Table of Contents Page I. Introduction Overview........................,........... 2 i.Copyright information..................... 2 ii.How to register.......................... 2 iii. ASP.................................... 3 iv.How to contact J.D.CA.................... 3 v.Product Support........................... 4 vi.Trademark Acknowledgments ............... 4 vii. Warranty and Disclaimer ............... 4 II. User Guide Installation Instructions .................. 5 Key Terms .................................. 6 Special Function Keys ...................... 7 Main Help Screen ........................... 8 Menu Options ------------ 1. Loan Payment Calculation ................ 8 2. Loan Balance Calculation ................ 11 3. Loan Payback Comparison ................. 12 4. Loan Comparison Calculation Table........ 15 5. Principle Reduction Estimation (Drop-in to Principle) .................... 17 III. Appendix Error Messages ............................. 20 I. Introduction Overview _______________________________________________________ LAPC (pronounced LA - PC) is designed to be a forecasting and analysis tool to aid in making smart loan decisions. There are a number of options in this program that compare terms, rates and amounts to one another to get a feel for how the range of values are affected by changes in loan parameters. All options are chosen from the main menu by pressing the key corresponding to the first letter of the desired option or highlight the menu option with the scroll bar and press ENTER. For example, to select the option that calculates periodic payments, option 1, press "P" or highlight this option and press ENTER. To select the principle prepayment option choose the Drop-in principle option by pressing "D" or highlight it with the bar and press ENTER etc. Help for each screen is available by pressing the F1 key. The help screen will explain the data entry screen and the data entry parameters similar to what is explained in this user guide. Use the PgUp and PgDn keys to page through the help screens and the ESCape key to terminate the help and return to the data entry screen or results screen. i. Copyright and Registration Information LAPC, its documentation and supplementary files and programs are Copyright (c) 1990-93 J.D. Consulting Associates.All rights reserved worldwide. LAPC is not now, nor was it ever, public domain or free software. LAPC is currently available in shareware version only. A commercial version is due out sometime in 1994. You are granted a limited license to use LAPC. Non-registered users are granted a limited license for a 30 day trial period only. After 30 days if you continue to use LAPC you MUST register it. Use of LAPC after the trial period violates J.D. Consulting Associates's license. Under no circumstances shall any other person or business profit from the sale of this program, other than to distribute the program in a shareware library, unless previously approved by J.D. Consulting Associates in writing. Distributors MUST read and abide by the accompanied VENDOR.TXT file, which explains J.D. Consulting Associates's distribution policy. ii. How to Register Registration of LAPC is mandatory for commercial and government users. To register your copy of LAPC, send your registration fee, payable in US funds with the completed order form found in the disk file ORDER.FRM to: J.D. Consulting Associates P.O. Box 3794 Albany, NY 12203 You can order by sending check or money order to J.D. Consulting Associates at the address listed above. You can also register with Amex. Discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, etc, must be directed to J.D. Consulting Associates at (518) 482-5789. LAPC must be registered for EACH USER at your site; alternatively, contact J.D. Consulting Associates for current SITE LICENSE information. Registered users are provided services and software not available to the non-registered user. Registered users are notified of program updates and provided the first update FREE! including the upcoming Windows version. Also, the registered version of LAPC does NOT contain the registration information screen, which pops up on the screen at each invocation of LAPC. iii. Association of Shareware Professionals J.D. Consulting Associates is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. The Ombudsman address in located in the file OMBUDSMAN.ASP included on the installation disk. iv. How to Contact J.D. Consulting Associates Contact J.D. Consulting Associates by phone during normal working hours EST at (518) 482- 5789 or 24 hours a day at fax (518) 371-8803. Someone will return your call as soon as is possible. You can also contact J.D. Associates on Prodigy through E-Mail at CTNH05A or Internet ctnh05a@prodigy.com. Contacting us using the Prodigy E-Mail service is preferred since we spend a majority of our time on the PC. The cheapest way to ask questions or make suggestions is by mail. Send inquiries or recommendations to our address listed above. v. Product Support Registered and commercial users are provided free phone support