Personal Loan Calculator

This calculator shows the three numbers that define a fixed-rate personal loan: the monthly payment you'd commit to, the total interest you'd pay across the full term, and the effective cost of borrowing once an origination fee is included. Together they tell you whether a loan fits your monthly budget and what convenience is really costing you.

It also previews the first year of your amortization schedule. A fixed-rate loan amortizes: every payment is the same dollar amount, but early payments are mostly interest because the outstanding balance is still high. Watching the balance column fall shows exactly how much progress each payment makes.

Enter the amount you want to borrow, the APR you've been quoted, and the repayment term, and the calculator produces the fixed payment that retires the loan exactly on schedule. Each payment covers that month's interest first — charged on the remaining balance — and puts the rest toward principal, which is why the balance falls slowly at first and faster near the end.

Switching the payment frequency to accelerated biweekly pays half the monthly amount every two weeks. Because there are 26 half-payments in a year — the equivalent of 13 full monthly payments instead of 12 — the loan retires early and total interest drops, without any single payment feeling larger.

The monthly payment uses the standard amortization formula: payment = principal × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n), where r is the monthly rate (APR ÷ 12) and n is the term in months. Total repayment is the payment multiplied by the number of months, and total interest is total repayment minus the amount borrowed.

The effective borrowing cost adds any origination fee to the total interest. Many lenders deduct that fee from the amount they disburse — borrow $15,000 with a $300 fee and you receive $14,700 while repaying a schedule based on the full $15,000. The calculator assumes a fixed APR, equal scheduled payments, no prepayment penalty, and no variable-rate clauses. Rounding happens only at display time, never inside the math.

A useful rule of thumb: your new loan payment plus all existing monthly debt should stay under 36% of gross monthly income — lenders check exactly that ratio when they underwrite. If the payment shown here would push you past it, consider a smaller amount or a longer term, and confirm with our debt-to-income calculator.

On cost, compare total interest against the loan amount. On a 4-year loan, total interest around 20–28% of the principal is typical at today's mid-range APRs; if your quote produces much more, a shorter term, a lower rate through comparison shopping, or a larger down payment on whatever you're financing will all cut the total. A longer term with a lower payment is not cheaper — it almost always costs more overall.