Loan Calculator
Monthly payment, total interest, and a full amortization schedule for any loan.
Fixed-rate estimate; actual terms vary by lender.
What is Loan Calculator?
Loan Calculator works out the monthly payment, total interest, and total paid for any fixed-rate loan from the amount, annual rate, and term. It uses the standard amortization formula and includes a month-by-month schedule showing how each payment splits between principal and interest. A free loan payment calculator that runs in your browser, in any currency.
Key features
- Monthly payment from amount, rate, and term
- Total paid and total interest at a glance
- Full amortization schedule: principal, interest, remaining balance
- Term entered in months or years
- Handles 0% loans by splitting principal evenly
Loan Calculator — monthly payment & amortization
Enter three numbers — the amount borrowed, the annual interest rate, and the term — and get the monthly payment, the total you'll repay, and how much of that is pure interest. The term accepts either months or years, so a 5-year loan and a 60-month loan are the same input two ways.
How the payment is calculated
For a fixed-rate installment loan the monthly payment comes from the standard amortization formula:
M = P · r · (1 + r)ⁿ / ((1 + r)ⁿ − 1)
Here P is the principal, n is the number of months, and r is the monthly rate — the annual rate divided by 12 (and by 100 to turn a percentage into a fraction). That division matters: entering 6 means 6% per year, or 0.5% per month, not 6% a month. A 0% rate skips the formula entirely and just splits the principal evenly across the term.
Concretely, 100,000 borrowed at 6% over 36 months works out to about 3,042 a month, and you repay roughly 109,500 in total — around 9,500 of it interest. Stretch the same loan to 60 months and the monthly payment drops, but the total interest climbs, because you're paying interest for longer.
Reading the amortization schedule
Expand the schedule to see every month broken into interest, principal, and the remaining balance. Each month's interest is the current balance times the monthly rate, and whatever's left of the fixed payment goes to principal. Because the balance is highest at the start, early payments are mostly interest and later ones are mostly principal — which is precisely why paying extra in the first months, when it attacks a large balance, saves far more interest than the same amount paid near the end.
The final row is trued up so the balance lands exactly at zero: any fraction of a cent that rounding left behind is absorbed into the last payment, rather than leaving a stray balance.
What the estimate does and doesn't include
- It models a clean fixed-rate loan with monthly compounding. Real offers often bundle in origination fees, insurance, or an APR that differs from the nominal rate, so a lender's quote can be a little higher.
- It's currency-agnostic — the math is identical whether the figures are dollars, euros, or won.
- It assumes the rate stays fixed for the whole term, so it won't reflect a variable or teaser-then-reset rate.
Things worth knowing
- Enter the term in whichever unit is handier; switching between months and years just multiplies or divides by 12.
- Everything is computed locally in your browser — none of your loan figures are sent anywhere.
- To compare two offers, run each and look at total interest, not just the monthly payment: a lower monthly payment stretched over a longer term often costs more overall.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I enter the monthly or the annual interest rate?
- The annual rate as a percentage, so entering 6 means 6% per year. The tool divides it by 12 internally to get the monthly rate (0.5%), so don't type a monthly figure or the payment will come out roughly 12 times too high.
- Why is so little of my early payment going to principal?
- Each month's interest is charged on the current balance, which is largest at the start, so early payments are mostly interest and later ones mostly principal. That's also why paying extra in the first months, when it attacks a big balance, saves the most interest.
- Does it handle a 0% loan?
- Yes. At 0% it skips the amortization formula entirely and just splits the principal evenly across the term, so the total interest is zero.
- Will it match my bank's exact payment?
- It models a clean fixed-rate loan with monthly compounding, so it can sit slightly below a real quote that bundles origination fees, insurance, or an APR different from the nominal rate. Treat it as an estimate for comparing offers, not a binding figure.
- Does the currency matter, and how should I compare two loans?
- The math is currency-agnostic, identical for dollars, euros, or won. When comparing offers, look at the total interest rather than the monthly payment, since a lower monthly stretched over a longer term often costs more overall.
Privacy
The amortization schedule is computed locally using the standard loan formula; none of your loan figures are ever transmitted anywhere.