Loan Payment Calculator
Find the monthly payment and true total cost of any loan — personal, auto, or mortgage. Starts from the current average rate for your loan type and compares term lengths side by side.
A $25,000 personal loan at 11.9% (Q4 2026) over 5 years runs about $555/mo — and $8,291 of it is pure interest.
11.9%
current US personal-loan average APR — FRED commercial-bank data (Q4 2026)
$555
monthly payment on a $25,000 personal loan at 11.9% over 5 years (Q4 2026)
33%
of the amount borrowed is paid again in interest on that 5-year loan
Know the real cost before you sign
The monthly payment is only half the story — term length and rate decide what the loan actually costs.
Term length is the biggest lever
Stretching a loan lowers the monthly payment but quietly inflates the total cost. On a $25,000 loan, moving from 3 to 5 years drops the payment but adds about $3,441 in interest. Pick the shortest term you can comfortably afford.
Rates vary a lot by loan type
Lenders price risk differently: personal loans average around 11.9% while secured new-auto loans are nearer 7.5% (Q4 2026). The loan-type presets load the current average so you start from a realistic number, then you set your actual quote.
Extra payments beat the schedule
Every dollar above the scheduled payment reduces principal and cancels all the future interest on it. Consistent extra payments can shave months off the term — just confirm your loan has no prepayment penalty and isn't a variable-rate product.
How the Loan Payment Calculator Works
Formula
Monthly Rate (r) = APR ÷ 12
Number of Payments (n) = Term in Years × 12
Monthly Payment (M) = P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n)
(when r = 0, M = P ÷ n)
Total Paid = M × n
Total Interest = Total Paid − PrincipalPick a loan type
Presets load the current US average APR (e.g. 11.9% personal, 7.5% new auto, Q4 2026).
Enter the amount
How much you're borrowing.
Set rate and term
Use your quoted APR; the term is the biggest cost lever.
Add an optional extra payment
Anything above the scheduled payment cuts principal directly.
Compare and decide
See the payment, total interest, and how it changes across term lengths.
The single most important decision in a loan is the term. A longer term feels cheaper because the monthly payment is lower, but you pay interest for more months on a larger average balance — so the lifetime cost climbs sharply. The payment-by-term view makes that trade-off explicit.
Because rates vary widely by loan type and credit, the calculator seeds a realistic current average for the type you pick, then lets you replace it with your actual quote for an exact payment and total cost of credit.
Frequently Asked Questions
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