<prompt> Human: Recently, my step-mother-in-law passed away. She handled the finances for her husbandfamily. My wife and I knew they struggled to control their credit card usage and monthly bills, but never knew first-hand exactly what was going on.With her passing, the remaining family has basically turned to us to help them get their financial house in order. Weve had to do a lot of investigating and discovery to figure out just how much they owe and to whom.As weve dug in, I found an oddity with their mortgage that I cant explain.In 2005, they refinanced their home and rolled some of their credit card debts into the loan. When I log onto their loan servicers website, I see the following:Original Loan Amount: 104,000Principal Balance: 108,802.78How is it possible, after 10 years of payments, their loan principal is now HIGHER than the original amount? Im sure they had some late fees along the way, but enough the INCREASE the balance over 10 years?Im stumped and hoping someone else can shed some light for me.Edit: I also noticed that the Loan Mature date is listed as 412051. A 45 year mortgage seems a it insane to me.  <response>: You might try contacting the bank of origin for the loan and asking for statements going back to the origination of the loan as you are trying to get their estate in order. That way you can see the payment vs fees history and try to understand better what is happening. Right now, with no idea on how the interest is rolled into the balance or exactly how spotty their payment history was, you can only speculate really. 