Four New Enhancements to the SCEX
We find that the frequency of enhancements made to the engine is accelerating as
we add more and more new users. Most enhancements are specific to a particular
calculation required by a single lender or credit insurance carrier, but
sometimes they are extensions of capability in loan structures, and of interest
to most of our users. We think that is the case here, and so what follows
deserves to be included in “What’s New”.
1. Interest Start Date
By popular demand, the SCEX, WinLoan-32, and eWinLoan will soon have the ability to specify an interest start date which falls between the loan date and the date of first payment, inclusively.
This new entry allows the correct computation of loans such as “90 days interest free”, and other similar promotions. These interest free days have a tricky interaction with the rules for computing the Regulation Z APR, which depend upon when APR affecting fees are earned. Our products handle the calculation automatically.
2. More Irregular Loan Flexibility
The irregular loan functionality provided in the SCEX is the most powerful and flexible on the market. The simple case of summer skips (skipping payments made in June, July, and August) is easily handled, as are irregular and/or pickup payment loans. Our current version allows specifying the amounts of annually recurring payments, or specifying a particular month/year for a skipped or irregular amount.
Some of our customers have requested even more flexibility, which will be showcased in the July update. In addition to being able to just specify the month, or month/year, users may now specify the payment number. This allows specification of the first, last, or any given payment to be an irregular payment without having to figure out the month and year in which the payment falls.
To save time in entries, users may now specify that a given irregular payment amount should be set for all payments, unless over-ridden by specific irregular payments. Since at least one payment must be computed, we have also added the ability to specify a given payment as the one to be computed.
Combining these new features allows our partners to extend our normal balloon loan capabilities, such as specify regular payment, calculate balloon, or specify final balloon and calculate regular payment, to loans with skipped and irregular payments as well.
As an example, consider a 36-month loan for $10,000. To compute a balloon loan with summer skips and a final payment of $2,500, we would do the following:
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Tell the engine to skip all June, July, and August payments.
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Tell the engine to set the 36th payment to $2,500.
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Tell the engine to compute the loan (i.e. find the regular payment amount.)
Similarly, if we wanted to compute the same loan, but with a specified regular payment of $200, then we would do the following:
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Specify that all payments are $200.
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Tell the engine to skip all June, July, and August payments.
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Specify that the 36th payment should be computed.
3. Actual / Actual Interest Accrual Tweak
Whether a lender accrues daily interest at the beginning or end of a 24-hour period can affect the interest calculation in crossing from a non-leap into a leap year, and conversely. This change allows lenders the option of when that accrual occurs.
4. New Samples Included with the SCEX Account Tester
We have included sample XML inputs and outputs with the SCEX Account Tester installation, so that you will have a set of tests to work with as you learn how to use the Account Tester (See our announcement of the SCEX Account Tester for furhter information of this application). The samples included are those found in the SCEX Reference Manual, and we have intentionally created one difference in one of the XML outputs, as well as not included one of the XML outputs so you can see what happens when differences are detected or new outputs created. (Located in the Samples directory where the Account Tester is installed).