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Simple Auto Loan Calculator Specifications
1. A picture is worth a thousand words: the following websites feature Auto Loan Calculators which have the core functionality that we want in our calculator—they are ordered from most favorite to least: a. http://www.bankrate.com/brm/auto‐loan‐calculator.asp b. http://www.cars.com/go/advice/financing/calc/loanCalc.jsp?mode=full c. http://www.mortgageloan.com/calculator/auto‐loan‐calculator d. http://www.edmunds.com/apps/calc/CalculatorController 2. Vision: To create the best auto loan calculator available on the web. The natural question is how is “best” defined, especially as applied to a calculator. One might ask, don’t all calculators do the same thing? Though all calculators essentially do the same thing, the web gives us an opportunity to create a uniquely user‐friendly and interactive calculator. Our ideal calculator is the one that begs to be used. We think that a financial calculator carries the stigma of being difficult to use and understand. We would like to dress up our calculator so that it is both intuitive and interactive. 3. Some Ajax Elements of our Vision: a. There must be a checkbox to toggle advanced user mode which would expose those fields below that are marked as A for advanced. b. When a user places his cursor into a field a tip should pop‐up with an explanation of what information should be placed in the selected field. Code for the desired effect can be found here: http://nicolae.namolovan.googlepages.com/jquery.inputHintBox.demo.html. However, the explanations must fade in slower and the bubble colors should be lighter and less obtrusive than the example in the link. c. screen scraper that sucks prevailing interest rate value from bankrate.com and sets that interest value as the default for the Interest Rate field. d. For those portions that require a lightbox—we think this: http://www.nickstakenburg.com/projects/lightview/ might be a good choice. 4. The nitty gritty details a. Input Fields for calculator: i. Vehicle Price 1. default value: 0 2. Explanation text: “The total amount of the money that you have borrowed.” ii. Term (months) 1. default value: 36
Gene Sigalov gs@riseabovemarketing.com
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2. Explanation text: “The number of years or months you have to pay off the loan. If you fill in one of the boxes, the other will fill in automatically.” iii. Term (Years) 1. default Value: 0 2. Explanation Text: same as above iv. Interest rate 1. Default value: 7% 2. Explanation Text: “The exact interest rate on your mortgage. This is different from the annual percentage rate or APR which is a standardized method of calculating the cost of a mortgage, stated as a yearly rate which includes such items as interest, mortgage insurance, and certain points or credit costs” v. Trade‐in Value ‐ A 1. default value: 0 2. Explanation text: “The amount of money your car dealer is giving you for the trade‐in.” vi. Sales Tax ‐ A 1. default value: 0 2. Explanation text: vii. Monthly Payment 1. Default value: automatically calculated from other default values, but can also be entered—like it is done in link 1b. 2. Explanation text: “Monthly payment: This calculation includes only principal and interest. Mortgage payments usually include additional payments for insurance and taxes that are put into escrow to be paid out when they come due.” 3. Nuance: the monthly cost is recalculated on the fly every time there is a keystroke event that updates a value in one of the fields. b. Buttons – there are two types of buttons. Those present from the beginning and those that appear when advanced mode is toggled. i. Regular Buttons 1. More Payment Options – this button generates the same kind of report that the payment summary button does in link 1b. This is a tabular report that shows monthly payments at different APR rates. It is broken up into 24 months, 36 months, 48 months, and 72 months. These results should be displayed in a LightBox. a. Text Explanation: “Compare similar terms based on your entries.” b. This explanation is not a tip pop‐up, it is located above the payment options table in the LightBox. ii. A Buttons
Gene Sigalov gs@riseabovemarketing.com
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Rise Above Marketing holds a copyright in the contents of this document. It may not be reproduced without permission.
1. Amortization table – this button generates the same kind of amortiziation table as in 1a and shows it in a LIghtBox. a. Explanation Text: A timetable for the gradual repayment of a mortgage loan. An amortization schedule indicates the amount of each payment applied to interest and principal, and also the remaining loan balance after each payment is made. b. This explanation is not a tip pop‐up, it is located above the payment options table in the LightBox. c. Output i. Total cost – this is a text element that recalculates on the fly every time there is a keystroke event that updates a value in one of the fields. ii. Payment summary ‐ this summary is displayed in a LightBox. iii. Amortization Table ‐ this table is displayed in a LightBox d. Logic – there is no reason to re‐invent the wheel. The calculations are basic algebra and can be taken from the existing calculators listed in section 1. Perhaps even some of the javascript from the links above may be recycled. 5. What’s a web app if it ain’t got a little finesse? a. The form must validate 7 ways till Sunday. If an incorrect value is chosen a lightbox should pop up with the explanation for why the value is incorrect. This list is not exhaustive and more will be expected i. Prices and interest rate cannot be negative. 1. Warning text: you have entered a negative value. Please enter a positive value for an accurate calculation ii. Interest rate cannot be 0 1. Warning text: This isn’t your mother, the bank charges interest. Please enter an interest rate or press “Current Interest Rate” to use the prevailing interest rate. 6. Reference of Proposed Ajax Effects: a. http://nicolae.namolovan.googlepages.com/jquery.inputHintBox.demo.html b. http://www.nickstakenburg.com/projects/lightview/ 7. General Project Notes a. All the explanation texts need to be rewritten for SEO purposes.
Gene Sigalov gs@riseabovemarketing.com