Personal Loan Calculator
Monthly payment, total interest and the true APR on an unsecured personal loan — including the origination fee that lenders take out of the money you receive.
Personal Loan Calculator: with the default inputs, monthly payment is $329.89.
The face amount of the loan, before any fee is taken out.
The note rate the lender quotes, before fees.
Personal loans usually run 24 to 84 months.
Most online lenders charge 1–10%. It is a finance charge, so it belongs in the APR.
Most lenders deduct it, so you get less than the loan amount but repay the full amount.
- Effective APR
- 13.772%The rate that makes the payments amortize the cash you actually received.
- Cash you receive
- $14,250
- Origination fee
- $750
- Amount financed
- $15,000The balance the payments amortize.
- Total interest
- $4,793
- Total cost of the loan
- $5,543Interest plus the origination fee.
- Total of payments
- $19,793
- Cost per $100 borrowed
- $38.90Total cost ÷ cash received × 100.
Assumptions
- Fixed rate, level monthly payments, simple interest on the declining balance.
- The origination fee is the only finance charge besides interest; credit insurance and late fees are excluded.
- APR is computed the Regulation Z way — the rate that amortizes the amount actually advanced.
- No prepayment penalty and no precomputed interest.
- Principal repaid$14,25072%
- Interest$4,79324%
- Origination fee$7504%
| Month | Payment | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $329.89 | $186.14 | $143.75 | $14,813.86 |
| 2 | $329.89 | $187.92 | $141.97 | $14,625.94 |
| 3 | $329.89 | $189.72 | $140.17 | $14,436.21 |
| 4 | $329.89 | $191.54 | $138.35 | $14,244.67 |
| 5 | $329.89 | $193.38 | $136.51 | $14,051.29 |
| 6 | $329.89 | $195.23 | $134.66 | $13,856.06 |
| 7 | $329.89 | $197.10 | $132.79 | $13,658.96 |
| 8 | $329.89 | $198.99 | $130.90 | $13,459.97 |
| 9 | $329.89 | $200.90 | $128.99 | $13,259.07 |
| 10 | $329.89 | $202.82 | $127.07 | $13,056.25 |
| 11 | $329.89 | $204.77 | $125.12 | $12,851.48 |
| 12 | $329.89 | $206.73 | $123.16 | $12,644.75 |
How this is worked out
The formula
Payment: PMT = F × i(1 + i)^n ÷ ((1 + i)^n − 1) F = amount financed, i = rate ÷ 12, n = months Fee: fee = loan amount × fee % Proceeds: cash received = loan amount − fee (or the loan amount, if the fee is financed) APR: the rate a that solves PMT = proceeds × a(1 + a)^n ÷ ((1 + a)^n − 1), ×12
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Loan amount
- The face amount of the loan, before any fee is taken out.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 15000
- Interest rate
- The note rate the lender quotes, before fees.a percentage · from 0 to 100 · defaults to 11.5
- Term
- Personal loans usually run 24 to 84 months.from 1 to 144 · whole numbers only · defaults to 60
- Origination fee
- Most online lenders charge 1–10%. It is a finance charge, so it belongs in the APR.a percentage · from 0 to 12 · defaults to 5
- The fee is
- Most lenders deduct it, so you get less than the loan amount but repay the full amount.Taken out of the money you receive · Added to the loan balance
What you get back
- Monthly paymentmain answer
- Effective APR
- The rate that makes the payments amortize the cash you actually received.
- Cash you receive
- Origination fee
- Amount financed
- The balance the payments amortize.
- Total interest
- Total cost of the loan
- Interest plus the origination fee.
- Total of payments
- Cost per $100 borrowed
- Total cost ÷ cash received × 100.
What this assumes
- Fixed rate, level monthly payments, simple interest on the declining balance.
- The origination fee is the only finance charge besides interest; credit insurance and late fees are excluded.
- APR is computed the Regulation Z way — the rate that amortizes the amount actually advanced.
- No prepayment penalty and no precomputed interest.
About this calculator
A personal loan is unsecured, fixed-rate and fully amortizing: no collateral, one payment a month, gone at the end of the term. The complication is the origination fee, which most online lenders deduct from the money they send you. You repay the full loan amount but never receive it, and that gap is why the APR is always higher than the advertised rate.
How to use it
Enter the loan amount, the quoted rate, the term in months, and the origination fee as a percentage. Choose whether the fee is deducted from your proceeds (the usual arrangement — LendingClub, Upstart, Avant and most marketplace lenders work this way) or added to the balance. The calculator shows the payment on the financed amount and then solves for the rate that would produce that payment on the cash you actually received. That solved rate is the APR.
What the numbers mean
- Monthly payment amortizes the financed amount. It is the same whichever way the fee is handled, as long as the financed balance is the same.
- Cash you receive is the number to plan around. Borrowing $15,000 with a 5% fee puts $14,250 in your account — if you need $15,000, you have to borrow about $15,790.
- Effective APR is the honest comparison figure. At 11.5% with a 5% fee over 60 months, the APR is 13.77%. A credit union offering 12.99% with no fee is cheaper, even though its rate looks worse.
- Cost per $100 borrowed strips out the size of the loan entirely, which is useful when comparing offers of different amounts.
Where personal loans go wrong
Rate shopping on the rate. Regulation Z requires lenders to disclose APR precisely because origination fees, prepaid interest and required insurance make the note rate uncomparable. Compare APRs.
Stretching the term. A 60-month loan at 11.5% costs about $4,800 in interest on $15,000; the same loan over 84 months costs about $7,000. The payment falls by $70 and the total cost rises by $2,200.
Consolidating without changing behaviour. Rolling credit-card balances into a personal loan only helps if the cards stay paid off. The debt consolidation calculator models that comparison directly, including the case where a longer term makes a lower rate more expensive.
Prepayment. Personal loans generally have no prepayment penalty and use simple interest on the declining balance, so paying early genuinely saves interest. Some lenders still use precomputed interest — check before you assume it.
Frequently asked questions
▸Why is the APR higher than the interest rate?
Because the origination fee is a finance charge. You repay the full loan amount but only receive it minus the fee, so the effective cost of the money you got is higher. Regulation Z requires the APR to reflect that.
▸Should I let the lender finance the fee or take it out of the proceeds?
It barely matters to the APR — either way you pay the fee plus interest on it. What matters is the cash you need: if you need exactly $15,000 in hand, you must borrow more than $15,000 when the fee is deducted.
▸What is a typical personal loan rate?
The Federal Reserve's G.19 release tracks the average rate on 24-month personal loans at commercial banks; it has run roughly 11–13% in recent years. Credit unions are usually a point or two cheaper, and rates scale steeply with credit score.
▸Is a personal loan cheaper than a credit card?
Usually, yes — cards average over 20% and have no amortization schedule, so minimum payments stretch the balance for years. The catch is that a card's balance falls when you stop spending; a loan's term is fixed.
▸Can I pay it off early?
Almost always. Personal loans typically use simple interest on the declining balance with no prepayment penalty, so early payoff saves the remaining interest. Ask specifically about precomputed interest and prepayment penalties before signing.
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