for three months. No support is guaranteed for non-registered users, but we are happy to answer questions about our products and consulting services. vi. Trademark Acknowledgements Windows* is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation CLIPPER* is a trademark of Computer Associates Int'l dBASE* and dBASE III* are registered trademarks of Borland Int'l WK1 and LOTUS 1-2-3* are registered trademarks of Lotus Int'l vii. Disclaimer and Warranty This software is provided "as is" without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software is with you. Should the software prove defective, the user, NOT J.D. Consulting Associates, assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. In no event shall J.D. Consulting Associates be liable to the user for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this software, even if J.D. Consulting Associates has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party. II. User Guide Installation ______________________________________________________ To install and start LAPC, we suggest that you do the following: At your DOS prompt type the following: A: (To change to the A: drive or substitute B: to install from drive B) LAPCINST (Type LAPCINST and Press ENTER to begin) When all files have been installed you will be positioned at the LAPC sub-directory on your hard disk. A file named LAPC.BAT will be installed in the Root directory of your PC. To start LAPC just type LAPC then press ENTER and the program will begin. LAPC is distributed with the following files: LAPCINST.BAT - Batch file for installation LAPC.EXE - The Executable Program. PRCODES.DBF - Database of printer codes selectable from pop-up table. LAPC.BAT - The start up Batch file LAPC-UG.TXT - The On-Disk User Guide documentation This is version 2.1 of LAPC. It has been tested to run on at least AT-Class PC's (80286 Processors) running DOS 3.0 or later. It has also gone through testing in Windows 3.0 and 3.1 for compatibility with the Windows disk manager. For instruction on using LAPC in Windows see the section on creating group items in your Windows manual. Future Upgrades --------------- Future versions of LAPC will include: * Multiple interest calculation periods accessed by pressing a function key. * An interest due calculator and various printing capabilities. * Increased speed as well as reduces executable size. * Portability to other platforms such as Unix, Mac System 7, OS/2. * Windows version within the next six months. Key Terms ______________________________________________________ Amortizing Methods Supported: * Normal : Rule-of-78 : US Rule : Fixed Principal (Declining Payment) : Interest Only * Accrued Interest (Negative Amortization) * All payments are assumed to be calculated in arrears as are generally all mortgages. Program Features ---------------- * Detailed Summary features show payment, interest and principal totals paid from first payment date through any particular payment. In addition the summary feature of the drop in to principle will calculate the amount of interest saved to any particular payment period as the result of extra payments. * Print amortization table to printer, text file or WK! file (version 1.1 or higher) * PAYMENT CALCULATION will solve for any unknown. That is, you provide any three of the following, RATE, TERM, AMOUNT, PAYMENT and LAPC will solve for the unknown. * REMAINING BALANCE, as the name implies, will calculate the remaining balance of a loan. * DROP IN TO PRINCIPLE Payments, option number 5, is treated as accelerated regular extra payments. DROP IN TO PRINCIPLE is a very fast and easy routine to use to show how much interest you will save on a loan if you make extra REGULAR principle only payments. You will be able to determine how much extra you want to have applied toward the principal starting AFTER any payment period. * Output of all results to printer, disk file and Lotus 1-2-3 compatible WK1 spreadsheet files. Special Function Keys F10 ______________________________________________________ Using the F10 computer system selection There is an option in this program to view your computer systems components. Facts about your video, hard disk, conventional memory installed (even though most PC's have 640k some older models may have less), free disk space and other incidentals are displayed by pressing the F10 key. This option is more of a utility than an integrated function of LAPC and can be used anywhere in the system, it gives you an idea of what type of hardware installed without opening up the machine. The Computer System Screen display looks similar to figure 1, though your particular statistics may differ. -------------- Your System Stats ---------------- DOS version : 5.00 DOS default disk : C Cur. Dir. : LOTUS Video Mode : VGA Total disk space : 120434688 Bytes. Free Space : 32837632 Bytes. Disk Fixed : Yes. Conventional Memory : 640 K Bytes Valid drives are : A thru Z Mouse Installed : Yes. The ROM is dated : 03/17/1989 Processor : 80386 Append's Path : (Not Installed) Keyboard Code : US (Standard) Figure 1 Main Help