Edit Debt & Loans

Enter debt only when a balance and repayment obligation carry forward

Debt & Loans is for mortgages, home-equity borrowing, student loans, vehicle loans, personal loans, and carried credit-card balances. Routine card purchases paid in full belong in Annual Spending, not as a new liability.

Each debt needs its own record when balance, borrower, collateral, interest, payment frequency, or end rule differs. Multiple loans secured by one property remain separate debts linked to the same property.

Use the current balance, its date, and the actual interest structure

Enter the outstanding balance and balance date from a statement. Choose fixed, variable, or zero interest and enter the annual rate used for planning. A variable rate is still an assumption; the model does not know the lender’s future reset path unless you change the plan.

Link mortgages, home-equity loans, and HELOCs to the correct property. An unsecured debt should remain unlinked. The connection lets a planned sale address the supported secured balance without treating the loan as part of the property’s value.

Payment amount and frequency describe the planned cash obligation

A blank payoff or balloon date leaves the schedule open-ended. Interest-only debt keeps applying its payment rule without an immediate balloon. Payment through end date continues scheduled payments when no end date is supplied, including a payment-only obligation with an unknown balance. Enter a real end date when the balloon or final payment year is known. Deferred payment with no deferral date remains deferred; interest can still accrue.

For a plan with scheduled borrowing, a zero opening balance or temporary repayment to zero does not cancel later positive draws. Review Projection for both the cash received and the matching debt. A debt marked Paid off or Forgiven does not reopen for those draws, and selling the secured property closes its linked debt.

Enter the contractual or planned payment amount and the number of payments per year. Use the supported repayment kind and end date that match the plan. The annual model separates interest and principal using the saved assumptions; it does not reproduce a lender’s daily accrual or escrow statement.

A payoff plan should be modeled directly through its payment or end assumption rather than by deleting the debt early. A forgiven, future, or paid-off status has a different meaning from an active balance and should match the plan being tested.

Trace payments and remaining balance through the payoff year

After saving, check the summary balance, rate, payment frequency, payoff description, and linked property. In Projection, review annual debt service and the balance before and after the payoff or property sale.

Potential itemized mortgage-interest deductions are not currently included in tax results, and exact payoff statements, prepayment penalties, escrow adjustments, and lender fees are outside the model. Keep those limits visible when a decision is close.