Easily create and manage Covid 19 (Coronavirus) Emergency Business Loans with Margill Loan Manager Software

Federal, state and provincial governments, townships, cities and towns all over the world have created very generous loan programs to help businesses as they struggle with the global pandemic and the effect of confinement.

These loans can take many shapes and finding the right software to properly create and manage these is not always easy. Excel, for all the respect I have for this great software, can do part of the job but struggles with many interest calculation items and exceptions that are the normal for these loans.

Here are various scenarios these loans can take and how Margill Loan Manager can be used to create payment plans adapted to the loan programs or to the borrower’s needs. Then Margill can easily manage or service the actual payments as they are paid… or not not paid…

Typical Covid 19 Emergency Business Loan scenarios:

  • Interest throughout, deferred payments
  • No interest for a number of months, no payments for a number of months, deferred payments
  • Interest-only for a number of months followed by principal and interest payments
  • Above options + seasonal industry cash flow (tourism, agriculture, etc.)

Interest throughout, deferred payments

  • Loan amount: 25,000
  • Interest rate: 3%
  • Loan starts May 15, 2020
  • Deferred payments for 6 months
  • 36 months to pay back principal and interest

Result – notice first payment is December 1, so no payments from June 1 to November 1 inclusively:

+++++++++++

We could have done this slightly different to see the first 6 months with no payments but this is not required since Margill extracts the accrued interest and balance at any date…

I would have entered 42 payments (36 + 6) and changed the first payments to 0.00 and recomputed the next 36 payments. A 10 second process.

A Comment can be added in the Comment column or we (you, the Margill Administrator) could have created a special Line status called “Deferred – Covid 19”, for posterity… Hmmm…


No interest for a number of months, no payments for a number of months, deferred payments

  • Loan amount: 25,000
  • No interest first 3 months
  • Interest rate thereafter: 3%
  • Deferred payments for 6 months
  • 36 months to pay back principal and interest

We can take the results from the example above. Right mouse click to change the interest rate for the first 3 months to 0.00%:

Select the 36 payments (as of line 7), right click and recompute the payments to give  a 0.00 ending balance:

Final result (top half of 36 payment schedule only):

Notice the borrower saves about 5,00 per payment because of the 3 months with no interest.


Interest-only for a number of months followed by principal and interest payments

  • Loan amount: 25,000
  • Interest rate: 3%
  • Deferred principal payments for 6 months
  • 36 months to pay back principal and interest

Entered 42 payments since 6 months are interest-only and 36 months P&I:

Select Lines 7 to 36 and “Payments Adjusted for Balance = X” where X will be 0.00

Final result (top of 42 payment schedule only):


Catering to seasonal industries with irregular cash flows

High cash flow months (next year we hope!) are June, July, August and September so borrower will pay 1250 per month:

Remaining payments adjusted for Balance = 0

Final payment schedule:

A host of other possibilities and mixes are available including fixed principal payments, interest-only payments in between lump sum payments, extra lump sum payments over time, early payoff, etc.

Adapt the payment schedule to the true needs of our struggling entrepreneurs!

Main Window Overview and Customization

In order to have an even better idea of what Margill Loan Manager can do for you, we have added 3 new videos:

The first one offers an overview or the Main Window and how you can customize it for your own needs:

Main Window Overview and Customization

In the second one, we look into how the Payment Schedule looks and feels:

Payment Schedule – Look and Feel

And lastly, always on the Payment Schedule subject, we take a look at the Critical Fundamentals:

Payment Schedule – Critical Fundamentals

Enjoy and do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you need any information.

The Lost Art of Interest Calculation

In 2008, Marc Gelinas, CEO of Jurismedia Inc., developer of Margill interest and loan servicing solutions, published the White Paper in the Real Estate Law & Industry Report titled “The Lost Art of Interest Calculation”. Since then, more has been learned and lending practices have evolved thus this major update. The White Paper deals with the fundamentals of applied interest calculation, unfortunately often forgotten by industry professionals.