Screen ______________________________________________________ The main help screen, accessed by pressing F1 at the main menu lists the keys available throughout the application. The keys and their assignments are listed below in Table 1. Table 1 - Keyboard Assignments and functions KEY FUNCTION -------------------- ------------------------------ Up and Down Arrows To Change Menu Selections and Navigate Data Entry screens. F1 Activate all help screens in this system. F10 Show Computer System Statistics i.e. Disk, Memory, BIOS and Video found in your computer. PgUp Move forward through help screens. PgDn Move backward through help screens. ENTER Move from field to field on data entry screen. Accept data as entered and continue. ESC Cancel current screen and return to previous. 1. Loan Payment Calculation ______________________________________________________ The loan payment calculation screen is designed to calculate the periodic payment on an initial loan amount given the interest rate and term. Optionally, an amortization schedule can be calculated by answering 'Y'es to the 'Calculate Amortization Table' prompt. The amortization table can then be viewed and printed using the menu at the bottom of the screen. The periodic payment is calculated as an ordinary simple annuity since equal periodic payments to the lender is, from the lenders point of view, an annuity. Special Keys Used on this screen are the F1 and ESC key which conform to the specifications outlined above on the main help screen. A. Data Entry Enter the following parameters on the Data Entry Screen, use the ENTER key or the Up and Down arrow keys to move from field to field on screen. Loan Amount - From $1 to a maximum of $99,999,999. This is referred to as the beginning principle balance. Interest Rate - From 0.5% to a maximum of 99.5 % Term of Loan - From 1 to a maximum of 999.99 Periods. Beyond 600 periods the calculations become insignificant since the precision of the PC program will skew the results. Moreover it is unlikely that a term would be extended to beyond 50 years from any lender. Payment Start Date - The payment start date begins with the first day of the month and year as read from the PC system clock. If the date in the PC clock is not correct, return to DOS and set the Date and Time (for instructions see your DOS manual). The payment start date must be a valid date of 01/01/01 thru 12/31/2999. This should be sufficient for most calculations that you will perform when taking into consideration the term of most loans. Note : The date that comes up on screen initially can be changed by over typing the numbers inside the highlight box. This date defaults to the first of the month of the date found from DOS and can be changed to any date as long as it is in the range specified above. When finished entering the Loan Data, the Amortization Table prompt will appear. If you want to create an amortization table answer YES to this prompt otherwise answer NO. The amortization table will be created based on the parameters entered on the data entry screen. It will also include the payment number and date for each payment due for the life of the loan. The Speed at which the results are calculated depends on the term and the initial principle balance. For the most part the speed is quite acceptable even on XT-Class computers. B. Results Screen When the results of the calculation are displayed, the original parameters used in the calculation are displayed at the top of the screen and the payment information in the bottom half of the screen. On the bottom line of the screen are the choices available for output and an option to return to the main menu as well as a re-calculate option. All options are selected by pressing the key corresponding to the first letter of the option. The choices and their action are listed below in Table 2. Table 2 - Results Screen Options PROGRAM OPTION FUNCTION ------------------ ----------------------------------- View Amortization Display the Amortization data in table form with the ability to scroll through all entries. Print Amortization Print the Amortization table to : Printer, Disk File or a WK1 file for use in spreadsheet analysis. Screen Print Print the parameters and results screen that you are viewing. Output destinations are the same as the above except for the WK1 option. Main Menu Return to the Main Menu Re-calc Return to parameter screen and recalculate using the current parameters as a reference point. 