Payment Command

Payment( <Rate>, <Number of Periods>, <Present Value>, <Future Value (optional)>, <Type (optional)> )

Calculates the payment for a loan based on constant payments and a constant interest rate.

<Rate> Interest rate per period.
<Number of Periods> Total number of payments for the loan.
<Present Value> Total amount that a series of future payments is worth now.
<Future Value (optional)> A cash balance you want to attain after the last payment. If you do not enter a future value, it is assumed to be 0.
<Type (optional)> Indicates when payments are due. If you do not enter a value or you enter 0 the payment is due at the end of the period. If you enter 1 it is due at the beginning of the period.

Payment(6%/12, 10, 10000, 0,1) yields a monthly payment for a loan of -1022.59.

Make sure that you are consistent about the units you use for <Rate> and <Number of Periods>. If you make monthly payments on a four-year loan at an annual interest rate of 6 percent, use 6%/12 for rate and 4*12 for number of payments.

For all arguments, cash paid out is represented by negative numbers and cash received by positive numbers.

See also Rate, Periods, Present Value and Future Value commands.