Excel - Microsoft Excel Intrate Function

Description

The Excel INTRATE function calculates the interest rate for a fully invested security. 

The format of the function is : 

INTRATE( settlement, maturity, investment, redemption, [basis] ) 

where the arguments are as shown in the table below: 

- If you attempt to input these date arguments as text, Excel may misinterpret them, due to different date systems, or date interpretation settings. 

Warning: Although you can input the date arguments as date serial numbers, this is not recommended as date serial numbering does vary across different computer systems. 

Intrate Function Example

In the spreadsheet below, the Excel Intrate function is used to calculate the interest rate of an investment of $1,000, which was used to purchase a security on 01-Apr-2005. The security matured on 1-Mar-2010, with a redemption value of $2,125 and the US (NASD) 30/360 day count basis is used: 

The formula in the above spreadsheet returns the interest rate 22.5%. 

Note that, in this example, the [basis] argument is omitted and so takes on the default of 0 (and therefore uses the US (NASD) 30/360 basis) 

Note also that, as recommended by Microsoft, the dates are not typed directly into the function. Instead, in this example, the Excel Date function has been used. 

Intrate Function Errors

If you get an error from the Excel Intrate Function, this is likely to be one of the following : 

Common Errors 

Also, the following formatting problem is encountered by some users: 

Common Formatting Problem .

If the result of your Intrate function is presented as a decimal, or shows 0%, this is likely to be due to the formatting of the cell containing the function.

This can therefore be fixed by formatting the cell as a percentage, with decimal places :