2. Loan Balance Calculation ______________________________________________________ The loan balance calculation screen is designed to calculate the remaining principle balance after a number of payments have been applied. The number of payments applied is the last parameter on this screen. Using this function one can see the effects of the number of payments applied to the loan and how the corresponding principle balance is affected. With this screen an amortization table can also be created based on the input data entered. The Amortization table is based on the loan parameters entered on this screen without consideration to the number of payments made. The periodic payment is calculated as an ordinary simple annuity as in the case of option 1 calculate payments. Special Keys Used on this screen are the F1 and ESC key which conform to the specifications outlined above on the main help screen. A. Data Entry Enter the following parameters on the Data Entry Screen, use the ENTER key or the Up and Down arrow keys to move from field to field on screen. Loan Amount - From $1 to a maximum of $99,999,999. This is referred to as the beginning principle balance. Interest Rate - From 0.5% to a maximum of 99.5 % Term of Loan - From 1 to a maximum of 999.99 Periods. Beyond 600 periods the calculations become insignificant since the precision of the PC program will skew the results. Moreover it is unlikely that a term would be extended to beyond 50 years from any lender. Payment Start Date - The payment start date begins with the first day of the month and year as read from the PC system clock. If the date in the PC clock is not correct, return to DOS and set the Date and Time (for instructions see your DOS manual). The payment start date must be a valid date of 01/01/01 thru 12/31/2999. This should be sufficient for most calculations that you will perform when taking into consideration the term of most loans. Note : The date that comes up on screen initially can be changed by over typing the numbers inside the highlight box. This date defaults to the first of the month of the date found from DOS and can be changed to any date as long as it is in the range specified above. Number of Payments Applied - Enter the number of payments made on the loan as of the current date. The program will then use this to figure out your current principle balance. When finished entering the Loan Data, the Amortization Table prompt will appear. If you wish to create an amortization table answer YES to this prompt otherwise answer NO. The amortization table will be created based on the parameters entered on the data entry screen. It will also include the payment number and date for each payment due for the life of the loan. B. Results Screen When the results of the calculation are displayed , the original parameters used in the calculation are displayed at the top of the screen and the balance remaining at the bottom half of the screen. On the bottom line of the screen are the choices available for output and an option to return to the main menu. All options are selected by pressing the key corresponding to the first letter of the option. The choices and their action are listed in Table 2 (see above option II.) 3. Loan Payback Comparison ______________________________________________________ The loan payback comparison screen is designed to compare the length of time required to payback a principle amount plus interest using various periodic payment amounts input by the user in the PAYMENT AMOUNT field. For each desired payment amount this screen will calculate the time required to payback the principle amount with interest. With this screen various payment figures can be used to make payback decisions. If an Amortization Table is chosen the table will amortize based on the term calculated from the desired periodic payment entered on the payback data entry screen. If the desired payment amount is too low for an accurate payback term i.e. a term of greater that 50 Yrs. the program will inform you as such and estimate as close as possible total payback and amortization. A. Data Entry Enter the following parameters on the Data Entry Screen, use the ENTER key or the Up and Down arrow keys to move from field to field on screen. Loan Amount - From $1 to a maximum of $99,999,999. This is referred to as the beginning principle balance. Interest Rate - From 0.5% to a maximum of 99.5 % Term of Loan - From 1 to a maximum of 999.99 Periods. Beyond 600 periods the calculations become insignificant since the precision of the PC program will skew the results. Moreover it is unlikely that a term would be extended to beyond 50 years from any lender. Desired Payment Amount - From $1 to a maximum of $99,999,999 Note : That the payment amount can be adjusted up or down to achieve the desired payback term. A payment amount that pushes the term to 50 Yrs. or greater will yield only partial results. B. Results Screen When the results of the payback calculation are displayed, the original parameters used in the calculation are displayed at the top of the screen and the payback term at the bottom half of the screen. On the bottom line of the screen are the choices available for output and an option to return to the main menu. All options are selected by pressing the key corresponding to the first letter of the option. The choices and their action are listed in Table 3. Table 3 - Results Screen Options PROGRAM OPTION FUNCTION ------------------- ----------------------------------- Compare Terms Compare what was just calculated to various other situations using the interest that was entered on the data entry screen and a range of terms. View Amortization Display the Amortization data in table form with the ability to scroll through all entries. Print Amortization Print the Amortization table to: Printer, Disk File or a WK1 file for use in spreadsheet analysis. Screen Print Print the parameters and result screen that you are viewing. Output destinations are the same as the above except for the WK1 option. Main Menu Return to the Main Menu. Re-calc Return to parameter screen and recalculate using the current parameters as a reference point. * Note : The Compare Terms option only appears when a comparison analysis yields a payback less than or equal to 50 years. Anything beyond 50 years term will not be able to give an accurate comparison. 