Personal Loan Payment Calculator

Personal loan payment calculator for monthly repayment and total cost

A personal loan can look affordable when you focus only on the monthly payment, but the full cost depends on the interest rate and the length of the term. This personal loan payment calculator is built for one main decision: estimating the monthly repayment for a fixed-rate personal loan, then seeing the total interest and total amount you will repay if you keep the loan for the full term.

Use it when you are shopping for a loan offer, checking whether a repayment fits your budget, or validating figures a lender quotes you. Enter the loan amount (the principal), the APR (annual percentage rate), and the term in months. The calculator returns a monthly payment estimate based on a standard amortizing loan formula, meaning the payment stays the same each month while the interest portion decreases over time and the principal portion increases.

The result section highlights the monthly payment first, then adds supporting figures that matter in real life: total repaid and total interest paid over the full term. You also get a quick “payment per 1,000 of loan amount” figure, which helps you sanity-check offers and scale the payment up or down if you are still deciding on the final amount you want to borrow.

To use the calculator quickly, start with the numbers you know. If your term is described in years, convert it to months by multiplying by 12 (for example, 5 years is 60 months). If you are not sure whether the rate is quoted as APR or a nominal rate, use the APR provided by the lender as your best available input. If your loan is advertised as “0% interest,” you can set APR to 0 and the calculator will simply divide the loan amount by the number of months.

What the outputs mean: the monthly payment is the recurring amount you would pay each month to fully repay the loan by the end of the term, assuming the rate and schedule do not change. Total repaid is the monthly payment multiplied by the number of months. Total interest is the total repaid minus the loan amount. These are the baseline numbers most people need to decide whether a loan is feasible without building a full budget spreadsheet.

This page is intentionally focused on standard fixed-rate installment personal loans. It does not try to model credit cards, revolving credit, variable-rate loans, balloon payments, changing payment schedules, early settlement fees, insurance add-ons, or origination fees. Those details can be important, but they change the problem and often require lender-specific data that many borrowers do not have.

Assumptions and how to use this calculator

• The loan is a fixed-rate, fully amortizing personal loan with equal monthly payments.
• APR is treated as an annual rate converted to a monthly rate by dividing by 12.
• The term is entered in months and the calculator assumes one payment per month.
• Fees, insurance, penalties, and optional add-ons are excluded from the calculation.
• Results are estimates and small differences can occur due to lender rounding rules.

Common questions

Why is my lender’s payment slightly different from this calculator?

Lenders can apply rounding at different steps, use slightly different day-count conventions, or include fees and insurance in the financed amount. Even if the rate and term match, rounding the interest portion each month can create a small difference by the final payment. Use this calculator for a clean estimate, then compare it to the lender’s repayment schedule for the exact figures.

Should I enter the interest rate as APR or the nominal rate?

Use APR when you have it, because it is the standard consumer-facing rate most borrowers see. Some lenders quote a nominal rate and an APR separately. APR is meant to reflect the cost of borrowing on an annual basis, but this calculator still excludes fees and add-ons unless they are embedded in the APR you enter. If you only have a nominal rate, it will still give a workable estimate.

What if the APR is 0%?

If the APR is 0%, the monthly payment is simply the loan amount divided by the number of months. Total interest will be 0. This is common for promotional financing offers, but confirm whether there are fees, required insurance, or penalties that effectively increase the cost. If the deal has extras, the true cost may be higher than a pure 0% loan.

Does a longer term always mean a cheaper loan?

A longer term usually lowers the monthly payment, but it often increases the total interest paid because you are borrowing for more months. If you can afford a slightly higher monthly payment, shortening the term can reduce the total cost substantially. Use the calculator to compare different terms with the same loan amount and APR to see the trade-off clearly.

How can I make this estimate more accurate for my situation?

Use the exact APR and term from the lender’s offer, and confirm whether the “loan amount” you are borrowing is the amount you receive or the amount financed after fees. If fees are deducted upfront, your cash in hand can be lower than the principal. For the most accurate picture, ask the lender for an amortization schedule and compare the first payment’s interest to your estimate.