Calculate your monthly loan payment and total cost for any personal loan. Instant results with full amortization schedule.
Personal loan payments depend on three factors: the loan amount (principal), the annual interest rate, and the loan term. This loan calculator uses the standard amortization formula to give you exact monthly payments for fixed-rate loans. Include any origination fee to see the true effective APR and compare offers from multiple lenders accurately. All calculations run in your browser — your data never leaves your device.
Personal loans use fixed-rate amortization, meaning every payment is the same dollar amount from the first month to the last. The PMT formula determines this payment:
Payment = P × r / (1 − (1+r)^−n)
Where P is the loan amount, r is the monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12), and n is the total number of payments (term in months). Even though your payment stays constant, the split between principal and interest changes each month. Early payments are mostly interest; later payments are mostly principal. This is standard loan amortization.
If you enter an origination fee, the calculator also shows your effective APR — the true annual cost of the loan including that fee. This is the number to compare across lenders, because a lower stated rate with a high origination fee can actually cost more than a slightly higher rate with no fee.
Marcus needs to consolidate $15,000 in credit card debt. His bank offers a personal loan at 9.5% APR with a 3-year (36-month) term and a 1% origination fee ($150). Using the PMT formula: r = 9.5% / 12 = 0.7917% per month, n = 36. His monthly payment is approximately $480.
Over 36 months he will pay $480 × 36 = $17,280 total, meaning he pays about $2,280 in interest. Compare that to carrying the same $15,000 on a credit card at 22% APR with a $300 minimum payment — he would take over 8 years and pay more than $12,000 in interest. The personal loan saves roughly $10,000 and gets him debt-free in 3 years.
Adding the $150 origination fee to the total cost, his effective APR is slightly above 9.5%. If a competing lender offers 10% with no origination fee, Marcus should compare total cost: $480/month × 36 = $17,280 vs. the competitor's slightly higher payment but no upfront fee. The loan calculator handles this comparison automatically when you enter the origination fee amount.
A personal loan monthly payment uses the standard PMT formula: Payment = P × r / (1 – (1+r)^–n), where P is the loan principal, r is the monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12), and n is the number of monthly payments. This formula ensures your fixed payment fully amortizes the loan by the end of the term — meaning the final payment brings the balance to exactly zero. For a $15,000 loan at 9.5% over 3 years (36 months), the monthly payment works out to about $480. Our calculator runs this formula instantly, so you can test different amounts, rates, and terms in seconds.
The interest rate is the annual cost of borrowing expressed as a percentage of the principal. APR (Annual Percentage Rate) includes the interest rate plus additional fees such as origination fees, giving you the true total cost of the loan on an annualized basis. A loan with a 9% interest rate and a 2% origination fee on a $10,000 loan effectively has an APR higher than 9%. When comparing loan offers from different lenders, always compare APRs rather than just stated interest rates — two loans with the same rate but different fees can have meaningfully different APRs and total costs.
To compare loan offers accurately, look at three numbers: the APR (which captures both rate and fees), the monthly payment, and the total interest paid over the loan life. A lower interest rate does not always mean a lower total cost if one loan has a higher origination fee or a longer repayment term. Use this loan calculator to model each offer with the same parameters side by side. Also consider prepayment penalties — some lenders charge a fee if you pay off the loan early, which matters if you plan to pay it down faster than scheduled.
Making extra payments on a personal loan reduces your principal balance faster, which directly lowers the amount of interest that accrues each month. Because interest is calculated on the outstanding balance, a lower balance means less interest charged with every payment — a compounding benefit. Even an extra $50–$100/month on a $15,000 loan can save hundreds of dollars in interest and cut months off the repayment term. Before making extra payments, confirm your lender applies them to principal rather than future payments, and check whether a prepayment penalty applies.
A shorter loan term (2–3 years) means higher monthly payments but you pay far less total interest. A longer term (5–7 years) reduces your monthly payment significantly but costs much more in interest overall and keeps you in debt longer. For example, a $15,000 loan at 9.5% over 2 years has a monthly payment of about $686 and total interest of ~$470; stretched to 5 years the payment drops to ~$315 but total interest rises to ~$3,900. Use this calculator to compare total costs across terms — the difference is often surprising and can inform whether a longer term truly fits your situation.