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Loans

Loans help you plan recurring payments (repayments/interest) and review the schedule in a clear table.

Note: The number of active entries is limited when using Valutra for free. See Usage & limits.

Related plan items & payments

All repayments, interest, and optional special repayments are created as plan items. These plan items:

  • appear in the overviews (e.g. plan / balance),
  • can receive regular payments,
  • are not directly editable, because they are derived from the loan.

If you want to change amounts, the schedule, or the category, change the loan — the related plan items are recalculated.

Note: a loan is always either personal or business. This purpose influences which categories you can select and (for leasing) VAT display.

Supported loan types

Valutra supports multiple types so you can model different real-world contracts:

  • Annuity loan (constant payment): the payment amount is constant per interval; interest decreases over time, principal increases.
  • Linear loan (constant principal): principal is constant per interval; interest decreases as the remaining principal shrinks, so the total payment goes down over time.
  • Bullet loan: you only pay interest during the term; the principal is due as a final payment.
  • Repayment via replacement product (substitute): currently modeled like a bullet loan (interest during the term + final principal payment). You can store a description of the replacement product, but Valutra does not create separate plan items for the replacement product yet.
  • Leasing: lease payments are planned; optionally, an upfront one-time payment is planned if you enter a principal amount. There is no remaining principal / classic amortization schedule.

Inputs & validations

To keep schedules consistent, inputs are validated:

  • Maximum term: start to end date must not exceed 30 years.
  • Required fields per type:
    • Annuity: principal, interest rate, payment.
    • Linear: principal, interest rate, principal repayment amount.
    • Bullet: principal, interest rate.
    • Replacement product: principal, interest rate, description.
    • Leasing: payment (principal is optional; if provided it becomes an upfront one-time payment).

Notes:

  • Interest rates are entered as percent per year (e.g. 3 = 3% p.a.).
  • The UI guides you to consistent date/interval combinations (e.g. quarterly terms).

How table rows are calculated

In a loan’s detail view, each period shows a row with:

  • Amount: planned payment amount
  • Interest: interest portion of that payment
  • Principal: principal repayment
  • Remaining principal: outstanding amount after that row

Exception: for leasing, only the lease payments are shown.

Interest is computed per interval from the current remaining principal.

Rule of thumb:

Interest = Remaining × ((1 + r/12)^(months in interval) - 1)

Where r is the annual interest rate in percent (e.g. 1.5 for 1.5% p.a.).

Important: remaining principal is always the current remaining amount before the respective payment — including all principal reductions (including special repayments) from prior months.

Annuity loan (constant payment)

  • Amount (payment): stays constant per interval.
  • Interest: as described above.
  • Principal: Principal = Payment - Interest.
  • Final payment: if the remaining principal becomes smaller than the regular principal portion near the end, the last payment is adjusted automatically.

Implementation detail (why you may see 2 plan items):

  • Valutra creates one recurring plan item for the regular payment and, if needed, one one-time plan item for the final adjusted payment.

Special repayments show up as additional rows (without interest) and reduce the remaining principal immediately. Within the same month, regular payments are listed before special repayments.

Linear loan (constant principal)

  • Principal: constant per interval (until fully repaid).
  • Interest: decreases because remaining principal decreases.
  • Amount (payment):

Payment = Principal + Interest

Special repayments are shown as separate rows without interest and reduce remaining principal as well.

Implementation detail:

  • Because the total payment changes every period, linear loans are represented as multiple one-time plan items (one per period) rather than one recurring one.

Bullet loan & replacement product

For these types, the ongoing schedule consists of interest payments:

  • Interest payment: principal = 0, remaining principal stays unchanged.
  • Final payment: at the end, the remaining principal is planned as a separate payment.

Special repayments reduce remaining principal and therefore:

  • future interest and
  • the final payment amount.

If special repayments cover the full principal, the final payment is omitted.

Current behavior note for “replacement product / substitute” loans:

  • The replacement product is currently only stored as text.
  • The principal is still planned as a final payment at the end date (same as bullet).

Leasing

Leasing is modeled as payment planning only:

  • Recurring lease payments are displayed.
  • If you enter a principal amount, Valutra plans it as an upfront one-time payment at the start date.
  • interest, principal, and remaining principal are 0 in the amortization sense because Valutra does not compute a classic repayment schedule for leasing.

Special repayments

Special repayments are available for all loan types except leasing.

  • a special repayment must be within the loan period
  • special repayments must be positive
  • the sum of all special repayments must not exceed the principal
  • special repayments can only be created/changed starting from the month of the last recorded payment

Changes once payments exist

Once at least one payment is recorded for a loan, the loan is no longer fully rebuilt. Only “base fields” are editable:

  • name
  • interest rate
  • purpose (personal/business)
  • category (propagated to the related plan items)
  • end date (updates the validity of the derived plan items)
  • “flexible repayment allowed” toggle
  • for leasing additionally: VAT rate

Changes to core parameters (e.g. type, principal, interval, payment/principal amount) are locked so existing payments don’t become inconsistent retroactively.

Purpose, categories & VAT

  • Purpose: choose personal or business based on the loan. Categories must match the purpose.
  • VAT: usually only relevant for leasing (if you plan business lease payments with VAT). Store the VAT rate on the leasing contract and enter the payment amount including VAT.

Next topics

References (for contributors)