My First Workbook
If you are new to Home Loan Interest Manager we suggest you try the exercises in the Sample Workbook before proceeding.
Overview
In summary, to set up your own workbook you need to:
- Create an account.
- Add one or more interest rates.
- Add a statement.
- Add one or more transactions.
- Assign categories to the transactions.
- Run the reports.
Note: You cannot add transactions until you have added at least one statement to an account.
Note: Most reports will be disabled until you have added at least one statement to an account.
Detailed Instructions
The major steps in setting up your own workbook are as follows:
- Create a new workbook (from the menu choose )
- Save the workbook (from the menu choose )
- Set up your loan account details (double-click on the "New Loan" entry)
- Add a new interest rate for each interest rate change listed on the loan statements (click on the Add button on the toolbar in the Interest Rates view screen)
- Add a new statement (click on the Add button on the toolbar in the Statements view screen)
- If you have your transactions in electronic format (e.g. if you have downloaded them from your loan provider's web site or you have them available in a spreadsheet), then import them into Home Loan Interest Manager (click on the Import Transactions button on the toolbar, or from the menu choose ). Refer to Importing Transactions for more information.
- Adjust the sort order on transactions that fall on the same day but do not appear in the same order as on the statement. Refer to Transaction Sort Order for more information.
- If you do not have access to your transactions in electronic format, then add them manually in the order they appear on the statement. Check that the balance matches the balance on your statement as you add each transaction.
- Auto-Match the transactions in the statement (click on the Auto Match button on the toolbar, or from the menu choose )
- Manually match the remainder of the transactions. Interest transactions must be allocated a category of INTEREST – Periodic Interest (this will ensure they are included in the interest checker report). Note that each month there will be fewer transactions for you to manually match, as the Auto-Matching tool uses previous statements to allocate categories automatically.
- As you manually match categories, look out for common or repeating words in transaction descriptions that could be used as category wildcards. For each suitable word or phrase add a Category Wildcard (from menu choose ). Refer to Category Auto-Matching for more information on category wildcards.
- Run the Balance Checker Report.
- Run the Interest Checker Report.
- Run the Refund Calculator Report (Pro Version Only).
- Run the Daily Interest Report (Pro Version Only).
- Run the Payout Plan Report (Pro Version Only).
- Run the Interest Rate Rise Report (Pro Version Only).
- Run the Yearly Totals Report, Yearly Comparison Report and Statement Comparison Report.