Personal Loan
Loan repayment and interest breakdown
The Personal Loan Calculator estimates monthly payments and total interest on an unsecured installment loan — the kind banks, credit unions, and online lenders offer for consolidating credit card debt, financing a renovation, or covering a one-off large expense.
Enter the amount you plan to borrow, the APR you have been quoted, and the term in months. The calculator returns the monthly payment, the total amount you will pay, and the total interest cost over the life of the loan.
What it calculates
- Monthly payment based on a standard fully-amortizing schedule.
- Total interest paid across the term.
- Total amount paid (principal + interest).
The formula
Same as any other fully-amortizing loan:
M = P × r × (1 + r)^n / ((1 + r)^n − 1)
With r as the monthly rate (APR / 12 / 100) and n the number of monthly payments.
Worked example
$15,000 at 11.5% APR for 48 months:
- Monthly payment ≈ $391
- Total paid ≈ $18,775
- Total interest ≈ $3,775
Compare that to carrying the same $15,000 on a credit card at 22% APR with minimum payments — the personal loan typically pays off in a fixed timeframe with substantially less interest.
When this is the right tool
Use it when you are comparing personal loan offers, deciding whether to consolidate credit card debt, or sanity-checking a quote from an online lender. Run the numbers for several scenarios (different APRs and terms) to see how sensitive the total cost is to each input.
What is not included
Origination fees (typically 1%–8% of the loan amount, taken at funding) are common with personal loans and meaningfully change the effective cost. Some lenders charge prepayment penalties. Always read the disclosure schedule and look for the APR rather than just the interest rate.
Frequently asked questions
Is APR the same as the interest rate?
APR includes the interest rate plus certain fees, expressed as a yearly percentage. For accurate comparisons across lenders, compare APR, not just the rate.
How are personal loans different from credit cards?
Personal loans are typically fixed-rate, fixed-term, and amortizing — you pay them off in a predictable number of payments. Credit cards are revolving, variable-rate, and have minimum payments that can stretch debt out for years.
Can I pay it off early?
Usually yes, but check the loan agreement for prepayment penalties. If there is no penalty, extra principal payments can save significant interest.