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Copyright ©2001-2004 NormSoft, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Table Of Contents

1. Introduction
    1.1. Features
    1.2. System Requirements
    1.3. Installation
2. How to Buy
3. Performing Simple Loan Calculations
    3.1. Calculating the Payment
    3.2. Calculating the Loan Amount
    3.3. Calculating the Interest Rate
    3.4. Calculating the Number of Payments
    3.5. Viewing the Total Interest
    3.6. Using the Popup Calculator
4. Managing Multiple Loans
    4.1. Loan Title
    4.2. Adding a Loan
    4.3. Deleting a Loan
    4.4. Moving Between Loans
5. Viewing a Loan Schedule
    5.1. Viewing Payment Details
6. Viewing Loan Details
7. Comparing Two Loans
8. Viewing a Loan Chart
9. Support

PayOff Plus! is a deluxe loan calculator for the Palm that lets you take control of your finances!  With it, you can perform all the basic loan calculations, as well as several advanced operations that will have you in charge of your finances in no time.

• Visit the car dealer with confidence; you can determine your monthly payment faster than your salesman.

• Figure out if refinancing makes sense for you.

• Is that credit card balance transfer really a good deal?

• How much can you afford to borrow?

• Will you save money by paying every two weeks instead of every month?

• How much sooner will your loan be paid off if you increase your monthly payment?

• How much interest are you going to pay over the life of the loan?

PayOff Plus! will help you with all of that and much more.

With PayOff Plus! installed on your Palm, you will never need another loan calculator!  PayOff Plus! offers more features than other loan calculators for a much lower price.

• You can set or calculate the payment amount, number of payments, amount of the loan, or the interest rate.

• View your payment schedule to see how much each payment will be and how much goes towards the principal and the interest.

• Store an unlimited number of loans for easy reference.

• Compare two loans side-by-side to determine which one is the better deal.

• Show a color-coded chart of your balance and interest over the course of the loan.

• View the total amount of interest paid for the loan.

• View the total amount of interest paid each year during the course of the loan.

• Handy pop-up calculator to make quick calculations.

• Support for international money formats (e.g. "1.000,00").

• Set the number of payments each year.

• Set the compounding period to any of 8 common choices.

• Each loan can have a title for quick reference to the ones you use most.

• Quickly and easily move between loans by using the Find button or the back and forward buttons.

• Delete loans that are paid off or are no longer needed.

• The payment schedule uses a dynamic calculation method to allow you to view loans with a very large number of payments.

• View the details of any loan.

PayOff Plus! will run on a Palm or compatible device with PalmOS 3.0 or greater.

Installing PayOff Plus! is simple.  You should have downloaded a file called PayOffPlus.zip.  Unzip this program with an unzip program, such as WinZip or StuffIt Expander.  One of the files in the PayOffPlus.zip archive is called "PayOffPlus.prc".  Double-click on this file.  Then perform a HotSync.  PayOffPlus! will now be installed, and you can begin using it!

If you have a registration key, perform the following steps to enable it:

1. Run PayOff Plus! on your Palm.

2. Tap the menu icon.

3. Select "About PayOff Plus!"

4. Enter your registration code in the space provided.

5. Tap OK.

PayOff Plus! is shareware.  You are allowed to use it for 14 days, but after that, you will no longer be able to perform any calculations.  For just $7.99US*, you can register PayOff Plus!, which will unlock the software and entitle you to one year of technical support by e-mail.  To purchase, go to www.normsoft.com and follow the instructions to buy PayOff Plus!.

Shop around and you will find that PayOff Plus! offers more features than many other loan calculators and is also one of the least expensive available!

*(Price as of July, 2002.  Subject to change.  See www.normsoft.com for details.)

When dealing with a loan, there are several numbers that apply.

• The amount or principal is the amount of money that has been borrowed.

• The percentage rate is the yearly percentage that is charged for the loan.  The percentage rate determines how much interest you have to pay to the lender.

• The number of payments is the total number of payments (or installments) that you will make towards the loan.

• The payment is the amount of money that you pay to the lender for each installment.

• The number of payments per year is the number of times that you make a payment each year.  For monthly loans, this would be 12; for bi-weekly loans, 26; etc.

• The compounding period is how often the lender computes the interest on the loan.  Typically this is monthly or daily, depending on the loan.  Loans that compound more frequently will cost more to pay off than other loans.

• The total interest is the total amount of interest paid during the life of the loan.  This is the amount of money that you paid to the lender over and above what was borrowed.

PayOff Plus! will allow you to enter or calculate all of these values for your loan.  The next sections describe how to perform the calculations.

This is probably the most common calculation you will do when working with a loan.  You know the amount of the loan, the interest rate, and the number of payments, and you want to figure out what your payment will be.  With PayOff Plus!, it's easy!  Just follow these instructions.

