decision can be checked.

  4. 4. Step 4: Write a disclosure-question list

    Write a disclosure-question list.

    You should see: Verify fees, APR, payment schedule and the actual amount delivered before comparing offers.

    Keep this intermediate result so the final decision can be checked.

Now change one thing

A fee becomes $80. Cash delivered?

Your work

What to finish

A loan-proceeds comparison with a funding-gap calculation and disclosure questions.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Assuming the amount owed is the same as the cash delivered after a withheld fee.

How can I tell I understand it?

Separate contractual loan principal from delivered proceeds and upfront deductions on a new supplied case, with a visible intermediate check and no unsupported real-world promise.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1$2,000 principal with $100 withheld fee: cash received?
2Is APR the same quantity as the contract’s interest rate when finance fees are included?
3What should be compared for an identical cash need?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
1
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Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

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Tools, templates, and lesson sources

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Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

CFPB — Do personal installment loans have fees?
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Official page opened/read during Money expansion authoring; checked the relevant concept and access state. These sources do not establish funding eligibility.

Access: Readable official webpage inspected with the web reader on 2026-10-01. No interactive-tool operation is claimed.

Reuse: Original fictional practice, questions and calculations; paraphrased concepts with a source link. No source exercise copied.

CFPB — What is the difference between a loan interest rate and the APR?
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Official page opened/read during Money expansion authoring; checked the relevant concept and access state. These sources do not establish funding eligibility.

Access: Readable official webpage inspected with the web reader on 2026-10-01. No interactive-tool operation is claimed.

Reuse: Original fictional practice, questions and calculations; paraphrased concepts with a source link. No source exercise copied.

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