BorrowingBetter Loan Calculator — Know Your True Cost of Borrowing

Personal loan rates typically range from 6–36% depending on your credit score. Rates above 20% are expensive — consider whether debt consolidation or a balance transfer might offer a lower rate.

What do you call this loan?

Loan Amount ($)

Annual Interest Rate (%)

Loan Term

Extra Monthly Payment (optional)

Loan Start Date (optional)

Monthly Payment

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Total Interest Paid

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Total Amount Paid

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Payoff Date

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estimated payoff

💡 Extra Payment Impact

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Interest Saved

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Months Saved

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Standard Payoff

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With Extra Payment

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Why your early payments barely touch the balance

Year 1

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of payment goes to interest

Final Year

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goes to interest

This is how amortization works — your lender front-loads interest so they collect the most when your balance is highest. Equal monthly payments don't mean equal progress. In the early years, most of your payment is pure interest cost. Extra payments hit principal directly — which is why even small additions early in a loan save disproportionately large amounts of interest.

Year 1 payment breakdown

Interest

Principal

For informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs provided. Actual loan terms vary by lender. Always verify with your lender before making financial decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Personal, Auto, Student, or Other — pick the tab that matches your loan before entering numbers. The math is the same standard amortization formula across all four; the tabs mainly change the guidance text (like the personal-loan note that rates above 20% APR are expensive and worth comparing against debt consolidation or a balance transfer).

Any amount entered here is applied on top of your required payment every month, going straight to principal. That shrinks your balance faster than scheduled, which shortens your total payoff time and cuts the total interest you'll pay over the life of the loan — the calculator shows both numbers side by side so you can see exactly what the extra payment buys you.

No — it's optional. Leave it blank to see the payment math on its own; add a start date if you want your projected payoff date to be a real calendar date rather than just "X months/years from now."

No, they're just two ways to enter the same number — 48 months and 4 years produce identical results. Use whichever matches how your lender quoted the term to you.

This calculator is for a single loan you're about to take out or are evaluating — it shows the true monthly cost and total interest of that one loan. The Debt Payoff Calculator is for multiple existing debts at once, comparing Avalanche vs. Snowball payoff order and factoring in the rollover effect as each balance clears. Use this one to shop a loan; use that one to plan paying off debts you already have.

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