Personal Loan Calculator

Recurring Monthly Payment

$ {{ format(headlineMonthlyPayment) }}

$ {{ format(amountFinanced) }} financed $ {{ format(totalInterest) }} finance charge Payoff {{ payoffDateLabel }} $ {{ format(originationFeeAmount) }} fee Save {{ comparison.monthsSaved }} mo $ {{ format(comparison.interestSaved) }} interest saved

Loan amount:

Enter the requested personal loan amount, e.g. 15000 for $15,000.

Interest rate:

Enter annual APR as a percent, such as 9.5; use 0 for no-interest scenarios.

% / yr

Loan term:

Enter whole years and 0-11 extra months; common personal loan terms run 1-7 years.

yrs mos

{{ warning }}

Disbursement date:

Use the funding date in YYYY-MM-DD format; today is used by default.

Origination fee rate:

Enter the fee as 0-25% of the requested amount; leave 0 when none applies.

Origination fee treatment:

Select deducted, financed, or paid upfront to match the lender quote.

Deducted Financed Upfront

Extra monthly payment:

Enter extra dollars sent every month; keep 0 for the scheduled payment only.

Extra annual payment:

Enter the yearly extra amount and the month it should land, e.g. 500 in December.

One-time lump sum:

Enter the lump-sum dollars and payment month, e.g. 2000 at month 12; use 0 to disable.

$ at month

Metric	Value	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ row.display }}

Metric	Current plan	Baseline	Change	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ row.currentDisplay }}	{{ row.baseDisplay }}	{{ row.deltaDisplay }}

Signal	Evidence	Borrower action	Copy
{{ row.signal }}	{{ row.evidence }}	{{ row.action }}

Month	Due date	Payment ($)	Principal ($)	Interest ($)	Extra ($)	Balance ($)	Copy
{{ row.period }}	{{ row.dueDateLabel }}	{{ format(row.payment) }}	{{ format(row.principal) }}	{{ format(row.interest) }}	{{ format(row.extraApplied) }}	{{ format(row.balance) }}

Year	Payments ($)	Principal ($)	Interest ($)	Extra ($)	Cum. interest ($)	Ending balance ($)	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ format(row.paymentYear) }}	{{ format(row.principalYear) }}	{{ format(row.interestYear) }}	{{ format(row.extraYear) }}	{{ format(row.cumulativeInterest) }}	{{ format(row.balance) }}

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Borrowing for a repair, medical bill, move, or debt consolidation often starts with one number: the monthly payment. That number matters for cash flow, but it is only a narrow view of a personal loan. The same payment can come from a smaller loan at a high rate, a larger loan stretched over more months, or a quote with fees that reduce the cash you actually receive.

Most personal installment loans are repaid in periodic fixed amounts. Each payment first covers interest that has accrued on the remaining balance, then the rest reduces principal. Early payments usually carry more interest because the balance is still high. Later payments reduce the balance faster because less interest is due each month.

The main vocabulary is simple, but mixing the terms can distort an offer comparison. Principal is the amount being repaid. Interest is the cost of borrowing that accrues over time. Annual percentage rate, or APR, expresses yearly borrowing cost, and formal lender disclosures may include certain fees in that figure. Loan term is the number of months used to spread repayment. Origination fees are upfront lender charges that may be deducted from proceeds, financed into the loan, or paid separately.

Personal loan comparison factors
Question	Why it changes the cost
How much is actually financed?	Financed fees raise the balance that earns interest.
How much cash arrives after funding?	Deducted fees can leave less money than the requested amount.
How long is the term?	Longer terms can lower the payment while increasing total interest.
Can extra principal be paid early?	Earlier prepayments reduce the balance before more interest accrues.

Amortization curve showing interest share falling and principal share rising over time

Comparing offers works best when every offer is reduced to the same set of assumptions. A lower payment is not automatically cheaper if it depends on a longer term. A low quoted rate can still be expensive if a large fee is deducted from the proceeds. An aggressive prepayment plan can look attractive on paper, but it only helps if the contract allows it and the added payment is affordable every month.

A personal loan estimate is useful planning evidence, not a substitute for the lender's Truth in Lending disclosures, contract terms, or state-specific rules. Use the calculated payment, payoff date, and total cost to decide which questions to ask before signing: whether the APR and fees are disclosed consistently, whether prepayment is allowed without penalty, and whether the cash received actually covers the need that caused the loan search.