The borrower-lender relationship: Why and how to nurture it during this crisis?

Most companies have seen their business operations seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the various government measures taken to mitigate its impact on the population.

Companies have to contend with various issues in the short, medium and long term, such as the closure of many companies’, clients’ and suppliers’ places of business, restricted opening hours, and working from home.

Businesses need to maintain the relationship of trust they have built with their lender a business partner with whom it pays to be proactive, show transparency and uphold best practices during these difficult times.

Continue reading this text by François Renaud, Brigitte Gauthier and Frédéric Boivin Couillard of Lavery.

12,000 Reasons why to use Loan Servicing Software as opposed to Spreadsheets!

I love spreadsheets, they are absolutely amazing for doing so many things. They are hugely flexible, powerful and allow you do to just about anything (almost). However, as we all know, they are also very dangerous because of human error!

I recently implemented Margill Loan Manager with a new client who had been using spreadsheets (Excel) to manage its loans. As loans were imported we noticed that the interest calculated in Margill Loan Manager was $6000 higher for a quarter (3 months) that in was in Excel.

When we looked at the formulas used to calculate interest, we immediately found the error. Notice the top calculation 245,000 x 14.5% is interest for 1 year, then divided by 12 for 1 month and multiplied by 3 for three months (very basic calculation method):

In the second calculation in the spreadsheet, notice that instead of a multiplication sign in the formula (12*3), a comma was inserted by error (12,3), thus the almost $6000 difference in total interest for those three months!

The same error was replicated a couple of times in the same loan and in other loans since this was used as a template.

This error could have cost the lender tens of thousands of dollars before being spotted.

Had the error been done the other way around, so to the advantage of the lender, even more serious legal repercussions could have resulted had this been a consumer loan.

So, if you use spreadsheets, do be double cautious. even better, invest in a proper loan servicing solution. Simply finding this error paid many times for the user’s Margill Loan Manager.

See also:

The impact of coronavirus on borrowers and lenders

As companies worldwide continue to assess and react to the outbreak of COVID-19, the consequences of the virus are increasingly having an impact on businesses on a global scale. An interesting article to read here.

What is #1 Loan Servicing Software in the World?

Very interesting question, but is there an answer?

Being number 1, being the Top is the ultimate goal for many… The ultimate achievement… The Gold medal!

We hear this in political speeches: we are the BEST, we are the GREATEST, never in the history have we been SO GREAT…

Vying to be Number 1 is also true for loan solution providers.

I thought I would write this article since I came across, simply by surfing the web and checking out other loan tech companies’ websites, that at least three companies have the #1 lending technology. Congratulations to all of you!

# 1 is taken three times so I guess this means Margill Loan Manager is the BEST, the GREATEST #2 software solution out there?

There are many good, even great loan software out there and many not-so-good ones that say they can do just about everything… but none can really. In the end, when you are looking for loan servicing software, what’s important, is that the solution fits your own special needs and that customer support is there for you.

PS: No hard feelings #1s…

Marc Gelinas, CEO
Margill Solutions

Your Credit Score May Soon Change. Here’s Why.

Your credit score — that all-important passport within the financial world — may be about to change. And it won’t necessarily be because of anything you did or didn’t do.  Read this article by Tara Siegel Bernard 

Margill Loan Manager 5.1 soon to be released – Release Notes available

Margill Loan Manager 5.1 will be released later in January or early February. Consult the Release Notes.

Margill Loan Manager 5.0 now available!

After a two-year process, Margill Loan Manager 5.0 is now available for download! A new look, but without changing the way you work, a host of new features to make your lives even easier. See the Release Notes: https://www.margill.com/en/margill-loan-manager-release-notes.

To download go to https://www.margill.com/get

Stay tuned for our 20 minute Webinar on what’s new in 5.0 for early October. We will send our clients an email with the date, time and link… Time well invested!