Product Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. User Settings

  1. What is the recommended screen resolution?
  2. How do I free up some space on my screen?
  3. How do I hide the toolbar?
  4. How do I hide the Loans view?
  5. How do I switch between the Statements view, Transactions view and Interest Rates view for an account?
  6. How do I sort information?
  7. How do I change the date format?
  8. How do I change the number of decimal places?
  9. How do I change the decimal place character?
  10. How do I change the thousands separator character?
  11. What is the "Shade Alternate Lines On Screens" user option?
  12. What is the "Open Last Workbook On Start Up" user option?
  13. What is the "Statements Displayed Newest To Oldest" user option?
  14. What is the "Look and Feel" user option?

2. Accounts, Statements, Transactions and Interest Rates

  1. What is an Account?
  2. How do I add/edit/delete Accounts?
  3. What is a Statement?
  4. How do I add/edit/delete Statements?
  5. What is the Statement Reporting Year?
  6. What is a Transaction?
  7. How do I add/edit/delete Transactions?
  8. How do I assign a Category to a Transaction?
  9. What is an Interest Rate?
  10. How do I add/edit/delete Interest Rates?

3. Categories and Parent Categories

  1. What is a Parent Category?
  2. What is a Category?
  3. How do I add/edit/delete Categories?
  4. How do I change the Parent Category on a Category?
  5. What is a Category Wildcard Pattern?
  6. How do I add/edit/delete Category Wildcard Patterns?
  7. How are Category Wildcard Patterns used?

4. Trouble Shooting

  1. How do I provide feedback or request a new feature?
  2. How do I report a bug?

1. Look and Feel

1.1 What is the recommended screen resolution?

We recommend a screen resolution of approximately 1024x768 or greater.

If you are using a smaller screen resolution (eg 800x600) then you may find that several of the buttons do not fit on the screen. Please refer to How do I free up some space on my screen? to fix the problem. Alternatively, you can use the pop-up menus (by right clicking within the screen) in order to access the same options. For example, right clicking in the Accounts view will bring up a menu with the options to Add, Edit and Delete an Account.

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1.2 How can I free up some space on my screen?

You can hide the toolbar and the Loans view.

Please refer to How do I hide the toolbar? and How do I hide the Loans view?

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1.3 How do I hide the toolbar?

From the View menu choose Display Toolbar.

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1.4 How do I hide the Loans view?

From the View menu choose Display Loan Accounts.

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1.5 How do I switch between the Statements view, Transactions view and Interest Rates view for an account?

You can use any of the following:

  1. From the View menu choose Statements, Transactions or Interest Rates.
  2. From the Toolbar choose Statements, Transactions or Interest Rates.
  3. From the Tabs at the bottom of the screen choose Statements, Transactions or Interest Rates.
  4. In the Statement view, double click on a statement to switch to the Transactions view.

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1.6 How do I sort information?

Every table column in Home Loan Interest Manager can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking on the column name in the header of the table. The current sort order is indicated by a small triangle next to the name.

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1.7 How do I change the date format?

From the View menu choose Options....

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1.8 How do I change the number of decimal places?

From the View menu choose Options.... You can enter a value from 0 to 9.

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1.9 How do I change the decimal place character?

From the View menu choose Options.... You can enter any single character, for example: '.' or ','. If you do not want a decimal place character, then enter a space.

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1.10 How do I change the thousands separator character?

From the View menu choose Options.... You can enter any single character, for example: '.' or ','. If you do not want a thousands separator character, then enter a space.

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1.11 What is the "Shade Alternate Lines On Screens" user option?

This option turns on or off the light shading of every second line throughout Home Loan Interest Manager.

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1.12 What is the "Open Last Workbook Start Up" user option?

This option will automatically open the last workbook you were working on, when you next start the application.

If the workbook is password protected, you will be prompted to enter the correct password before you can view the workbook.

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1.13 What is the "Statements Displayed Newest To Oldest" user option?

This option allows you to select the order in which the application will display the Statements.

If you select the option, the newest Statements will appear at the top of all lists and the oldest will appear at the bottom.

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1.14 What is the "Look and Feel" user option?

This option allows you to select the look and feel to be used by the application. If you change the setting, you must restart the application before the change will take place.

  1. The Operating System look and feel allows Java to render the application as close as possible to the Operating System it is running on (E.g. Mac, Windows, Linux, etc). Note: Under some versions of Linux, Java uses the Cross Platform (Java) look and feel for the Operating System look and feel so changing the option will have no impact.
  2. The Cross Platform (Java) look and feel is the standard Java look and feel, and looks the same no matter which Operating System you use it on.

This user option was introduced because of substantial differences between the Mac and Windows' implementation of the look and feel, and the problems some of our Mac OS X users have been reporting.

The Mac version of this application now defaults to the Cross Platform (Java) look and feel, which works with most configurations. If you are running on a Mac you can change it to the Operating System look and feel, however please note that some of the screens and text may not display correctly (depending on your personal configuration).

The Windows, Linux version of this application defaults to the Operating System look and feel (as they did in previous versions).

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2. Accounts, Statements, Transactions and Interest Rates

2.1 What is an Account?

An account represents one of your loan accounts. For each loan you have that you wish to monitor through Home Loan Interest Manager you set up an account.

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2.2 How do I add/edit/delete Accounts?

Either click on the Add, Edit or Delete button in the Loans view toolbar, or right click in the accounts table to produce a pop-up menu and select Add, Edit or Delete.

