How to Make an Amortization Schedule in Excel: 2 Easy Ways

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Easily track outstanding principal, interest, & more on a loan

Co-authored by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: January 8, 2025 Fact Checked

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Creating an Amortization Schedule Manually

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Using an Excel Template

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An amortization schedule shows the interest applied to a fixed-interest loan and how the principal is reduced by payments. It also shows the detailed schedule of all payments so you can see how much is going toward the principal and how much is being paid toward interest charges. This wikiHow teaches you how to create your own amortization schedule in Microsoft Excel.

Making an Amortization Schedule in Excel

One way is to download Microsoft's Amortization Schedule template and replace the sample data with your own. Alternatively, create rows for the loan amount, interest rate, months, and payments, calculate payments with the PMT function, then use simple formulas to calculate monthly/cumulative amounts.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Creating an Amortization Schedule Manually

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Open Excel on your PC or Mac, then click Blank workbook to create a new file for your amortization schedule.
2
Create labels in column A. Create labels for your data in the first column to keep things organized. Here's what you should put in each cell:
- A1: Loan Amount
- A2: Interest Rate
- A3: Months
- A4: Payments
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3
Enter the information about your loan in column B. Fill out cells B1-B3 with details about your loan. Leave B4 (the cell next to the Payments label) blank.
- The "Months" value should be the total number of months in the loan term. For example, if you have a 2-year loan, enter 24.
- The "Interest Rate" value should be a percentage (e.g., 8.2%).
4
Calculate your payment in cell B4. To do this, click cell B4, and then type the following formula into the formula (fx) bar at the top of the sheet and then press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return: =ROUND(PMT($B$2/12,$B$3,-$B$1,0), 2).^{[1]
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- The dollar signs in the formula are absolute references to make sure the formula will always look to those specific cells, even if it is copied elsewhere into the worksheet.
- The loan interest rate must be divided by 12, since it is an annual rate that is calculated monthly.
- For example, if your loan is for $150,000 at 6 percent interest for 30 years (360 months), your loan payment will calculate out to $899.33.
5
Create column headers in row 7. You'll be adding some additional data to the sheet, which requires a second chart area. Enter the following labels into the cells:
- A7: Period
- B7: Beginning Balance
- C7: Payment
- D7: Principal
- E7: Interest
- F7: Cumulative Principal
- G7: Cumulative Interest
- H7: Ending Balance
6
Enter the payment dates into the Period column. This column will contain your payment dates. Here's what to do:
- Type the month and year of the first loan payment in cell A8. You may need to format the column to show the month and year correctly.
- If the rest of the payment dates fall on the same date each month, you can use Auto Fill to populate the column. To do this:
  - Click the first date cell, hover your mouse cursor over the cell's bottom-right corner to bring up the crosshair, then drag down the column. At first, the dates will be wrong—don't worry.
  - Click the Auto Fill Options icon, which is at the bottom-right corner of the series.
  - Select Fill Months.
- If the payment dates do not follow an easy-to-detect pattern, just fill out the dates manually.
7
Fill out the other entries in cells B8 through H8.
- Enter the beginning balance of your loan into cell B8.
- In cell C8, type =$B$4 and press Enter or Return.
- In cell E8, create a formula to calculate the loan interest amount on the beginning balance for that period. The formula will look like =ROUND($B8*($B$2/12), 2). The single dollar sign creates a relative reference. The formula will look for the appropriate cell in the B column.
- In cell D8, subtract the loan interest amount in cell E8 from the total payment in C8. Use relative references so this cell will copy correctly. The formula will look like =$C8-$E8.
- In cell H8, create a formula to subtract the principal portion of the payment from the beginning balance for that period. The formula will look like =$B8-$D8.
8
Continue the schedule by creating the entries in B9 through H9.
- Cell B9 should include a relative reference to the ending balance of the prior period. Type =$H8 into B9 and press Enter or Return.
- Copy cells C8, D8 and E8 and paste them into C9, D9 and E9 (respectively)
- Copy H8 and paste it into H9. This is where the relative reference becomes helpful.
- In cell F9, create a formula to tabulate cumulative principal paid. The formula will look like this: =$D9+$F8.
- Enter the cumulative interest formula into G9 like this: =$E9+$G8.
When you rest the mouse cursor over the bottom-right part of the highlighted area, the cursor will turn to a crosshair.
10
Drag the crosshair all the way down to row 367. This populates all the cells through row 367 with the amortization schedule.
- If this looks funny, click the small spreadsheet-looking icon at the bottom-right corner of the final cell and select Copy Cells.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using an Excel Template

