Loan Calculator
Calculate your monthly loan payment, total interest, and view a full amortization schedule with charts.
Payment Breakdown
Balance Over Time
Amortization — Annual Breakdown
Year-by-Year Details
| Year | Principal Paid | Interest Paid | Total Payment | Remaining Balance |
|---|
How It Works
The Loan Calculator computes monthly payments and a full amortisation schedule for any standard fixed-rate loan — car loans, personal loans, student loans, or any other product that uses the same level-payment annuity formula as a mortgage. Enter the loan amount, annual interest rate, and term in months or years, and the tool calculates the monthly payment using M = P · r(1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n − 1), then builds a row-by-row schedule showing how each payment is split between principal and interest. The summary highlights total amount repaid, total interest paid, and how that interest changes when you adjust any input — useful when comparing two loan offers with different rates and terms. The amortisation pattern is identical to a mortgage: interest dominates the early payments and tapers as the principal shrinks. All math runs in your browser, so you can plug in real loan numbers without sending them across the network. The schedule supports loans of arbitrary length and any reasonable rate, including 0% promotional offers (handled as a special case).
Worked Example
Borrow $20,000 at 7.9% APR over 5 years: the monthly payment is $404.57, total interest about $4,274, and the total repaid about $24,274. Shorten the term to 3 years and the payment rises to $625.81 but total interest drops to roughly $2,529 — the schedule table shows exactly why, since each earlier payment leaves less balance generating interest. The first month’s interest is $131.67 ($20,000 × 7.9% ÷ 12); watching that figure shrink row by row in the amortisation table is the clearest picture of how installment loans actually work.
Use Cases
- Estimating monthly payments on a car loan or personal loan
- Comparing the total cost of loans with different interest rates
- Understanding how a shorter term reduces total interest despite higher payments
- Checking whether a loan fits within a monthly budget
Frequently Asked Questions
- How is this different from the mortgage calculator?
- Same formula. Use this tool for shorter-term, smaller loans (cars, personal credit), and the mortgage calculator when you want the home-purchase context: down payment, term in years, total-interest-paid focus.
- Can I model 0% interest?
- Yes. The tool detects a zero rate and falls back to a simple division (principal divided by number of months).
- What does the amortisation schedule show?
- For each payment: amount paid, interest portion, principal portion, and remaining balance. The interest column shrinks each month as the balance falls.
- How do extra payments work?
- Extra principal payments shorten the loan and reduce total interest. The tool does not model variable extra payments directly — to estimate, recompute with the new effective term.
- Are my numbers sent anywhere?
- No. The full amortisation runs in your browser.