Adjustable-rate mortgage holders should know the spread between their mortgage rate and the index to which their loan is pegged, how often the loan can be adjusted, the maximum increase allowed each year and the maximum increase allowed over the life of the loan. All this is spelled out in mortgage documents.

If your lender won't provide you with one, or you suspect that your adjustable-rate loan is being improperly adjusted, you have several alternatives. Books of amortization schedules are available, as are computer programs that can perform the calculations. Some special calculators can handle the task as well. Special mortgage services can analyze your adjustable-rate loan, prepare amortization schedules-all for a fee, of course. Mortgage Surveillance Reports in Irvine offers a mortgage audit for $40. The service promises a complete evaluation of an adjustable-rate mortgage from its inception to determine if rates have been properly calculated and the loan properly amortized. The service also offers amortization schedules. For more information, call (714) 455-1775.

According to Robert Drapper, owner of Mortgage Surveillance Reports, your first $1,666 monthly payment was split as follows: $1,562.50 for interest and $103.50 for retiring your $200,000 loan. The following month, slightly less was allocated to interest because your loan had been reduced by $103.50, and slightly more went toward reducing the principal. For the first year of your loan, you paid $18,695.22 in interest and reduced your loan balance by $1,296.78.