Personal Loan Calculator
Calculate personal loan payments and determine the true cost including fees
Personal Loan Calculator
The Personal Loan Calculator can give concise visuals to help determine what monthly payments and total costs will look like over the life of a personal loan. Since most personal loans come with fees and/or insurance, the end cost for them can actually be higher than advertised. The calculator takes all of these variables into account when determining the real annual percentage rate, or APR for the loan.
💰 Loan Details
📊 Result
📊 Amortization Schedule
| Year | Date | Interest | Principal | Ending Balance |
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📚 Understanding Personal Loans
What are Personal Loans?
Personal loans are loans with fixed amounts, interest rates, and monthly payback amounts over defined periods of time. Typical personal loans range from $5,000 to $35,000 with terms of 3 or 5 years in the U.S. They are not backed by collateral (like a car or home, for example) as is typical for secured loans. Instead, lenders use the credit score, income, debt level, and many other factors to determine whether to grant the personal loan and at what interest rate.
Due to their unsecured nature, personal loans are usually packaged at relatively higher interest rates (as high as 25% or more) to reflect the higher risk the lender takes on.
Why Use Personal Loans?
About half of all personal loans are used for debt consolidation. The interest rates of personal loans are normally lower than credit cards, making personal loans a great vehicle through which a person could consolidate credit card debt or other debts sitting at higher interest rates. Other common uses of personal loans include the payment of medical bills, home renovations, small business expansions, vacations, weddings, and other larger purchases.
Personal Loan Fees
Aside from the typical principal and interest payments made on any type of loan, for personal loans, there are several fees to take note of:
- Origination fee—Sometimes called an application fee, it helps to cover costs associated with processing applications. It typically ranges from 1% to 5% of the loan amount.
- Prepayment fee—this fee is only applicable when a borrower pays off their personal loan or makes repayments ahead of schedule.
- Late payment fee—Lenders can charge a fee for paying too late. Avoid this by simply paying all dues on time.
The Bottom Line
All these fees can make the actual cost or rate of the loans higher than the interest rate given by the lenders. The calculator above can account for these expenses and compute the loan's actual cost with fees included, allowing borrowers to understand the full implications of taking out such a loan.