1. Create a new loan by tapping the "New" button.

2. Enter the amount of the loan to the right of the word "Amount:".  For example, "10000.00".

3. Enter the percentage rate to the right of where you see "% Rate:".  For example, "8.99".

4. Enter the number of payments where you see "# Payments:".  For example, "48".

5. If the payments are not made monthly, then change the "#Pay/Year:" to the number of payments per year.  For example, enter "26" for bi-weekly payments.

6. If the compounding period is not monthly, then tap the field to the right of the word "Compound:" and then select the compounding period from the list that appears.

7. Now tap the "Calc" button that is to the right of the "Payment" field.  The payment will appear in that field.

If you haven't entered all of the required information when you tap the "Calc" button, the field will be left as is, or it will be replaced with a "0".

If you want to decide how much you can afford to borrow, then you can calculate the loan amount.  You will need to know the percentage rate, number of payments, and the payment that you can afford.

1. Create a new loan by tapping the "New" button.

2. Enter the percentage rate to the right of where you see "% Rate:".  For example, "8.99".

3. Enter the number of payments where you see "# Payments:".  For example, "48".

4. Enter the payment that you are willing to make to the right of "Payment:".  For example, "410.00".

5. If the payments are not made monthly, then change the "#Pay/Year:" to the number of payments per year.  For example, enter "26" for bi-weekly payments.

6. If the compounding period is not monthly, then tap the field to the right of the word "Compound:" and then select the compounding period from the list that appears.

7. Now tap the "Calc" button that is to the right of the "Amount" field.  The amount will appear in that field.

If you haven't entered all of the required information when you tap the "Calc" button, the field will be left as is.

If you know the loan amount, number of payments, and payment, then you can determine what the interest rate on that loan is.  This is useful for when the interest rate is not disclosed.

1. Create a new loan by tapping the "New" button.

2. Enter the amount of the loan to the right of the word "Amount:".  For example, "10000.00".

3. Enter the number of payments where you see "# Payments:".  For example, "48".

4. Enter the payment that you are willing to make to the right of "Payment:".  For example, "410.00".

5. If the payments are not made monthly, then change the "#Pay/Year:" to the number of payments per year.  For example, enter "26" for bi-weekly payments.

6. If the compounding period is not monthly, then tap the field to the right of the word "Compound:" and then select the compounding period from the list that appears.

7. Now tap the "Calc" button that is to the right of the "% Rate:" field.  The percentage rate will appear in that field.

If you haven't entered all of the required information, or if the information you entered does not have a solution, then the field will be left as is, or it will be replaced with a "0".

Occasionally, you would like to figure out how long it will take you to pay off a loan if you make a certain payment.

1. Create a new loan by tapping the "New" button.

2. Enter the amount of the loan to the right of the word "Amount:".  For example, "10000.00".

3. Enter the percentage rate to the right of where you see "% Rate:".  For example, "8.99".

4. Enter the payment that you are willing to make to the right of "Payment:".  For example, "410.00".

5. If the payments are not made monthly, then change the "#Pay/Year:" to the number of payments per year.  For example, enter "26" for bi-weekly payments.

6. If the compounding period is not monthly, then tap the field to the right of the word "Compound:" and then select the compounding period from the list that appears.

7. Now tap the "Calc" button that is to the right of the "# Payments:" field.  The number of payments will appear in that field.

If you haven't entered all of the required information, or if the payment you entered is not sufficient to cover the interest for the loan, then the field will be left as is, or it will be replaced with a "0".

After you perform any of the above calculations, the total interest for the loan will be displayed beneath the "Total Interest:" label.  Note: The interest displayed here is only an estimate.  To see the actual interest, view the last payment in the loan schedule.  Typically, this value is not off by more than a few cents.

To the right of each of the first 4 fields is a calculator icon.  Tap on this icon to bring up a handy popup calculator.  This calculator will let you perform simple operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide) and enter the result into the appropriate field.  When you have the result you want to enter into the field, tap on the green checkmark button.  To discard the result and keep what you had, tap on the red X button.

You can move the calculator around the screen by tapping on the display area of the calculator and dragging your stylus in the direction you want to move.

PayOff Plus! allows you to store an unlimited number of loans and switch back and forth between them easily.

Each loan can be assigned a title so that you can tell it apart from other loans.  By default, when a loan is first created, it is given the title "Untitled".  You can change this easily by selecting the old title and then entering the new title.

Adding a new loan is very simple.  Tap the "New" button.  A new loan will be created with the default title ("Untitled"), payments per year (12), and compounding period (Monthly).  You can then change any of the information and perform calculations.

