03 · Calculators

Loan Calculator

Work out the monthly payment for a car, personal or student loan, plus how much the borrowing costs in interest overall.

Monthly payment

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How to use the loan calculator

  1. Enter how much you want to borrow.
  2. Add the yearly interest rate (APR) the lender quoted.
  3. Set the term in years, and add extra months if needed.
  4. Read the monthly payment, then check total interest and the yearly schedule.

Reading the result

Monthly payment is the fixed amount you’d pay each month until the loan is cleared. Total interest is what the loan costs on top of the amount borrowed, and the interest share tells you what fraction of all your payments goes to interest.

If two loans have the same rate, the longer one has a smaller monthly payment but costs more in total, because interest has longer to build up.

APR vs. interest rate

The APR includes some fees as well as the interest rate, which makes it better for comparing offers. This calculator treats whatever rate you enter as a simple yearly rate compounded monthly, which is how most fixed-rate installment loans work.

Examples

$25,000 at 7.5% over 5 years

$500.95 a month · $5,057 total interest

$10,000 at 0% over 24 months

$416.67 a month · no interest

Questions

Can I enter a term in months?

Yes. Leave years at 0 and type the months, or combine both, for example 3 years plus 6 months.

Does it handle 0% interest?

Yes. With a 0% rate the payment is simply the amount divided by the number of months.

What about extra payments?

This version assumes the same payment every month. Paying extra reduces total interest, often by a lot, because it lowers the balance that interest is charged on.