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Calculator Use
Use this loan calculator to determine your monthly payment, interest rate, number of months or principal amount on a loan. Find your ideal payment by changing loan amount, interest rate and term and seeing the effect on payment amount.
You can also create and print a loan amortization schedule to see how your monthly payment will pay-off the loan principal plus interest over the course of the loan.
Loan AmountThe original principal on a new loan or principal remaining on an existing loan.Interest RateThe annual nominal interest rate, or stated rate of the loan.Number of MonthsThe number of payments required to repay the loan.Monthly PaymentThe amount to be paid toward the loan at each monthly payment due date.CompoundingThis calculator assumes interest compounding occurs monthly as with payments. For additional compounding options use our Advanced Loan Calculator.Loan Calculations
When you take out a loan, you must pay back the loan plus interest by making regular payments to the bank. So you can think of a loan as an annuity you pay to a lending institution. For loan calculations we can use the formula for the Present Value of an Ordinary Annuity:
\( PV=\dfrac{PMT}{i}\left[1-\dfrac{1}{(1+i)^n}\right] \)
- PV is the loan amount
- PMT is the monthly payment
- i is the interest rate per month in decimal form (interest rate percentage divided by 12)
- n is the number of months (term of the loan in months)
Calculation Options
Find the Loan Amount
To calculate the loan amount we use the loan equation formula in original form:
\( PV=\dfrac{PMT}{i}\left[1-\dfrac{1}{(1+i)^n}\right] \)
Example: Your bank offers a loan at an annual interest rate of 6% and you are willing to pay $250 per month for 4 years (48 months). How much of a loan can to take?
Solve using CalculatorSoup Loan Calculator
Calculation: Find the Loan Amount
Interest Rate: % 6
Number of
Months: 48
Monthly Payment: $ 250
Answer Link: Find the Loan Amount is $10,645.08
Solve using the formula:
PMT = 250
n = 48
i = 0.06/12 = 0.005
\( PV=\dfrac{250}{0.005}\left[1-\dfrac{1}{(1+0.005)^{48}}\right] \)
= $10,645.08
Solve on a TI BA II Plus
Be sure P/Y is set to 12 for monthly payments (12 payments per year and monthly compounding).
Press the [2nd] key and the [FV] key to clear the TVM worksheet
- Input -250 and press the [PMT] key
(the 250 payment will be negative cash flow for you) - Input 48 and press the [N] key
- Input 6 and press the [I/Y] key
- Press the [CPT] key and the [PV] key
The answer is: PV = 10,645.08, the loan amount you can get, positive cash flow for you now.
Find the Number of Months
To find the number of months we solve the equation for n:
\( n=\dfrac{ln\left[\dfrac{\frac{PMT}{i}}{\frac{PMT}{i}-PV}\right]}{ln(1+i)} \)
Find the Monthly Payment
To find the monthly payment we solve the equation for PMT:
\( PMT=\dfrac{PVi(1+i)^n}{(1+i)^n-1} \)
Find the Interest Rate
Finding the interest rate is a complex calculation involving the Newton-Raphson Method which you can read about at MathWorld.
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Personal Loan Calculator
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Personal loans can be your ticket to paying off high-interest credit card debt or tackling big bills. But like all debt, personal loans are not to be taken lightly. Once you've figured out how much you need to borrow and how much you can afford to pay back each month, you can start shopping for personal loans. Personal loan calculators help you know what to expect.
Wondering if a personal loan is right for you? It’s important to ask yourself why you want to borrow money. Is it to pay off bills or move to a city with more job opportunities? Is it to eliminate high-interest credit card debt? All of these are scenarios where it might make sense to consider an affordable personal loan.
What do we mean by affordable? True affordability is a factor of both the personal loan interest rate and the personal loan payments over time. Even a loan with a low interest rate could leave you with monthly payments that are higher than you can afford. Some personal loans come with variable interest rates that can increase after a period of time. These loans are riskier than those with fixed interest rates. If you are looking at variable interest rate loans it's a good idea to ensure that you will be able to afford it even if the interest rate reaches the highest point possible in terms.
Start With the Interest Rate
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The higher your credit score, the lower the interest rate you will likely qualify for on a personal loan. If you think you might be in the market for a personal loan in the future, it’s a good idea to get to work building up your credit score. Contest any errors in your credit report, pay your bills on time and keep your credit utilization ratio below 30%.
Once you're ready to shop for a personal loan, don't just look at one source. Compare the rates you can get from credit unions, traditional banks, online-only lenders and peer-to-peer lending sites.
When you've found the best interest rates, take a look at the other terms of the loans on offer. For example, it’s generally a good idea to steer clear of installment loans that come with pricey credit life and credit disability insurance policies. These policies should be voluntary but employees of lending companies often pitch them as mandatory for anyone who wants a loan. Some applicants will be told they can simply roll the cost of the insurance policies into their personal loan, financing the add-ons with borrowed money.
This makes these already high-interest loans even more expensive because it raises the effective interest rate of the loan. A small short-term loan is not worth getting into long-term debt that you can't pay off.
Look out for fees and penalties that make it harder for borrowers to pay off their personal loans. An example: Prepayment penalties that charge you for making extra payments on your loan. Read loan terms carefully and check for language that explicitly states the loan doesn't carry prepayment penalties.
Stay away from loans that come with exit fees, a fee some lenders charge you after you pay off your loan. You shouldn't have to pay an exit fee, or work with a lender who wants to penalize you for personal loan repayment.
Consider Alternatives Before Signing Your Name
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There are alternatives to commercial personal loans that are worth considering before taking on this kind of debt. If possible, borrow money from a friend or relative who is willing to issue a short-term loan at zero or low interest. Alternatively, if you have high-interest credit card debt that you want to eliminate you may be able to perform a credit card balance transfer.
What's a balance transfer, you ask? Some credit cards offer a 0% APR on new purchases and on your old, transferred balance for a year. If you can get one of these deals and manage to pay off your balance while you have the introductory interest rate you may be better off opting for a balance transfer than for a personal loan. It's important to pay off your balance before your APR jumps from the introductory rate to a new, higher rate.
Loan calculators can help you figure out whether a personal loan is the best fit for your needs. For example, a calculator can help you figure out whether you're better off with a lower-interest rate over a lengthy term or a higher interest rate over a shorter term. You should be able to see your monthly payments with different loan interest rates, amounts and terms. Then, you can decide on a monthly payment size that fits into your budget.
Bottom Line
All debt carries some risk. If you decide to shop for a personal loan, hold out for the best deal you can get. Sure, payday loans and installment loans offer quick fixes, but these loans can quickly spiral out of control. Even those with bad credit can often get a better deal by searching for a loan from a peer-to-peer site than they can from a predatory lender. See for yourself by researching your options with a personal loan calculator.
Cities with the Most Debt Savvy Residents
SmartAsset’s interactive map highlights the places in the country where people are the most debt savvy. Zoom between states and the national map to see where people are smartest when it comes to debt.
Methodology Our study aims to find the places where people are the smartest when it comes to debt. To find these debt savvy places we looked at four factors: credit score, average personal loan debt, credit utilization and mortgage foreclosure rate.
To calculate the Debt Savvy Index, we weighted all four factors equally. We ranked the cities on each of the categories and then indexed each category. We then added those indices together and indexed that. A debt savvy location means people there have high credit scores, low average personal loan debt, low credit utilization and low mortgage foreclosure rates.
Sources: Experian, HUD