Amortization schedule.
In plain English
An amortization schedule lists every payment on a loan from the first to the last, showing how much of each one goes to interest and how much pays down the principal. Early on, most of a fixed mortgage payment is interest and very little reduces the balance; over the years that flips, and later payments are mostly principal. The schedule is why paying a little extra early has an outsized effect, and why refinancing resets the clock. It turns a single monthly number into a clear picture of where your money actually goes.
01Why it matters
The schedule reveals how front-loaded mortgage interest is, which explains why early extra payments help so much and why the first years build little equity.
02The math, step by step
On a 300,000 dollar loan at 6 percent, the first monthly payment of about 1,799 dollars sends roughly 1,500 dollars to interest and only about 299 dollars to principal. Fifteen years in, that split has nearly reversed.
03What this is NOT
Amortization does NOT split the balance evenly across payments. The payment is level, but early payments are mostly interest and later ones mostly principal.
04Receipts
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