Eastern Savings Bank fsb Owed$49000 18 years ago still owe$43000 according toEastern Saying I only paid$6000 in 18 years! Hunt Valley Maryland

When you got the business loan, you received paperwork that specified not only the length of the loan, but the Interest Rate, Monthly payment amount and monthly payment date. None of which you gave us here.

So what was the Interest Rate, and Monthly Payment amount?  

Have you made every single payment on-time and for the full amount due?  If the answer is no, then that is probably most of your problem right there. As even a single late payment especially early in the loan could wipe out the principal reduced over 5-6 ontime payments.

Have you plugged the information into an amortization calculator? As that will show you that as with all loans you will pay more interest up front, but as you pay down the balance the amount of your payment that goes to the principal goes up.