How to Use This Tool:

Start with the lender's quote, then add fee and prepayment assumptions only when they match the scenario you want to compare.

Enter Loan amount as the requested dollar amount and Interest rate as the annual rate used for the payment calculation. Set Loan term in years and extra months.
Open Advanced if the funding date matters. Disbursement date sets the due-date labels, annual-extra timing, lump-sum timing, and projected payoff date.
Add Origination fee rate when the quote includes a lender fee. Choose Deducted when the fee comes out of proceeds, Financed when it is added to the note, or Upfront when it is paid separately at funding.
Use Extra monthly payment, Extra annual payment, and One-time lump sum to test faster payoff plans. Leave them at 0 for the baseline schedule.
Resolve warnings before comparing offers. The calculator flags missing loan terms, very long terms, APR at or above 36%, high origination fees, deducted fees that consume proceeds, and unusually large recurring extras.
Read Loan Snapshot first, then compare Prepayment Comparison, Borrower Guidance, Payoff Schedule, and Yearly Rollup. The chart tabs help show cost split, balance decline, cumulative interest, and payment mix.

If the lender disclosure and the snapshot disagree, check fee treatment first. A fee entered as financed instead of deducted can change the amount financed, net cash received, monthly payment, and all-in borrowing cost.

Interpreting Results:

Recurring Monthly Payment is the cash-flow headline. It includes the scheduled principal-and-interest payment plus any recurring extra monthly payment. Scheduled payment is the baseline installment before extra principal is added.

All-in borrowing cost is often the stronger comparison field when fees are present. It includes note repayment and any origination fee that was deducted from proceeds or paid upfront. When the fee is financed, the fee is already inside Amount financed and accrues interest through the note.

Personal loan result interpretation guide
Result	What to check
Amount financed	Should match the note balance, including a financed origination fee if selected.
Net cash received	Shows whether deducted fees leave enough cash for the intended expense.
Total interest	Covers interest generated by the amortization schedule, not every possible lender charge.
Prepayment Comparison	Shows whether extra principal actually reduces payoff months, interest charged, or both.
Projected payoff date	Depends on disbursement date and on whether annual or lump-sum extras land before payoff.

Do not treat interest saved as guaranteed savings until the contract confirms that extra principal payments are allowed and credited the way you expect. A small extra payment may reduce interest without moving the payoff date by a whole month, while a late lump sum may never apply if the loan is already paid off.

Technical Details:

Fixed-payment amortization is governed by a periodic interest rate, a balance, and a payment count. The payment is chosen so that repeated monthly interest charges and principal reductions bring the balance to zero by the end of the term. Because interest is charged against the remaining balance, every principal reduction changes the interest due in later months.

The modeled balance starts with the requested amount, then changes only when the origination fee is financed. Deducted and upfront fees are still part of borrowing cost, but they do not increase the balance used for monthly interest. Extra payments are applied after the scheduled payment and are capped at the remaining balance so the schedule does not overpay principal.

Formula Core:

The standard monthly payment formula applies when the monthly rate is above zero. The monthly rate is the annual rate divided by 100 and then by 12.

M = \frac{B r}{1 - {(1 + r)}^{- n}}

r = \frac{APR}{100} / 12 and, when r = 0, M = \frac{B}{n}

Personal loan formula symbols
Symbol	Meaning	Related field or result
B	Balance being amortized	Amount financed
r	Monthly interest rate	Interest rate divided across 12 months
n	Total monthly payment count	Loan term
M	Scheduled monthly installment	Scheduled payment

For a $15,000 balance at 9.5% APR over 36 months, the monthly rate is 0.095 / 12, and the scheduled payment is about $480.49 before extra principal. The schedule rounds money to cents in each row, so a final cents-only cleanup row can appear when rounding leaves a tiny balance after the nominal term.

Origination fee handling rules
Fee treatment	Amount financed	Net cash received	Cost effect
Deducted	Requested amount	Requested amount minus fee	Fee is added outside note repayment.
Financed	Requested amount plus fee	Requested amount	Fee earns interest as part of the note.
Upfront	Requested amount	Requested amount	Fee is cash due at funding and added outside note repayment.