Deleting a loan is also very easy.  View the loan that you wish to delete.  Then tap the the "Delete" button.  You will be asked if you are sure you want to delete the loan.  Tap "Yes", and the loan will be deleted.

There are several ways to navigate through your existing loans.  The most simple way is to use the back and forward buttons.  These are located at the top of the screen to the left and right of the "Loan X of X" display.  If you tap the left arrow, you will move to the previous loan, and if you tap the right arrow, you will move to the next loan.

You can also tap the "Find" button.  This will bring up a complete list of all of your loans.  Select the loan you want to view, and then tap "OK".

PayOff Plus! allows you to view an amortization schedule for any loan.  This schedule shows you each payment and describes how much of your payment is applied to the principal and how much goes towards interest.

To view a loan schedule, fill in all of the information for the loan.  If there is a piece of information you do not know, then use the "Calc" buttons to fill it in.  When you have entered all of the information, tap the "Schedule" button.  A dialog will appear that contains the schedule.

Each line in the dialog represents a single payment and lists the following information:

• The payment number

• The principal applied during this payment

• The interest charged during this payment

• The balance remaining after the payment

(Note: If any of these numbers is too large to display, it will show "###" instead.  You can view this number by viewing the payment details.  See the next section to see how to do this.)

If there are more payments than can fit on the screen, a scrollbar will appear at the right.  Use the scrollbar to scroll through all of the payments for the loan.

While you are viewing a loan schedule, you can view detailed information for each payment.  To do this, select a payment that you are interested in by tapping on it.  Then tap the "Details" button.  (If you don't select a payment first, PayOff Plus! will assume you meant to select the first payment shown on the screen.)

A new dialog will appear that lists detailed information about the selected payment.  The following is shown:

• The payment number

• The balance before any payments were applied

• The total amount of the payment made

• The amount of the payment applied towards the principal

• The amount of the payment that went towards interest

• The total amount of interest paid on the loan so far

• The balance of the loan after the payment was made

On the bottom right of the screen are two arrows.  Tap the left arrow to view the previous payment's details.  Tap the right arrow to view the next payment's details.

When you are finished viewing payment details, tap the "Close" button.

Once you have entered all of the information for a loan, you may wish to see some more detail about this particular loan.  To do so, tap the "Details" button.

A new dialog will appear that lists all of the following information about the loan:

• The title

• The loan amount

• The percentage rate

• The number of payments

• The payment

• The number of payments per year

• The compounding period

• The total interest paid over the course of the loan

• The amount of interest paid during each year of the loan

Use the scrollbar on the screen or the up and down buttons on your Palm to scroll through the details.

It is often useful to compare two loans to see which one is the better deal.  PayOff Plus! allows you to view two loans side-by-side to make this determination.

Enter both loans that you wish to compare as two separate entries.  (See Section 4 Managing Multiple Loans for instructions to do this.)

While viewing the first loan, tap the "Compare" button.  A window will come up that lists all of the loans in your database.  Select the second loan that you want to compare with.  (Use the scrollbar on the screen or the up and down buttons on your Palm to scroll through the list of loans.)

The following information about each loan is displayed side-by-side:

• Their titles

• Their loan amounts

• Their percentage rates

• Their number of payments

• Their payments

• Their number of payments per year

• Their compounding periods

• Their total interest paid over the course of the loan

• Their amount of interest paid during each year of the loan

Use the scrollbar on the screen or the up and down buttons on your Palm to scroll through the comparison.

PayOff Plus! will show you a graphical chart that illustrates your loan.  To view this chart, enter all of the information about the loan.  Then, tap the "Chart" button.

A new dialog will appear containing a graph with two lines.  As you move from the left of the screen to the right of the screen, the payment number increases.  The furthest left portion of the screen refers to payment #1, and the furthest right portion of the screen refers to the last payment.  As you move from the bottom of the graph to the top of the graph, the amount of money represented increases.  The bottom of the graph represents $0.00.

In the chart, one line runs from the upper-left to the lower-right, and the other line runs from the lower-left to the upper-right.  The first line is the running balance of the loan.  It will be in red if you have a color Palm.  As it moves to the right, the balance decreases, and this chart will show you how quickly it decreases over time.  Typically you will notice that the balance goes down slowly at first and then goes down very quickly towards the end of the loan.  Two numbers will be drawn next to this line: the original balance is shown at the upper-left of the graph, and the balance after half of the payments is shown near the middle of the screen.

The second line is the total amount of interest paid.  It will be in blue if you have a color Palm.  You will probably notice that this increases quickly at first and then increases more slowly towards the end of the loan.  The total amount of interest paid during the loan will be drawn on the graph in the upper right corner of the screen.

If you have any questions, or if you wish to report a bug, contact support .  If you are a registered user, please mention that in your e-mail so that we can prioritize your question.