WP Amortization Calculator

The schedule is the argument, not the monthly payment

It is what separates an amortisation calculator from a repayment calculator, and what makes it the best lead-capture tool a whole sector has.

A repayment calculator gives one number: you will pay this much a month. It is useful and forgotten in ten seconds.

An amortisation schedule shows where every pound of that payment goes, month by month. And there appears the figure hardly anybody has ever seen: that in the early years most of what you pay is interest, and the capital falls agonisingly slowly. Seeing that written down changes how people understand their own debt, and that moment of comprehension is what makes them remember your site.

WP Amortization Calculator is a customisable calculator for mortgages, car loans or any amortised loan, embeddable in a page or as a widget, even several times over.

What it contributes

• A complete amortisation schedule, with capital and interest broken down per period.
• Works for any amortised loan: mortgage, car, personal.
• Embeds in a page or as a widget, and repeatedly on the same site.
• Highly customisable, to fit your design and your rates.

The three things that make more people use it

Letting the schedule be seen, not just the summary. The breakdown is the interesting part. Hiding it behind a button or an email wastes the one moment when you have somebody's complete attention.

Letting the term be changed and compared. Seeing a twenty year and a thirty year loan side by side, with the total interest paid in each case, is the most useful calculation in personal finance. And hardly any website shows it.

Letting an overpayment be simulated. If the plugin allows it, that is what people will like most: how much do I save if I put an extra amount in this year. It is the question people carry around and cannot calculate.

Where it fits, beyond the obvious

The obvious is a mortgage site or a bank. But it works just as well, with less competition, on sites that sell no finance at all:

A car dealership or a machinery seller. The customer already knows they want it; what they do not know is whether the monthly payment fits. Putting the calculator beside the price removes the most frequent objection.

An estate agency. Next to each property's price, with the term and rate pre-filled, it answers the question everybody asks themselves looking at a listing.

A personal finance blog. It is the kind of tool people bookmark and come back to, which is free recurring traffic.

The warning worth leaving in writing

A calculator does arithmetic, not advice. A loan's real payment carries things the schedule does not know: arrangement fees, valuation, tied insurance, and if the rate is variable, that it will change.

Two lines underneath saying the result is indicative and which costs are not included are enough. And if your business is credit intermediation, that part is not optional: the sector is regulated and there are concrete obligations about how an interest rate may be presented and what warnings have to accompany it.

Requirements

It needs WordPress. You supply the interest rates, and they are worth reviewing when they change, because a calculator carrying a rate from two years ago gives numbers that no longer exist.

Alternatives in the catalogue

If your calculation is not a loan but a quote from variables, there are tools built for that: Cost Calculator Builder and Stylish Cost Calculator, the second with a printable quote.

On the design side, if you are building the whole business: Levix is a theme for mortgage and property businesses, FinBank for banking and finance, and Solvency for advisory and credit repair.

If you are going to sell property and want the calculator beside the listing, Houzez and RealHomes are the catalogue's property themes.

And so the application that follows does not get lost, WS Form PRO builds the long form in steps with conditional logic.

Frequently asked questions

Is it only for mortgages?
No, it works for any amortised loan: car, personal, business.

Can I place it several times?
Yes, in a page or as a widget, even repeated on the same site.

Should I hide the schedule behind an email?
No. The breakdown is the interesting part, and it is the moment you have the person's attention.

Does it include the transaction costs?
No. Valuation, fees and insurance are separate, and worth stating under the result.

Do the rates need updating?
Yes. A calculator with an old rate gives numbers that no longer exist.

Is it useful on a site that sells no finance?
Yes, and with less competition: dealerships, estate agencies and personal finance blogs.