4. Loan Comparison Table Screen ______________________________________________________ The loan comparison table is designed to compare payments on a series of rates and principle amounts. Entering a base principle amount and a range along with a base interest rate and a range, will generate a table of payment values that can be printed along with the entered loan comparison criteria. With this screen various payment figures are calculated for comparisons between various principle amounts and interest rates. From here a given principle amount and interest rate can be chosen and entered into option 1 for an amortization table and into option 5 for a principle reduction estimation calculation. Thus giving the user a complete what-if scenario. A. Data Entry Enter the following parameters on the Data Entry Screen, use the ENTER key or the Up and Down arrow keys to move from field to field on screen. Loan Amount - From $1 to a maximum of $99,999,999. This is referred to as the beginning principle balance. Amount Range - From $1 to a maximum of original loan amount This amount range will be subtracted from the original amount to find lower range and added to the original amount to find the upper range. For example a Principle amount of $50,000 and a range of +/- $10,000 will yield payment calculations beginning at $10,000 up through $90,000. Interest Rate - From 0.5% to a maximum of 99.5 % Interest Range - From .01 to a maximum of original interest rate . This amount range will be subtracted from the original interest rate to find lower range and added to the original interest rate to find the upper range. For example an interest rate of 10% and a range of +/- 1.0% will yield interest calculations beginning at 6.0 % up thru 14.0 %. As you can see this range feature can zero in on rates for a fairly precise calculation. Term of Loan - From 1 to a maximum of 999.99 Periods. Beyond 600 periods the calculations become insignificant since the precision of the PC program will skew the results. Moreover it is unlikely that a term would be extended to beyond 50 years from any lender. B. Results Screen When the results of the Loan Comparison are displayed, the original parameters used in the calculation are displayed at the top of the screen. On the bottom line of the screen are the choices available for output and an option to return to the main menu. All options are selected by pressing the key corresponding to the first letter of the option. The choices and their action are listed in Table 4. Table 4 - Results Screen Options PROGRAM OPTION FUNCTION ---------------- ----------------------------------- View Table Display the Loan Comparison data in table form with the ability to scroll through all entries. Print Table Print the Loan Comparison table to: Printer, Disk File or a WK1 file for use in spreadsheet analysis. Screen Print Print the parameters screen that you are viewing. Output destinations are the same as the above except for the WK1 option. Main Menu Return to the Main Menu Re-calc Return to parameter screen and recalculate using the current parameters as a reference point. 5. Principle Reduction Estimation (Drop In to Principle) ____________________________________________________ The principle reduction estimation function is designed to evaluate the effects of applying extra principle payments to your loan. The extra principle payments are applied over and above normal loan payments and help reduce the principle balance outstanding on the loan. Thus facilitating an earlier payback and a reduction in interest costs. When the initial loan data (i.e. principle, interest etc.) has been entered on the first screen, the next screen will prompt for an amount to apply to principle, a starting date and the number of periods or duration you will be making the extra payments. When the calculations have been completed the results are displayed in two columns comparing results with and without the extra payments. A. Data Entry Enter the following parameters on the Data Entry Screen, use the ENTER key or the Up and Down arrow keys to move from field to field on screen. Loan Amount - From $1 to a maximum of $99,999,999. This is referred to as the beginning principle balance. Interest Rate - From 0.5% to a maximum of 99.5 % Term of Loan - From 1 to a maximum of 999.99 Periods. Beyond 600 periods the calculations become insignificant since the precision of the PC program