How can I track the due dates for principal repayments on a loan?

I have a loan that has principal repayments due at certain fixed dates. This loan is setup as a current liability account in QuickBooks, and when I make payments against the loan, I record a check (made payable to the lender), with the liability account for this loan as the category. This works fine.

However, I would like to be able to enter a bill so I can track the due dates for my principal repayments--I haven't been able to figure out the "right way" to do this.

If I enter a bill as normal and use the liability account for this loan as the category, then it records a debit to the liability account and a credit to accounts payable, which makes it look like the loan balance has decreased--when, in fact, no payment has been made. This can be particularly troublesome if it's a large repayment that's due--on the balance sheet any loans for which I've entered these bills for balloon payments (i.e., the final payment of the entire principal balance), those loans will appear with a $0 balance, and the actual balances will be added to the "Accounts Payable" balance. This is misleading because the loans are not paid off, and the due date for some of these bills could be months in the future. Still, I would like to be able to quickly see these due dates in QuickBooks, if that's possible.

So, in summary: All I really want to do is keep track of when the principal repayment is due, not create a phantom transfer to accounts payable. What is the recommended way for tracking due dates on principal repayments for liability accounts?