I finally wanted to start looking at potentially putting in the more advanced and potentially confusing aspects of my finances.
I have federal student loans that I want to put in (I’m aware I could just sort of create a liability of the amount and just put in my payments, kinda the cheap and easy away around it), but when it comes to these loans, they typically don’t have compound interest, but have simple daily interest. Problem is that when you create a loan, it asks for compound interest but I don’t have compound interest, it’s just regular interest (which, if unfamiliar, is just Interest Amount = (Outstanding Principal Balance x Interest Rate Factor) x Number of Days Since Last Payment)? Maybe I’m missing something or there’s an option somewhere that can switch it.
If anyone has any suggestions, that’d be great. If not, not a big deal-- it’s not exactly at the top of my list, right there with my IRA details 
First, see the already filed wishlist, https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=397648, which I think covers your request.
Minor point/question: iff your interest is calculated on Outstanding Principal Balance (as opposed to Original Loan Amount) is that not compound interest, or am I somehow misusing/misunderstanding the term? Have you tried letting the system create a full loan account and schedule for you? Do the results not match what the bank says? Are they wrong in some other way?
Minor point/question: iff your interest is calculated on Outstanding Principal Balance (as opposed to Original Loan Amount) is that not compound interest, or am I somehow misusing/misunderstanding the term? Have you tried letting the system create a full loan account and schedule for you? Do the results not match what the bank says? Are they wrong in some other way?
So, lesson learned, I shouldn’t make a topic while I’m half-asleep.
So, I grabbed that exact formula from the Federal Student Aid website, along with my very tired understanding of the terms on federal student loans. Technically student loans do compound, but it’s a bit different; the tldr is that it’s called capitalizing, and it happens with specific events, but not regularly. For most of the time the loan exists, it’s running under simple interest. I think the student aid website’s formula is a bit misleading but not entirely wrong.
Point being, the loans in KMyMoney assume we had compound interest, which acts differently. For example, it asks for interest compounding frequency, but there isn’t a frequency with student loans, it’s event-based. I can’t quite just set it and forget it in terms of setup due to that, which is especially important for something I’ll be paying off for much longer than the 2 year frequency max that is listed in the application. Anyone is welcome to correct me, I am by no means an accountant, and welcome learning something new.
Also, thank you for bringing up the wishlist, I really need to dig through there more before bringing up topics.
I’m going to need to do more research, but I think you are mixing the issue of compound interest (interest calculated on current balance, not original balance) with an adjustable interest rate, which changes on some regular bases. It is possible the terminology used by the loan wizard could use some improvement, but I have not set up any loan in many years.
I would add a suggestion you try setting the compounding interval to one month, which is the same as your payment interval. See if that gives you the expected/hoped for result. I do agree the terminology is less than perfectly clear.
So, I decided to take a look again, and there’s a few issues, if I was to use the loan account type, at least. Since my student loans are currently under a gradual repayment plan, my payments are extremely small at the moment, and so it doesn’t really fit under the traditional loan structure for loan terms. Excluding the entire ordeal with interest, of course.
Putting all the loans under one would also be tricky, since each loan has a different interest rate. I think for the time being, it’s probably just best to leave it as a payee, and just put in the transaction as I normally would. I think the system is just genuinely not designed with non-traditional loans in mind, which is fair, as it does most of what I want outside of that.
Maybe this will convince me to finally look into trying to contribute to KDE when I have more time in the future. Thanks for trying!