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2.3 What is a Statement?

A statement represents a statement you receive from you loan provider. For each loan statement you receive you set up a new statement in Home Loan Interest Manager.

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2.4 How do I add/edit/delete Statements?

Either click on the Add, Edit or Delete button in the Statements view toolbar, or right click in the statements table to produce a pop-up menu and select Add, Edit or Delete.

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2.5 What is the Statement Reporting Year?

The statement reporting year is used to group up statements in the yearly reports.

If a statement falls over a year-end period then you can use either year as the reporting year. For example, if a statement was from December 10 2003 to January 9 2004 then you could select 2003 or 2004 as the reporting year. The most important thing is to apply the same rule consistently from year to year.

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2.6 What is a Transaction?

A transaction represents a new charge, deposit or refund on your loan statement. For each item on the loan statement a transaction is created in Home Loan Interest Manager.

Refer to Importing Transactions for more information on creating transactions automatically.

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2.7 How do I add/edit/delete Transactions?

Either click on the Add, Edit or Delete button in the Transactions view toolbar, or right click in the transactions table to produce a pop-up menu and select Add, Edit or Delete.

Note: The Add Transactions option will remain disabled until the account contains at least one statement.

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2.8 How do I assign a Category to a transaction?

In the Transactions view, select a transaction and click on the category column. This will show a list of all valid categories to choose from.

All transactions that have not been assigned a category are highlighted with a border.

Please note that the INTEREST parent category (and all the categories linked to it) is used by the Interest Checker Report to perform its calculations. Categories in this group should only be allocated to transactions that represent periodic interest charges.

Refer to Interest Checker Report for more information on the usage of the Interest category.

Refer to Category Auto-Matching for more information on automatically allocating categories to transactions.

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2.9 What is an Interest Rate?

An interest rate represents the rate your loan provider is charging you from a given point in time. For each change in rate you create an Interest Rate in Home Loan Interest Manager.

Interest Rates should be set to the annual rates that appear on your loan statements.

Each time an interest rate is added, a transaction is automatically created in the appropriate statement to indicate the date the rate change took place.

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2.10 How do I add/edit/delete Interest Rates?

Either click on the Add, Edit or Delete button in the Interest Rates view toolbar, or right click in the interest rates table to produce a pop-up menu and select Add, Edit or Delete.

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3. Categories and Parent Categories

3.1 What is a Parent Category?

A parent category is the highest level of grouping in Home Loan Interest Manager and is used to group categories.

A default set of parent categories is provided with Home Loan Interest Manager, including DEPOSIT, FEE, INTEREST and WITHDRAWAL.

Please note that the INTEREST parent category (and all the categories linked it) is used by the Interest Checker Report to perform its calculations. Categories in this group should only be allocated to transactions that represent periodic interest charges.

Refer to Interest Checker Report for more information on the usage of the Interest category.

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3.2 What is a Category?

A category is the lowest level of grouping, and is used to group transactions. Each category is linked to a parent category.

A default set of categories is provided with Home Loan Interest Manager which you can change to suit your needs.

Any changes you make will be saved in your workbook along with your account information. This allows you to set up different category lists for different workbooks.

Categories can easily be moved from one parent category to another. Refer to How do I change the Parent Category on a Category?

Please note that the INTEREST parent category (and all the categories linked to it) is used by the Interest Checker Report to perform its calculations. Categories in this group should only be allocated to transactions that represent periodic interest charges.

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3.3 How do I add/edit/delete Categories?

From the Category menu choose Maintain Categories.

Click on the Add, Edit or Delete button in the Categories view toolbar.

If you choose to delete a category that has been assigned to one or more transactions Home Loan Interest Manager will inform you how many transactions are linked to the Category. If you continue with the delete, then the transactions will have the category un-assigned from them and will go back to being un-matched. The transactions will not be deleted.

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3.4 How do I change the Parent Category on a Category?

From the Category menu choose Maintain Categories.

Click on the parent category column and a list of valid parent categories will be displayed.

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3.5 What is a Category Wildcard Pattern?

A category wildcard pattern is link between a category and a keyword in a transaction description.

A category wildcard pattern is made up of a criteria and a pattern.

The criteria can be "contains" or "does not contain"

The pattern can be any combination of letters, numbers, symbols, etc.

For example: "contains interest" and "does not contain adjustment" are both valid wildcard patterns.

Refer to Category Auto-Matching for more information on the usage of category wildcard patterns.

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3.6 How do I add/edit/delete Category Wildcard Patterns?

From the Category menu choose Maintain Categories.

Select the category you wish to maintain.

Click on the Add, Edit or Delete button in the Wildcards view toolbar.

A description of the wildcards that will be applied to a given category is provided on the screen.

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3.7 How are Category Wildcard Patterns used?

Category Wildcard Patterns are used by the Category Auto-Matching tool.

Refer to Category Auto-Matching for more information on the usage of category wildcard patterns.

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4. Trouble Shooting

4.1 How do I provide feedback or request a new feature?

We enjoy reading all the emails we receive, so tell us what you think ... both positive and negative ... and let your comments go into the mix that will help shape future versions of the products.

If you have a question, a suggestion, something you like, something you don't like, a request for a new feature or a general comment, please send an email to the team at:

   contact feedback

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4.2 How do I report a bug?

If you are having problems with Home Loan Interest Manager please send an email with the product name and version you are using, along with the problem encountered (and ERROR DETAILS information if available), to the team at:

   contact support

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