What does an early lump-sum payment do to a loan schedule?

At Aster Financial, personal loan `LOAN-5531` runs on schedule `SCH-5531-A` with fortnightly instalments collected by direct debit `DD-2210`. The customer pays an extra lump sum through the app (`PAY-90231`) and messages that they want to keep the same instalment but finish sooner. The message opens `CASE-0412`, assigned to a servicing agent.

**What the agent must do**

- read `PAY-90231` and confirm it posted as an unscheduled principal payment - check the product policy flag that says whether early payments shorten the term or reduce the instalment - generate `SCH-5531-B` with the same instalment amount and an earlier final date - mark `SCH-5531-A` as superseded rather than deleting it - leave `DD-2210` unchanged in amount, since the debit amount has not moved

**State change:** one schedule is superseded, one is active, and the case closes with a note citing the policy flag.

**Consequence of getting it wrong:** if the agent lowers the instalment instead, the active schedule no longer matches `DD-2210`. The next debit collects the wrong amount, the customer is contacted about an apparent shortfall, and a servicing officer has to reverse the work by hand.

**What it teaches:** the correct answer depends on a policy field, not on general knowledge of loans. It also shows that linked records and history are part of the task, so an evaluation has to check them and not only the new dates.