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Course Library · Lesson 5 of 6
Money · Guided lesson

Test an extra principal payment

About 11 minutes · 3 reading + 8 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
See this course’s project requirements

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.
Open the full course project
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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. Month 2 opens at $750, 1% interest, regular payment $260. An extra $100 is explicitly applied to principal at the same month-end; no prepayment fee.

The idea

Extra payments help only as the contract credits them; verify principal application and any penalties.

Follow along

Test an extra principal payment — worked practice

Extra payments help only as the contract credits them; verify principal application and any penalties.

Use paper or a local table; label all amounts as fictional USD unless the case names another unit. Month 2 opens at $750, 1% interest, regular payment $260. An extra $100 is explicitly applied to principal at the same month-end; no prepayment fee.

Extra-payment allocation inputs

Paste at A1.

AInput or recordBSupplied value
Month-2 opening principal USD750
Monthly interest decimal0.01
Regular month-end payment USD260
Extra principal at same date USD100
Prepayment fee USD0

Copy as plain text
  1. 1. Step 1: Calculate interest before the stated month-end payments

    Calculate interest before the stated month-end payments.

    You should see: $7.50.

    Extra payments help only as the contract credits them; verify principal application and any penalties.

  2. 2. Step 2: Calculate closing debt with the regular payment

    Calculate closing debt with the regular payment.

    You should see: $497.50.

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

  3. 3. Step 3: Apply the extra principal amount once

    Apply the extra principal amount once.

    You should see: $397.50.

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

  4. 4. Step 4: Compare next-period interest under the same 1% rate

    Compare next-period interest under the same 1% rate.

    You should see: $3.98 after rounding instead of $4.98: $1 lower for that period.

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

Now change one thing

Extra principal payment is $150. Closing principal?

Your work

What to finish

An extra-payment scenario with principal application and prepayment questions.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Assuming a scheduled extra payment is always credited immediately to principal.

How can I tell I understand it?

Test a specified extra-principal payment and compare the following interest period 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$600 opening +$6 interest −$106 regular payment −$50 extra principal: closing?
2An extra payment is credited to future scheduled installments instead of immediate principal. What should be checked?
3An early-payment penalty exists. What belongs in the decision?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
5
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

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

Tools and templates

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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 amortization and how could it affect my auto loan?
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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