Loan Calculator

How to use this calculator

By entering a few pieces of information, this calculator can give you a quick read on the monthly payment for most fixed-rate installment loans, including:

• Mortgages
• Auto loans
• Personal loans

Keep in mind: the best rates go to borrowers with the highest credit scores. Make sure the rate you enter is in line with your current credit, not just an advertised "starting at" rate.

Loan amount

Fine-tuning the loan amount can help you answer questions like:

• How much a mortgage refinance payment changes depending on whether you roll closing costs into the loan or pay them separately.
• How much an extra $1,000 adds to the payment on a short-term personal loan.
• What the maximum loan amount — and sale price — should be before you start negotiating at a car dealership.

Loan term, in months or years

Whether debt freedom or a lower monthly payment matters more to you, the term you pick makes a real difference:

• A shorter mortgage term means paying off the balance faster to own the home outright sooner.
• A longer auto loan term lowers the payment if you're saving up for something else, like a wedding or tuition.
• The right debt consolidation term clears out credit card balances without blowing up your monthly budget.

Enter the term as whichever unit is more natural — months or years — using the toggle next to the term field; the calculator converts between them automatically. Most lenders won't offer an installment loan shorter than one year.

Interest rate, per year

Look up current rates for your loan type and credit profile before entering a number here — rates vary a lot by lender, loan type, and credit score. For example, an excellent-credit borrower might qualify for well under 8% on a three-year personal loan, while a fair-credit borrower could see a rate closer to 20% for the same term.

Lenders also tend to charge higher rates for longer repayment terms, which compounds with the extra time to increase total interest paid.

Total interest paid

This is where you see the real cost of borrowing, based on the amount, rate, and term you entered. The sooner a loan is paid off and the lower its rate, the less interest accrues over its life — which is exactly what extra payments (below) are designed to reduce.

Amortization schedule

Click "Show amortization schedule" to see the nuts and bolts of the loan, year by year and month by month. A couple of things worth noticing:

• Early payments are mostly interest; later payments are mostly principal.
• The payoff date shown in the summary is useful on its own — handy if you're budgeting around a major purchase and need to know when a loan will be out of the picture.

Add extra payments

If you already have a loan and want to pay it off faster, open "Optional: extra payments and fees" and experiment with an extra:

• Monthly payment, added on top of every regular payment.
• Yearly payment, added once every 12 payments.
• One-time payment on a specific date — pick a date and the calculator applies it in that calendar month only.

Open the amortization schedule afterward to see exactly how it shifted the payoff date and remaining balance. A few situations where this is worth trying:

• You got a raise and can comfortably afford to pay more every month.
• You want to apply a tax refund to the loan every year to clear it faster.
• You received a windfall — an inheritance, a bonus — and want to see what putting a chunk of it toward a large balance, like a mortgage, would do to the payoff date.