Monthly schedule rows follow the same order: calculate that month's interest from the opening balance, subtract scheduled principal, apply the recurring monthly extra, apply the annual extra if the due date falls in the selected month, apply the lump sum if the current row is the selected month, then carry the rounded ending balance to the next row. The comparison baseline keeps the same amount financed, rate, term, date, and fee treatment, but removes extra monthly, annual, and lump-sum payments.

Warning thresholds used by the personal loan calculator
Warning condition	Boundary	Why it matters
Long term	More than 84 months	Lower payments can hide a larger finance charge.
Very high APR	At or above 36%	That level deserves special scrutiny in many consumer-credit contexts.
High origination fee	More than 10%	A large fee can materially reduce loan value or increase financed cost.
Unusually large recurring extra	Extra monthly payment at least as large as requested amount	The entered prepayment may be a data-entry error.

Limitations:

This is an educational estimate for fixed-rate personal loan scenarios. It should be checked against the lender's disclosures, contract terms, and any rules that apply where the loan is made.

It does not model late fees, skipped payments, variable rates, prepayment penalties, credit insurance, taxes, or lender-specific payment allocation rules.
It assumes monthly interest from the remaining balance and principal-first treatment for extra amounts after the scheduled payment.
It needs only scenario numbers such as amount, rate, term, fee, and prepayment plan. Names, account numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personal identifiers are unnecessary.
APR disclosures can include fees differently from a simple monthly-interest model, so avoid counting the same fee twice when comparing lender paperwork.

Worked Examples:

Three-year baseline quote

A $15,000 loan at 9.5% APR for 3 years with no origination fee gives a Recurring Monthly Payment near $480.49 and Total interest near $2,298. Loan Snapshot is the baseline to compare before adding fee or prepayment assumptions.

$100 extra each month

Using the same $15,000, 9.5% APR, 3-year scenario with a $100 Extra monthly payment raises the recurring cash flow to about $580.49. Prepayment Comparison shows the payoff path shortening to about 30 months and interest falling by roughly $449 versus the baseline.

Fee deducted from proceeds

A $12,000 loan with a 5% deducted origination fee still uses $12,000 as Amount financed, but Net cash received falls to $11,400. If the borrower needs the full $12,000 for the expense, that offer may not provide enough cash even when the monthly payment fits.

Lump sum after payoff

If a one-time $2,000 payment is set for month 48 on a 36-month quote, Borrower Guidance can report that the lump sum never triggers. Lower Lump sum month number or remove the lump sum so Prepayment Comparison reflects a payment that can actually affect the schedule.

FAQ:

Should I enter APR or the note interest rate?

Enter the annual rate you want used for monthly interest. If the lender gives both an interest rate and an APR that already reflects fees, keep the origination-fee field consistent so the same fee is not counted twice.

Why is financed fee treatment more expensive?

A financed origination fee is added to Amount financed, so interest accrues on the fee as part of the note. Deducted and upfront fees affect cash or all-in cost without increasing the interest-bearing balance.

Why can payoff months be one month longer than the term?

Money is rounded to cents in the schedule rows. If rounding leaves a few cents after the nominal final payment, the payoff table can include a tiny final adjustment row.

Can I rely on the prepayment savings?

Use the savings as a planning estimate. Check the contract for prepayment penalties, payment-allocation rules, and whether extra amounts are applied to principal instead of simply advancing the next due date.

What should I fix when no result appears?

Enter a positive Loan amount and a Loan term of at least one month. Then review warnings about APR, fee rate, fee treatment, and extra payment size before comparing scenarios.

Glossary:

Amortization: The process of paying down a loan balance over time through scheduled payments.
APR: Annual percentage rate, a yearly borrowing-cost measure used in lender disclosures and offer comparisons.
Amount financed: The balance used for the repayment schedule, including a financed origination fee when selected.
Origination fee: An upfront lender charge that can reduce proceeds, be paid separately, or be added to the note.
Net cash received: The cash available after a deducted fee is subtracted from the requested amount.
Prepayment: An extra amount paid toward principal before the scheduled payoff path requires it.

References:

Do personal installment loans have fees?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Aug. 30, 2024.
What is the difference between a loan interest rate and the APR?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Jan. 30, 2024.
Auto loans key terms, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Can I prepay my loan at any time without penalty?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Jan. 30, 2024.
What are my rights under the Military Lending Act?, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Sept. 19, 2025.