Personal Loan Calculator
Calculate monthly payments and total cost for a personal loan.
What this calculator does
This personal loan calculator takes an amount, an interest rate, and a term in years, and returns the fixed monthly payment, the total interest across the loan, and the total you will repay. Add an extra monthly payment and it also shows how much interest that overpayment removes.
Personal loans are unsecured and fixed-rate, which makes them unusually easy to model: no collateral, no variable rate, no revolving balance. What you see is what you pay, provided you know the true APR including any origination fee. The value here is in comparing offers and in seeing what a few extra dollars a month actually buys you.
When to use it
The most common use is consolidation — converting credit card balances at 22 percent into a fixed loan at 12 percent with a real end date. Run the loan payment against the total of your current minimums to see whether the deal improves your cash flow, your total cost, or both.
It is also the right tool for a planned one-off expense: a home repair, a medical bill, a wedding. And it is worth running before you decide not to borrow. Seeing that a $10,000 loan costs roughly $200 a month for five years is sometimes what makes deferring the expense the obvious choice — the calculator earns its keep on the decisions it talks you out of.
Understanding the inputs
Loan amount should be the sum disbursed to you. If the lender charges an origination fee taken from proceeds, you need to borrow more than you need — a 5 percent fee on a $10,000 need means borrowing about $10,530.
Interest rate here is the nominal rate used to compute the payment. If your only quoted figure is the APR and there are no fees, they are the same number. Loan term in years is the lever most borrowers underuse: personal loans typically run two to seven years, and the difference in total interest between three and seven years on the same balance is substantial. The extra payment field applies straight to principal.
How is this calculated?
Monthly Payment = P[r(1+r)^n]/[(1+r)^n-1]. Total Interest = (Monthly Payment × n) − P.
A worked example
Take $15,000 at 11.5 percent over five years. The monthly payment is about $330, total interest comes to roughly $4,793, and you repay around $19,793 in total.
Now add $100 a month. The loan clears in 43 months instead of 60 — nearly a year and a half early — and total interest falls to about $3,347. That extra $100 saves roughly $1,446, which is a return of about 34 percent on the $4,300 of extra payments made. Very few places offer that, which is why overpaying an 11.5 percent loan usually beats saving the same money.
Limitations and assumptions
This models a fixed-rate, fully amortizing loan with no fees. Origination fees, late charges, and any prepayment penalty are excluded, so the figure understates cost if your lender deducts a fee from proceeds. It also assumes every payment arrives on time and in full.
It cannot tell you whether you will be approved, or at what rate — that depends on your credit file, income, and DTI, and the rate you are offered may be several points above the advertised one. Prequalify with two or three lenders using soft pulls, then run the actual quoted numbers here.
Common Questions
- What is an origination fee and how much does it cost?
- It is a fee the lender deducts from your loan before disbursing it, typically 1 to 8 percent for personal loans. On a $15,000 loan with a 5 percent fee you receive $14,250 but repay $15,000 with interest. Origination fees are included in the APR, which is why comparing APRs beats comparing interest rates.
- What credit score do I need for a personal loan?
- Most mainstream lenders want a FICO score of at least 640, and the advertised single-digit rates generally require 720 or above. Below 640 you are looking at lenders charging 25 to 36 percent, at which point a secured option or a credit union payday alternative loan is usually the better route.
- Are personal loans cheaper than credit cards?
- Usually, and the bigger advantage is structure. Credit card APRs commonly sit above 20 percent with minimum payments designed to keep you in debt for years. A fixed-rate personal loan has a defined end date and a payment that actually retires the balance. That end date is often worth more than the rate difference.
- Does applying for a personal loan hurt my credit score?
- Prequalification uses a soft pull and does not affect your score. The formal application triggers a hard inquiry, typically costing under five points and fading within a year. Opening the loan lowers your average account age briefly, but it can raise your score over time by adding installment credit to your mix.
- Can I pay a personal loan off early?
- Almost always, and most US personal loan lenders no longer charge prepayment penalties — check the note before signing, since a small number still do. Extra payments go against principal and remove every dollar of future interest that principal would have generated, so early overpayments are worth far more than late ones.
- Is a secured personal loan a better deal?
- The rate is lower because you have posted collateral — a car title, a savings account, a certificate of deposit. That is a genuine discount, but the risk transfers to you: default means losing the asset rather than just damaging your credit. Secured loans make sense when the rate gap is several points and the collateral is not essential.
- How much can I borrow with a personal loan?
- Typical ranges run $1,000 to $50,000, with some lenders going to $100,000 for strong applicants. What you actually qualify for depends on income and debt-to-income ratio, and most lenders want DTI under about 40 percent after the new loan is included. Larger amounts often require a co-signer or collateral.
- What is a debt consolidation loan and is it the same thing?
- It is a personal loan used for a specific purpose — paying off higher-rate revolving balances. Mechanically identical, but lenders sometimes offer better pricing for it and may pay creditors directly. The math only works if the new APR beats the weighted average of what you are replacing and you stop using the cards.