Estimate your monthly payment and total interest on any fixed-rate loan, auto, personal, or otherwise.
Monthly Payment: —
Total Interest: —
Total Paid: —
This is an estimate for a standard fixed-rate, fully amortizing loan and doesn’t include fees, taxes, or insurance, check with your lender for exact figures.
How to Use
- Enter the loan amount you’re borrowing.
- Enter the annual interest rate as a percentage.
- Enter the term in months, then click Calculate.
This loan calculator works for any fixed-rate loan, mortgage, auto, or personal.
Under the hood, this calculator uses the standard loan amortization formula: it converts your annual rate to a monthly rate, then solves for the fixed monthly payment that pays off the full balance, plus interest, over the number of months you enter.
Example: a $10,000 loan at 6% annual interest over 36 months comes to a $304.22 monthly payment, $951.90 in total interest, and $10,951.90 paid overall. A $20,000 loan at 5% over 60 months comes to a $377.42 monthly payment and $2,645.48 in total interest. A $5,000 loan at 0% interest over 12 months is simply $416.67 a month with no interest at all. For a mortgage-sized example, a $300,000 loan at 6.5% over 360 months (30 years) comes to a $1,896.20 monthly payment and $382,633.47 in total interest over the life of the loan.
Understanding Your Loan Breakdown
- Monthly Payment: the fixed amount you’d pay each month for the full term.
- Total Interest: the extra amount above the loan amount that goes to the lender over the life of the loan, this is the true cost of borrowing.
- Total Paid: the loan amount plus total interest, or everything you’ll hand over by the time the loan is paid off.
A longer term usually lowers the monthly payment but increases total interest, since you’re borrowing the lender’s money for more months. Making extra payments toward the principal, when a loan allows it without penalty, shortens the payoff time and reduces total interest paid. This same breakdown applies whether you’re financing a car, taking out a personal loan for a big expense, or looking at a mortgage on a house, only the typical amounts and terms change.
Did You Know?
There’s a quick mental shortcut for interest called the “Rule of 72”: divide 72 by an annual interest rate to estimate how many years it takes an amount to double at that rate. For example, at 6% interest, 72 / 6 = 12, so a balance growing at 6% annually roughly doubles in 12 years. It’s a rough approximation rather than an exact calculation, but it’s a handy way to compare rates at a glance, whether you’re looking at a loan, a savings account, or an investment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between interest rate and APR?
The interest rate is the cost of borrowing the principal itself. APR (annual percentage rate) also folds in most lender fees and closing costs, spread across the loan term, so it’s usually a little higher than the plain interest rate and gives a fuller picture of what the loan actually costs. This calculator uses a plain interest rate rather than APR.
How does the monthly payment formula work?
It’s the standard amortization formula: monthly payment equals the loan amount multiplied by the monthly interest rate, times one plus that rate raised to the number of months, all divided by that same term raised to the number of months minus one. In plain terms, it finds the one fixed payment that fully pays off the loan, principal and interest, by the last month of the term.
Does paying extra each month reduce total interest?
Yes, generally. Extra payments applied to the principal (assuming the loan has no prepayment penalty) reduce the balance interest is calculated on going forward, which shortens the effective payoff time and lowers total interest versus sticking to the minimum schedule.
What happens if I enter a 0% interest rate?
The calculator simply divides the loan amount evenly across the number of months, with no interest added, since some promotional financing offers (like certain auto or retail loans) genuinely charge 0% for a set period. In other words, the monthly payment simply equals the loan amount divided by the number of months.
Does this work for mortgages, auto loans, and personal loans?
The underlying math is the same for any fixed-rate, fully amortizing loan, so it works as a general estimate for auto loans, personal loans, and mortgages alike. Mortgages typically add property taxes, insurance, and sometimes mortgage insurance to the monthly bill, which this calculator doesn’t include, so treat the result as the loan-only portion of a mortgage payment.
Related Tools
The Percentage Calculator is handy for double-checking an interest rate or a percentage change in your payment. The Currency Converter is useful if you’re comparing a loan offer in a different currency, and the Tip Calculator covers everyday splitting-the-bill math outside of loans.