Loan calculator

What a loan calculator tells you

Enter the amount, the APR and the term, and you get the fixed monthly payment, the total interest and the full repayment schedule. Add an extra monthly payment to see how much sooner the loan ends and how much interest it saves.

It works for any loan with equal monthly payments: personal loans, car loans, student loans, home improvement loans and loans from friends or family. For credit cards, use the credit card payoff calculator, which handles a fixed payment against a revolving balance.

Compare before you borrow

Borrowing costs are set by the APR, the term and the fees. Two loans with the same payment can differ by thousands in total interest. Try the offers side by side and favor the lower total cost, unless your budget forces a longer term.

$20,000 at 9% by loan length

Borrowing $20,000 at 9% over 4 years costs $497.70 a month and $3,890 in interest, $23,890 in total. Shorter terms raise the payment but cut the interest, and longer terms do the reverse. The table shows the trade-off across common terms.

How your rate changes the cost

Personal loan rates vary widely with credit score, from the mid single digits for strong borrowers to 30% or more for weak credit. On $20,000 over 4 years, moving from 9% to 12% adds $1,391 in interest.

How much can you borrow for a given payment?

Working backwards at 9% over 4 years, here is the loan size each monthly payment supports.

When is half of a $20,000 loan repaid?

With a $497.70 payment, the balance falls below half ($10,000) after 27 payments, about 2.3 years into a 4 years loan. Because interest is highest at the start, the second half of the loan is paid down much faster than the first.