Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;-))

From: Joe R. <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Mon Jun 21 14:12:02 2004

At 01:13 PM 6/21/04 -0400, you wrote:
>
>> I also was unable to ever get the bank to tell me exactly how interest
>> was calculated - I had to juggle possibilities myself until I came up
>> with one that tracked the bank's numbers exactly.
>
>Well, it was sitting on PC's as an open source basic program for years.
>'mortgage.bas', IIRC. Personal belief is that all interest rate
>calculations
>operate like this, with the banks options only being what to do when a
>person wants to prepay, and, optional fees at closing. Basically they
>could fudge the beginning or the end, but not what happens in-between.
>...Best choosing a fixed interest rate over a variable one for this.
>
>John A.


   BASIC's Mortgage is an interesting little program but it doesn't take
into account some the things that banks do. For example is the year
calculated as 360 or 365 days per year? Banks do one way when they
calculate interest on your savings account but the other when they
calculate interst due themselves. Is the interst due at the beginning or
end of each interest period? Etc etc. I'm not even sure how accuarate
Mortgage is even with the right input. A lot of mortgage caclulators
weren't very accurate. One of the ones that IS accurate is the HP-12C.
Another is the HP-41 with the Finance ROM. Or if you can find one, get the
PPC ROM for the HP-41. It has a great financial package in it and it's
manual has a VERY good description of the different inputs and how they
affect the calculations.

   Joe
Received on Mon Jun 21 2004 - 14:12:02 BST