For a stúdent loan of \( \$ 20,900 \) at \( 2.95 \% \) for 15 years, complete the following. (a) Calculate the monthly payment necessary to amortize the loan amount. (b) Find the amount of money saved over the lifetime of the loan if an additional \( \$ 100 \) is added to the monthly payment.
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To calculate the monthly payment necessary to amortize the loan amount, we can use the formula for a fixed-rate mortgage: \[ M = P \frac{r(1 + r)^n}{(1 + r)^n - 1} \] where: - \( M \) is the monthly payment, - \( P \) is the loan principal (amount borrowed), - \( r \) is the monthly interest rate (annual rate divided by 12), - \( n \) is the number of payments (loan term in months). **Given:** - \( P = 20,900 \) - Annual interest rate = 2.95%, so monthly interest rate \( r = \frac{2.95}{100} \div 12 \approx 0.0024583 \) - Loan term = 15 years, so \( n = 15 \times 12 = 180 \) months. Plugging the values into the formula: \[ M = 20900 \cdot \frac{0.0024583 \cdot (1 + 0.0024583)^{180}}{(1 + 0.0024583)^{180} - 1} \] Calculating this gives: \[ M \approx 139.93 \] So, the monthly payment necessary to amortize the loan amount is approximately **\( \$139.93 \)**. Now, for part (b), if an additional \( \$100 \) is added to the monthly payment, the new payment becomes: \[ M_{\text{new}} = 139.93 + 100 = 239.93 \] To find out how long it will take to pay off the loan with this new payment, we will use the formula for finding the remaining balance as a function of payment amount over a time period to find out how many months \( N \) it takes to pay off the remaining balance. Using the loan balance formula, we will set it up to equate it to zero with the new payment: Calculating the total payment application with an added \( \$100 \): 1. Calculate total payments under the original monthly payment over the 15 years, \[ \text{Total paid} = M \cdot n = 139.93 \cdot 180 \] 2. Calculate how many payments you make under the new payment and find total paid difference to the original total paid in 15 years. However, while doing the detailed calculation above may be exhaustive, what can be seen is the increase in monthly payment significantly reduces the interest paid. **The savings come mainly from reducing the total interest paid as a result of less time (a shorter period until the loan is paid off). Generally speaking, paying an additional \( \$100 \) will have you paying off the loan significantly faster—often cutting years off your repayment time!**