My beginning balance for 2018 on my 1098 is $0. I didn't get the loan until September 2018. The 1098 is asking as of 1/1/2018. SO my ending balance is not going to be less than the beginning balance on the the 1098. This seems like it would be pretty common. The problem I am having is that my mortgage interest is on a construction loan - the amount I borrowed vs the ending mortgage balance are WAY off. This implies I paid a lot of the loan off when in fact that isn't remotely what is going on. The ending balance is going to go up with each draw the construction company makes until we ultimately close on the house and then owe the full amount we borrowed. I am only paying interest on a very little bit right now in comparison to what the total borrowed will be. I am not really sure how I am supposed to answer these questions then.
