EZ Loan Pro Help
EZ Loan Pro: An Overview
The Loan History Screen
The Loan History screen lists all of the loans that have been saved to the device, with each loan being signified as a Mortgage loan (with a house icon) or as a generic loan (with a currency icon). Each entry in the table details a single loan and provides some of the data concerning that loan for the sake of comparison. In this way, a number of loans can quickly be compared and analyzed, providing quick access to such things as the effect of changes in interest or principal.
As is customary with iPhone applications, a loan can be selected for editing or to see more information by selecting a row. Clicking a row will load the Data Entry screen described later. Loans can be deleted from history by clicking the 'Edit' button in the upper-right corner, or by swiping a finger across a row until a 'Delete' button appears.
In the bottom left corner of the toolbar is an icon that lets you create a new saved Loan without any initial information. This icon will load the Loan Name screen and let you provide a new title for the loan. Upon saving, that loan will appear in the Loan History without any data. You can then click on that entry to add data for that loan.
The Loan History screen also provides a method to go forward to the Data Entry screen (without changing loans). This is particularly useful when navigating between the Loan History screen and the Data Entry screen for a loan that has not yet been saved.
The last feature of the Loan History screen is the ability to copy a loan. To copy a loan, click the copy icon in the center of the toolbar. This will trigger a small animation and send the screen into 'Copy' mode. Next, click the loan you want to copy. This will display the Loan Name screen, which will allow you to rename the new loan to whatever you wish. Finally, click save and your new loan will appear in the Loan History.
*Note: This screen can be loaded by default based on a setting in the iPhone Settings application.
The Data Entry Screen
This screen provides various fields for entering the loan information. In the Navigation Bar at the top of the screen, there is a selector to switch between a generic Loan and a Home loan. The Home loan provides additional fields for entering data that is specific to a mortgage or to home costs. In general, the monthly payment of the home loan itself is not the complete picture, so fields for insurance, home-owners association fees, primary mortgage insurance, and so on have been included to provide a better idea of what the actual cost of purchasing a home will be.
The Loan History screen can be visited by clicking the button in the top left marked 'History'. To actually calculate the values of a loan, hit the 'CalcIt' button in the top right. This button will run the numbers and determine the cost of the loan, then display them in the Results Summary screen.
The text entry on this screen has been adjusted to more closely resemble that of financial calculators and applications. This means that there are certain shortcuts and differences than what you might be used to. For instance, on the interest field, numbers begin to the right of the decimal point, but hitting a period will automatically move those numbers to the left. This may seem a little strange at first, but it will become very easy very quickly.
The keyboard has a 'Next' button that will help you navigate through the fields. When you hit next, the focus of the cursor moves to the next field until the last field has been reached. At this point the keyboard automatically dismisses.
*Note: Fields marked with a currency symbol do not accept any change.
*Note: The term is in months for a generic loan but in years for a home loan.
*Note: The Loan Amount, Term, and Interest fields are required for loans. If one of these fields are left empty, the 'CalcIt' button will not move to the next screen but will instead move the focus of the cursor to the field that needs data.
*Note: This screen can be loaded by default based on a setting in the iPhone Settings application.
The Results Summary Screen
This screen simply displays the calculated information about the loan that you entered. The data is broken into parts depending on if it's a generic or home loan, with information about what data was entered as well as information about what the term and payments are. Notice that for home loans, two monthly payments are provided. One payment describes the home loan payment itself while the other describes the overall monthly payments required for owning the home. Annual taxes, HOA, HOI, PMI, etc. all affect the total monthly payment beyond just the payment of the mortgage.
The Data Entry Screen can be revisited by clicking on the 'Back' button in the top left, or the Amortization Table for the loan can be viewed by clicking on the button at the top right.
