What is a Weekly Amortization Schedule?

A weekly amortization schedule is an amortization schedule which is based on weekly loan payments. There are some significant advantages to choosing to pay off a loan in weekly or bi-weekly payments; substantial savings can be generated over the life of the loan if the amortization schedule is calculated properly. Fortunately for borrowers, you don't have to do your own math to come up with a weekly amortization schedule; lenders do the math for their borrowers, and borrowers can also use an amortization calculator to play with different repayment schemes and interest rates to learn more about how much they will pay over the life of a loan.

An amortization schedule is a list of payments over a set period of time which will allow someone to pay off a loan and the interest which accrues along with it. There are a number of ways to organize an amortization schedule; for example, for student loans, people may pay less at the beginning, and more at the end. Each payment on the schedule includes a breakdown of how much of the payment goes to interest, and how much goes to the principle, with the balance between principle and interest changing over the life of the loan.

In the case of a weekly amortization schedule, the assumption is that the borrower will be making payments on the loan every week. The schedule can describe a series of fixed payments, or flexible payments, which allow the borrower to pay more or less at different times. The amortization schedule assumes that the borrower will be paying on time every week, and that no payments will be missed. If problems with repayment arise, it can affect the payments in the remainder of the weekly amortization schedule.

When taking out a loan, it helps to generate several amortization schedules with an amortization calculator to get a better idea of how much will be paid over the life of the loan. Such calculators are freely available on the Internet. People can do things like changing the interest rate to see how changes in interest will impact the loan in the long term, and they can explore monthly, biweekly, weekly, and quarterly payments. People may note that if they pay on a weekly amortization schedule, they pay less over the life of the loan, because less interest accrues and they make more payments than they do on other types of amortization schedules.

While lenders are not allowed to be outright deceptive in their lending practices, some skirt along the edges of full disclosure. Borrowers should make sure to do their research with care before signing any paperwork, and they should avoid signing a contract they haven't read or do not fully understand.