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To get there, go to https://create.microsoft.com/en-us/template/loan-amortization-schedule-51ec1b4d-92a5-4915-8d83-ea5155e0e4d0 in any web browser. This free, downloadable amortization schedule template makes it easy to calculate the total interest and total payments. It even includes the option to add extra payments.
2
Click Download. This saves the template to your computer in the Excel format (XLSX).
- Alternatively, you can click Customize in Excel to create your amortization schedule in Excel on the web.
3
Double-click the downloaded file. It's called Loan amortization schedule.xlsx, and you'll usually find it in your Downloads folder. This opens the template in Microsoft Excel.
- The data in the template is there as an example—you'll be able to add your own data.
- If prompted, click Enable Editing at the top of the template so you can make changes to the workbook.
4
Type the loan amount into the "Loan Amount" cell. It's in the "ENTER VALUES" section near the top-left corner of the sheet. To type it, just click the existing value ($5000) and type your own amount.
- When you press ⏎ Return or ↵ Enter (or click another cell), the amounts in the rest of the sheet will recalculate. This will happen each time you change a value in this section.
This goes into the "Annual interest rate" cell.
This goes into the "Loan period in years" cell.
For example, if you make payments once per month, type 12 into the "Number of payments per year" cell.
This goes into the "Start date of loan" cell.
If you pay over the minimum amount due on your loan each pay period, enter that extra amount into this cell. If not, change the default value to 0 (zero).
The default value of the "LENDER NAME" blank is "Woodgrove Bank." Change this to your bank's name for your reference.
11
Save the worksheet as a new Excel file. Here's how:
- Click the File menu at the top-left and select Save As.
- Select a location on your computer or in the cloud where you'd like to store your schedule.
- Enter a name for the file. If the file type is not already set to "Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)," select that option from the drop-down menu (below the file name) now.
- Click Save.

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How can I change the currency?

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The currency is dependent on the format of the cell with dollar amounts in them. Right click on the cell you want to change and click on "Format." Then choose "Currency" and put in the appropriate codes for the currency you choose.

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How do I do a weekly payment loan?

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You have to change the periods. Try this: Change "Months" in cell A3 to "Periods." Change the "Payments" formula in cell B4, changing the "12" (which represents months) to "52" which represents the number of weeks in a year. The new formula will look like this: "=ROUND(PMT($B$2/52,$B$3,-$B$8,0), 2)." You'll also need to change your periods starting in cell A9 to add 7 days instead of 1 month. I would use this formula in cell A9: "=DATE(YEAR(A8),MONTH(A8),DAY(A8)+7." Lastly, copy your new formula down to the rest of the schedule so all the periods will be correct.

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How do I change the formula for quarterly payments rather than monthly payments?

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Wherever there is a field being populated with the =ROUND(...) formula, replace the "12" entry with a "4." Example: In cell E8, create a formula to calculate the loan interest amount on the beginning balance for that period. The formula will look like "=ROUND($B8*($B$2/4), 2)"

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Tips

If you do not receive a final ending balance of $0.00, make sure you have used the absolute and relative references as instructed and the cells have been copied correctly.

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You can now scroll to any period during the loan payment to see how much of the payment is applied to the principal, how much is charged as loan interest, and how much principal and interest you have paid to date.

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This will only work for home loans that are calculated monthly. If the loan is a car or daily compounded loan, this will only give rough estimates for interest paid.

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