topic Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress in Student Loans

An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Travis-84 — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:47:03 GMT

I had goal to pay my studnet loans off in 5 years. The first question I had was if my goal was realistic, and I wanted a way to track my progress to see if I was on track, or behind, and how much. I made a spreadsheet to track my progess, and I think some people in this community might find it usefull.

On page 1 it shows my payoff schedule. If you key in the original amount, and the interest, the excel spreedsheet does just about everything else for you. All you have to do is key in the payment. What is nice about this way, you can test certain payment plans based on your needs. In my case, I want my payment to go up 3 years from now, since I will no longer have a car payment. This is somthing that online calculators just can not do.

On page 2 I have the scheduled payment listed, and you can key in your actual payment.

Then the scheduled balance is listed, and you key in the actual balance from your student loans. The information is automatically pulled from sheet 1, so it will tell you if you are behind or ahead, and by how much. I have some subsidized loans right now, which the excel spreadsheed doesn't know are subsidized, so I will really get ahead in the next 5 months. There are some limitations to the spreadsheet.

Page 3

Lets you figure out your interest rate. Key in the amount of the loan, and the interest rate, and it computes your average. I also put a spot for interest rate tracking, so you can follow the changes in your interest rate. If you are paying more than the minimum, and paying the extra towards your highest balance, then your interest rate will go down, so I though it would be cool to track.

Here are some screenshots:

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/8830/page1v.png

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9154/page2oz.png

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/9118/page3d.png

I don't know where I can host an excel file from. If somebody can tell me where, I can upload the file tonight, so people can look at it. I made this file specifically for my use, so I know it has its limitations, but this community has helped me out a lot, so if I can help out on person, then its worth giving back to the community. If people want to download the file (once I find out where to upload it), I can take suggestions, and modify it to help out more people. I know step one is to add a few more years, as a lot of people may not be able to pay off their student loans that fast. Hopefully this post made sense, and I'm not breaking any rules by trying to upload a file.

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Tazman81 — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:22:48 GMT

Nice work. For the subsidized loans, see if it will allow you to put in 0% for the interest. That way you will get a more accurate picture of what your payments are going to. While you are looking at it, I would recommend paying more toward your unsubsidized loans (since you are paying the interest on those).

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progressI

Travis-84 — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:24:55 GMT

I realize could put 0% for my subsidized loans, (until June), then switch it to 6.14% on July 1st, I just don't think its worth the trouble. I would rather just 'get ahead' of my plan by 40 or so bucks a month until then.

As for the payments I'm making, I'm only paying off my 6.8% unsubidized loans right now. I haven't made a single payment towards any subsidized loans.

Also, the interest rate doesn't have to be exact anyway, as it changes every month. Since I have the option of putting the extra part of the payment towards any loan I choose, I put it towards the one with the highest interest rate, which brings my overall interest rate down each month (by about 1 basis point). Its not a huge change, but its something.

If my calculations are pessismistic, and don't take in to account the little things (like less interest as I get ahead of schedule), then I might pay off my loans in 4.5 years, and I'm fine with that.

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progressI

castlefox — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:29:28 GMT

I really like the spread sheet you made. I personally have just been lazying and been using mint.com and using it to track where I've been spending my money, net worth, and to watch my debt go down.

I've been paying off my loans with the higher interest of 6.8% first and paying as little as I can on the 1.8% loans.

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Mark_in_Pasadena — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:03:02 GMT

@Travis-84 wrote:

I don't know where I can host an excel file from. If somebody can tell me where, I can upload the file tonight, so people can look at it.

http://docs.google.com

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Travis-84 — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:20:02 GMT

Here is a link to the spreadsheet. Play around with it, and if a few people find it usefull and want to use it, I can change it to make it a bit more usefull for more people.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bzeb-_JTJJ2bMGNmMjY5MDktNTBmOC00YmUyLWExYWQtMzliZmI1ODNiMDAx&hl=en&authkey=CKXe1_AM

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 01:01:03 GMT

Here is a spreadsheet I created for student loans. Although I dont have to deal with student loans, I made this spreadsheet in anticipation of attending law school (for tax law).

I was a finance and accounting major in undergrad and thus, as u can see in the screenshots, I used shorthand (e.g. FV = future value, PV=present value)

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/1415/51607579.jpg

the excel file

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SXZ4RKO8

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:31:47 GMT

Thank you for your exel files!

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:24:10 GMT

Good Morning,

I just saw this thread but can no longer access the spreadsheet through the google docs link or the spreadsheet through megauploads (site taken down due to law suit) - can you please repost?

Thank you!

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 09:52:07 GMT

here's an amortization calculator (and some other tools)

http://www.creditkarma.com/calculators/amortization

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

loviedovie — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 04:22:37 GMT

I have a question about amortization and the payment chart that Travis84 made.

If the payments in the early stages of paying off a loan pay more of the interest, would it make more sense to pay a higher amount at the beginning to aggressively tackle the interest? Then you could pay a lower amount once you are into more of the principal amount.

But the spreadsheet Travis84 made has the higher payments at the end...

I am just learning about amortization...

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

Travis-84 — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 23:24:27 GMT

I will agree with you that the ideal way to pay off a loan is to pay as much as possible. Paying more in the early stages of a loan, will reduce the total interest paid. The reason I set the loan up that way is because the assumption is fresh out of college, you don't make as much, and can expect to get pay raises as you advance in your career. I also had it set up so my payment jumps 100.00 when my car is paid off, since I will have more money to put towards the loan.

I also saw a few recent request for this doccument. I don't know what happened to it. I don't have it on my computer to reupload either. My plan was very consertative, and I've been agressive with payments, so I am a bit more than 2 years ahead of my schedule, so I stopped using the spreadsheet about a year ago. With a bit of work in excel, anybody can use the pictures as a template to make a sheet customized to them.

Re: An Excel spreadsheet I made to track student loan payoff progress

loviedovie — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:32:02 GMT

Ahh that makes sense. I have seen student loan repayment plans that are graduated that way as well.

Best of luck to you Travis84 and thanks so much for sharing the good spreadsheet!