will skew the results. Moreover it is unlikely that a term would be extended to beyond 50 years from any lender. Payment Start Date - The payment start date begins with the first day of the month and year as read from the PC system clock. If the date in the PC clock is not correct, return to DOS and set the Date and Time (for instructions see your DOS manual). The payment start date must be a valid date of 01/01/01 thru 12/31/2999. This should be sufficient for most calculations that you will perform when taking into consideration the term of most loans. Note : The date that comes up on screen initially can be changed by over typing the numbers inside the highlight box. This date defaults to the first of the month of the date found from DOS and can be changed to any date as long as it is in the range specified above. When this screen has been completed , the next screen to appear is the principle prepayment worksheet. On the principle prepayment worksheet enter the following data : Amount to Apply - From $1 to a maximum of principle amount. Starting Date - Enter the date for which the payments will start. The date defaults to the current and can be changed by over typing the date that appears. Number of periods - Enter the number of periods to apply the principle payments. Note that the default is the remaining term of the loan and that this can also be changed. Using the Number of Periods and the Starting Date you are able to pinpoint a time slice to apply the extra principle payments or default to applying payments over the entire life of the loan. When the calculations are complete the results screen displays the estimated principle reduction with periodic additional principle payments compared to no principle payments for the life of the loan. From here all data can be printed to the printer or to a file for further analysis. B. Results Screen When the results of the Principle Prepayment Worksheet are displayed, the original parameters used in the calculation are displayed at the top of the screen. On the bottom half of the screen are the results of calculations along with choices for output and an option to return to the main menu. All options are selected by pressing the key corresponding to the first letter of the option. The choices and their action are listed in Table 5 below. Table 5 - Results Screen Options PROGRAM OPTION FUNCTION ------------------ ----------------------------------- View Amortization Display the Amortization data in table form after applying the principle prepayments with the ability to scroll through all entries. Print Amortization Print the Amortization table after applying the principle prepayments. Print to: Printer, Disk File or a WK file for use inspreadsheet analysis. Screen Print Print the parameters and results screen that you are viewing. Output destinations are the same as the above except for the WK1 option. Main Menu Return to the Main Menu Re-calc Return to parameter screen and recalculate using the current parameters as a reference point. III. Appendix Error Messages All error messages are displayed in English words describing the data entry requirement, action to be taken by the user or system error that LAPC has encountered. On data entry screens, an error message will appear describing the finding and the cursor will be placed on that field. Most common error messages are for missed entries in the data entry process in which case a message such as the following will appear. "Invalid Loan Amount, must be greater than zero." "Press any key to continue . . . ." Data Field Locks - In the TERM field of the data entry screens no error mesage will appear if a term larger than 900.00 is entered, rather the program will simply not allow the cursor to advance to the next option. If this occurs make sure the value in the TERM field is within the boundaries of 1 to 900.00. Likewise for the other data entry fields when ranges are exceeded the cursor will lock on that particular field until corrected. Printer Not Ready Error - A message will appear at the bottom of the screen if a print option has been chosen and any one of the following occurs: 1. Printer not attached to system 2. Printer out of paper 3. Printer not on-line 4. Printer hardware problem such that it does not respond to the PC The user will have the option of correcting the problem and pressing the ENTER key to continue or to cancel the operation by pressing the ESC key. Not Enough Memory - If this error condition appears make sure that at least 400 k bytes of FREE RAM is present to run this program. Sometimes user loaded TSR programs are loaded and continue to run, which use up RAM in the process. Common TSR's include Sidekick, Metro and other "Hot-Key" activated programs. Open Error DOS Error 2 - This error indicates that the database file that LAPC tried to open does not exist. This could be the result of the PRCODES.DBF file not being present in the LAPC directory. If this error occurs re-install LAPC by running the LAPCINST program on the installation disk (see the Installation procedures in section I above).