Pmt Function 

Returns a Double specifying the payment for an annuity based on periodic, fixed payments and a fixed interest rate.

Function Pmt( _
   ByVal Rate As Double, _
   ByVal NPer As Double, _
   ByVal PV As Double, _
   Optional ByVal FV As Double = 0, _
   Optional ByVal Due As DueDate = DueDate.EndOfPeriod _
) As Double

Parameters

  • Rate
    Required. Double specifies the interest rate per period. For example, if you get a car loan at an annual percentage rate (APR) of 10 percent and make monthly payments, the rate per period is 0.1/12, or 0.0083.
  • NPer
    Required. Double specifies the total number of payment periods in the annuity. For example, if you make monthly payments on a four-year car loan, your loan has a total of 4 Ă— 12 (or 48) payment periods.
  • PV
    Required. Double specifies the present value (or lump sum) that a series of payments to be paid in the future is worth now. For example, when you borrow money to buy a car, the loan amount is the present value to the lender of the monthly car payments you will make.
  • FV
    Optional. Double specifying future value or cash balance you want after you have made the final payment. For example, the future value of a loan is $0 because that is its value after the final payment. However, if you want to save $50,000 during 18 years for your child's education, then $50,000 is the future value. If omitted, 0 is assumed.
  • Due
    Optional. Object of type DueDate Enumeration that specifies when payments are due. This argument must be either DueDate.EndOfPeriod if payments are due at the end of the payment period, or DueDate.BegOfPeriod if payments are due at the beginning of the period. If omitted, DueDate.EndOfPeriod is assumed.

Exceptions

Exception type Error number Condition

ArgumentException

5

NPer = 0.

See the "Error number" column if you are upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 applications that use unstructured error handling. (You can compare the error number against the Number Property (Err Object).) However, when possible, you should consider replacing such error control with Structured Exception Handling Overview for Visual Basic.

Remarks

An annuity is a series of fixed cash payments made during a period of time. An annuity can be a loan (such as a home mortgage) or an investment (such as a monthly savings plan).

The Rate and NPer arguments must be calculated using payment periods expressed in the same units. For example, if Rate is calculated using months, NPer must also be calculated using months.

For all arguments, cash paid (such as deposits to savings) is represented by negative numbers; cash received (such as dividend checks) is represented by positive numbers.

Example

This example uses the Pmt function to return the monthly payment for a loan during a fixed period. Given are the interest percentage rate per period (APR / 12), the total number of payments (TotPmts), the present value or principal of the loan (PVal), the future value of the loan (FVal), and a number that indicates whether the payment is due at the beginning or end of the payment period (PayType).

Sub TestPMT()
    Dim PVal, APR, Payment, TotPmts As Double
    Dim PayType As DueDate
    Dim Response As MsgBoxResult

    ' Define money format.
    Dim Fmt As String = "###,###,##0.00"
    ' Usually 0 for a loan.
    Dim FVal As Double = 0
    PVal = CDbl(InputBox("How much do you want to borrow?"))
    APR = CDbl(InputBox("What is the annual percentage rate of your loan?"))
    If APR > 1 Then APR = APR / 100 ' Ensure proper form.
    TotPmts = CDbl(InputBox("How many monthly payments will you make?"))
    Response = MsgBox("Do you make payments at the end of month?", MsgBoxStyle.YesNo)
    If Response = MsgBoxResult.No Then
        PayType = DueDate.BegOfPeriod
    Else
        PayType = DueDate.EndOfPeriod
    End If
    Payment = Pmt(APR / 12, TotPmts, -PVal, FVal, PayType)

    MsgBox("Your payment will be " & Format(Payment, Fmt) & " per month.")
End Sub

Requirements

Namespace: Microsoft.VisualBasic

Module: Financial

Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)

See Also

Reference

Financial Summary
ArgumentException