Invitations and Becomings

I have my home mortgage with INGDirect, and their banking interface is a great example of obfuscation mascerading as information. In a previous post, I've complained about this in terms of the mystery of providing an available balance without any scheduled balance. But today, it's something that should be even simpler: expected monthly repayment.

Here's the information they provide me when I log in:

• Interest rate on the balance (i.e. the current interest rate - it's a variable loan)
• Interest accrued this month
• Interest paid year to date

It's great to know the current interest rate, especially as they change so frequently, but the other two lines are, to put it bluntly, utterly useless.

The thing that I want to know - especially with rates changing so frequently, is how much my minimum repayment is this month. But I can't determine that from this information. I have to work out the interest for myself (and this changes depending on the number of days in the month) and in any case, I don't know how much principal I'm due to pay (related to the scheduled balance issue).

You can be sure the bank knows how much they'll be charging me this month. It'd be nice if they shared this information. Why is it so hard?