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Personal loan calculator

What a personal loan costs a month, and its APR once the fee is counted.

Reviewed by Victor Yuki Matusita on . First published .

Your numbers stay on your device
$
%
months

Monthly payment

$494.64/mo

Over 3 years at 11.5% you'll repay $17,807, of which $2,807 is interest. With the $750.00 fee taken out up front, the APR is 15.09%.

  • Principal $15,000 · 84%
  • Interest $2,807 · 16%

Fees

%

Taken from the money you receive. Leave 0 if there is none.

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Payment schedule

How to use the personal loan calculator

  1. Enter the amount you would borrow and the rate on the offer.
  2. Enter the term in months, from 1 to 120.
  3. Add the origination fee as a percent, if the lender charges one, to see the APR.
  4. Open the schedule or save it as a PDF or a CSV to compare offers side by side.

How the payment and the APR are worked out

The formula

The payment is M = P × r × (1 + r)^n ÷ ((1 + r)^n − 1), where P is the loan amount, r is the yearly rate divided by 12 and n is the number of months.

With a fee, you receive less than you repay. The APR is the yearly rate that makes the payments worth exactly the money you receive: the monthly rate x that solves (amount − fee) = M ÷ (1 + x) + M ÷ (1 + x)^2 + … + M ÷ (1 + x)^n, times 12. It is shown with two decimals.

Assumptions

  • The rate stays the same for the whole term and the payments are monthly and equal; the last one closes the balance.
  • Interest is charged once a month at the yearly rate divided by 12, on the balance, rounded to the cent.
  • The origination fee comes out of the money you receive, so you repay the whole loan amount.
  • The APR follows the actuarial method of Regulation Z, Appendix J: the monthly rate at which your payments are worth the money you receive, times 12.
  • No late fees, insurance or other charges are included.

Worked example

This is the example the calculator opens with, worked out by the same engine you use above.

You enter
Loan amount$15,000.00
Rate11.5%
Loan term36 months
Origination fee5%
You get
Monthly payment$494.64
Loan amount$15,000.00
Origination fee$750.00
Money you receive$14,250.00
Interest$2,807.06
Interest and fee$3,557.06
Total of payments$17,807.06
APR15.09%

Over 3 years at 11.5% you'll repay $17,807, of which $2,807 is interest. With the $750.00 fee taken out up front, the APR is 15.09%.

Sources

Educational tool

This calculator is an educational tool, not financial advice and not a loan offer. The lender sets your rate, fees and APR.

Questions about personal loans

Why is the APR higher than the interest rate?

The APR counts the origination fee as a cost of the loan. You repay the whole amount but receive less, so the yearly cost of the money you actually get is higher than the rate on the note.

How is the origination fee charged?

Here it comes out of the money you receive, which is how many lenders charge it. If yours adds it to the balance instead, enter the whole balance, fee included, as the amount, and the fee as a percent of that balance: the money you receive and the payments come out the same, and so does the APR.

Does a longer term save money?

It lowers the monthly payment but adds interest, because the balance stays higher for longer. Try the same amount with 36 and 60 months and compare the interest in the sentence.

Is the APR here the same as on my disclosure?

It uses the method of Regulation Z for a loan with equal monthly payments and a regular first period. A disclosure can include other charges or an odd first period, so small differences are possible.

Can I compare two offers?

Enter one offer and copy the link, then the other and copy that link. Each link opens the calculator with its own numbers, and the PDFs keep both schedules.

Privacy

Your numbers stay on your device. The calculator runs in your browser, so nothing you type is sent anywhere, and the link you copy keeps the numbers after the #, a part of the address your browser never sends.