Use the Interest Tool Window

This is the best time to discuss the Interest Tool Window. When you need to calculate the monthly minimum payment based on an interest rate applied to the total balance, you can use this tool. Take any bill you may have, enter the balance on the debt and the respective minimum payment. Press the calculate button and the window tells you what interest rate the payment was. You simply enter this same number into whatever account window you wish.

Use advanced account options

Although the above options will cover the majority of your accounts, you may have some that are not fully defined with the above options. The "Options" button on the account window lets you further define the behavior of any given debt. Some, none, or all of the options can be used on any account.

Click the "Options" button. Another dialog presents itself, use the Page Controller on the top to scroll between the various options. When enabling or disabling an option, simply click the checkbox for that option. Each option, and it's effect on the upcoming payoff schedule are discussed below:

• Introductory APR
  
  • Many credit cards "induct" you with a special low interest rate for a specified period of time. Having an introduction interest rate will save you money in interest, as it allows you to pay off other debts while you take advantage of the interest rate. To set this option simply click the checkbox, and enter both the duration of the interest rate and the rate itself.
• External Allotment
  
  • In some cases you may have money coming in from an external source to pay off a specific bill. This allotment does not include the amount that you have to pay off your bills with. An example of a situation of using an external allotment, would be a relative paying you $100 per month to pay to a VISA card.
• One Time Payment
  • This option lets you make a one time payment on a debt from an external source. You must specify both the amount of the one time payment and how many months into the schedule to apply the payment. The best example would be applying your tax return to a specific bill.
• Manually Prioritize
  • Debt Wizard goes to extreme lengths to determine which bill to pay off and in which order. In some cases, you may wish to override this behavior for your specific situation. To prioritize bills, simply click the check box, and set the priority level 1-10, ten being the lowest special priority. Keep in mind that if you assign any priority to a debt, it will take higher priority than any debt you have not assigned priority to. A possible situation to use this feature could be if you determined it would be advantageous to pay off your car first, and lower your car insurance. NOTE: This feature only works on interest based schedules.
• Reoccurring charge
  • Ideally, one would not want to charge on debts they are paying off. In the real world, however, things are not always ideal. If you know a set amount will be charged each month to a debt use this feature by clicking the check box and entering the reoccurring charge amount. A good example of this would be a club charge card that charges a set amount each month.
• Static Account
  • This option sets all the necessary options in order to model an account with a static balance. What does this mean exactly? Take rent for example, it is an extremely important bill, with a reoccuring charge, and zero percent interest. Rather that manually setting all these options, you can take advantage of this option, which sets all the others for you. You may also desire to use this for utilities, and other monthly bills you wish to include in the portfolio.
    NOTE: This feature only works on interest based schedules.