10 calculators
Loan Calculators
Payments, interest, amortization and payoff strategies for any loan.
Every loan in this section follows the same underlying mathematics — a fixed-rate, level-payment (amortizing) loan — but each calculator answers a different question about it. Use the Loan Calculator when you want the complete picture of a new loan: payment, total interest and a full amortization schedule. Use the goal-specific tools when you already know what you're trying to change: the Extra Payment Calculator shows what paying more each month actually saves, the Loan Payoff Calculator works out how long your current balance will take to clear, and the Loan Comparison Calculator puts two offers side by side so the cheaper one is obvious.
All of these tools work for personal loans, car loans, education loans and most fixed-rate borrowing. They assume interest accrues monthly on the remaining balance — the reducing-balance method used by almost all mainstream lenders — and every page documents its formula, assumptions and a worked example so you can verify the numbers yourself.
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All loan calculators
How to get the most out of these calculators
Start with the payment, but decide on the total cost. Two loans with similar monthly payments can differ by thousands in total interest once the term is taken into account — a longer term almost always means a smaller payment and a larger total cost. When comparing offers, keep the loan amount identical and let only the rate, term and fees vary; the comparison calculator does this for you and shows the break-even point when fees are involved.
If you already have a loan, the highest-leverage number to experiment with is the extra monthly payment. Because extra amounts go entirely toward principal, even small additions remove interest from every remaining month of the schedule. The Early Loan Payoff Calculator approaches the same idea from the other direction: pick a target payoff date and it tells you the payment required to hit it.