Personal Loan Calculator
The monthly payment of a personal loan and its true APR once an origination fee is counted, whether the fee is deducted or added.
Result
Monthly payment: $332.10
Only the origination fee is included. Late fees and optional insurance are not.
- Effective APR, with the fee
- 15.595%
- Amount you receive
- $9,500.00
- Amount you repay interest on
- $10,000.00
- Origination fee
- $500.00
- Total interest
- $1,955.40
- Total cost: interest and fee
- $2,455.40
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Results are arithmetic estimates based on the values you enter. Rates, fees and terms are set by your lender or provider, and your actual agreement controls what you pay or receive. Confirm important figures with them or with a qualified adviser. Read the full disclaimer
How to use the Personal Loan Calculator
- Enter the loan amount, the interest rate and the term in months.
- Enter the origination fee as a percentage or an amount, and say whether it is taken from the money you receive or added to what you borrow.
- Read the monthly payment and the effective APR, the rate the loan really costs once the fee is counted.
How it is worked out
fee deducted you receive P − fee, you repay Pfee added you receive P, you repay P + feepayment = amount repaid × i ÷ (1 − (1 + i)⁻ⁿ), i = rate ÷ 12effective APR = 12 × the monthly rate at which the payments are worth what you receivedThe payment is the ordinary amortising loan payment on the amount you repay. The effective APR is solved from the loan’s actual payments, to the cent, by a bracketed search that cannot miss the answer. With no fee it comes out at the interest rate itself, which is how the method is checked.
Comparing offers
Two loans at the same interest rate can cost very different amounts if their fees differ. A loan with a lower rate and a large fee can cost more than one with a higher rate and no fee, especially over a short term, where the fee is spread over fewer payments. The effective APR puts every offer on the same footing.
The total cost shown is everything you pay beyond the money you actually receive: the interest and the fee together.
With your numbers
- You receive $9,500.00 and repay $10,000.00 with interest
- Payment = $10,000.00 × i ÷ (1 − (1 + i)^−36) = $332.10
- Effective APR = the rate at which those payments are worth $9,500.00 = 15.595%
Quick reference
Only the origination fee is included. Late fees and optional insurance are not.
| Example | Monthly payment |
|---|---|
| USD 10,000 at 11.99%, 36 months, no fee | $332.10 |
| Same with a 5% fee deducted | $332.10 |
| Same with a 5% fee added | $348.70 |
| USD 10,000 at 0%, 24 months | $416.67 |
| USD 5,000 at 18%, 24 months, USD 250 fee | $249.62 |
| USD 25,000 at 8.5%, 60 months, 3% fee | $512.91 |
Common questions about the Personal Loan Calculator
- Why is the APR higher than the interest rate?
- Because of the fee. With a 5% fee taken off the top of 10,000, you receive 9,500 but repay 10,000 with interest. Paying back more than you received is the same as paying a higher rate. On a 36-month loan at 11.99%, the effective APR is 15.60%.
- Is it better to have the fee deducted or added to the loan?
- They are not quite the same. Deducting a 5% fee from 10,000 leaves you 9,500 for a 10,000 debt; adding it gives you 10,000 for a 10,500 debt. The APRs are 15.60% and 15.42%. Adding the fee also means you pay interest on it. What matters most is whether you need the full amount in hand, which only adding the fee gives you.
- How does this page calculate the APR?
- By finding the monthly rate at which your actual payments, discounted back to today, are worth exactly the money you received, then multiplying by 12. That is the method Regulation Z sets out. Some calculators spread the fee across the term instead, which gives a noticeably wrong answer on short loans.
- Does a lender’s quoted APR include the fee?
- In the United States a lender must disclose an APR that includes finance charges such as an origination fee, under the Truth in Lending Act. Compare lenders on that disclosed APR rather than the interest rate. Charges that are not finance charges, such as some late fees, are not in it.