Personal Loan Calculator

It uses your loan amount, APR, and term to compute a fixed monthly payment with standard amortization — the same math lenders use. It then goes a step further: if you enter an origination fee, it shows the cash you'll actually receive after the fee is deducted, and calculates the effective APR on that smaller amount, which is your real cost of borrowing.

Rates vary widely by credit score, income, and lender. Borrowers with excellent credit (typically a FICO Score of 720 or higher) tend to land toward the lower end of the market range, while fair-to-poor credit borrowers see substantially higher rates. Always compare your actual offers rather than relying on a single average, since lenders weigh income and existing debt alongside your score. See what several major banks and credit unions publish about their own personal loan rates in our personal loan rates by lender comparison.

An origination fee is a one-time charge, usually 1% to 10% of the loan amount, that a lender subtracts from your loan proceeds to cover processing costs. Not every lender charges one — some credit unions and banks skip it entirely — so ask directly and enter 0% in the calculator above if your offer has none.

Your quoted interest rate only reflects the cost of the money over time. It ignores that an origination fee shrinks the amount you actually receive while your payment stays based on the full loan amount. The effective APR restates the true annualized cost against the smaller amount you actually got, which is why it's always equal to or higher than the stated rate whenever a fee applies.

A longer term lowers your monthly payment but increases the total interest you pay over the life of the loan, since you're borrowing the money for more months. A shorter term costs more per month but saves money overall. Run both terms through the calculator above and compare the total interest and total cost of borrowing, not just the monthly payment.

It depends on your rate on each. A personal loan typically has a fixed rate and a fixed payoff date, which can beat carrying a balance on a high-rate credit card indefinitely. A 0% intro APR balance transfer card can beat a personal loan for the promotional period if you can pay off the balance before it ends — see our guide on choosing a balance transfer credit card to compare the two paths.

It depends on the lender, and mainly on your credit score, income, and existing debt payments relative to that income (your debt-to-income ratio) rather than a single fixed limit. Lenders each set their own minimum and maximum loan amounts, so the honest way to know your real number is to check pre-qualification offers from a few lenders, which typically show an estimated amount and rate without a hard credit inquiry.

A personal loan usually wins for a purchase you can't pay off within a few months, since its fixed rate and fixed term protect you from a card's variable APR and the temptation to only pay the minimum. A 0% intro APR credit card can beat a personal loan if you're confident you'll pay the full purchase off before the promotional period ends, since that path carries no interest cost at all during the promo window — the moment you might carry a balance past that window, the math usually flips back to the personal loan. For a car purchase specifically, an auto loan usually beats both, since its collateral lowers the rate further still — see personal loan vs auto loan for the real numbers.

Most personal loans allow it, and extra payments go toward principal the same way they do on a standard amortizing loan, which reduces your total interest and can shorten your payoff timeline. Confirm two things with your lender first: that there's no prepayment penalty, and that extra amounts are actually applied to principal rather than just counted as an early payment toward next month's bill. See our personal loan extra payment calculator to see exactly how much a specific extra amount saves.

A personal loan calculator is a tool that estimates your fixed monthly payment on an unsecured personal loan from three numbers: the amount you borrow, the annual percentage rate (APR), and the loan term in months. Enter those figures in the calculator above and it returns your monthly payment using the same amortization math your lender uses to set your bill.

Personal loan rates run higher than secured loans like mortgages or auto loans because there's no collateral for the lender to seize if you stop paying. Without a house or a car backing the loan, the lender prices that added risk into the rate, and where you land within the market range depends mainly on your credit score, your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio, and your income stability. The Federal Reserve's Consumer Credit (G.19) release tracks the average finance rate lenders charge on personal loans over time, and that average consistently runs above mortgage and auto-loan averages for the same reason: no asset backs the loan.

Borrow the smallest amount that actually solves what you're borrowing for, not the maximum a lender is willing to approve. Run your quoted rate and term through the calculator above to see the real monthly payment and total interest, then check that payment against your budget after every other fixed cost, since a payment that only just fits today's income leaves no cushion if that income drops. Lenders weigh your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio, your total monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income, when they set both your approval and your rate, and the CFPB's guide to DTI explains why keeping that ratio low matters even after you're approved. Borrowing less than the maximum also leaves more DTI room for whatever you need to qualify for next, like a mortgage.

The calculator itself is set up in U.S. dollars, but the amortization math behind it works the same in any currency. It spreads a loan amount over a term at a fixed rate to solve for a level payment. Enter your own loan amount, rate, and term in your local currency and the same formula still applies. The rate itself gets quoted differently by country, though, and that difference matters more than the math does. Many countries outside the U.S. quote personal loan rates as a flat or reducing-balance rate instead of an APR, which changes what the quoted number actually means. See our flat vs. reducing rate calculator to convert between the two and see the true cost either way.