Math & calculatorsFree
Free loan calculator. Estimate monthly payments, total interest, and payoff time with optional extra payments. Educational use only.
Educational estimate only — not financial advice. Real loans include fees, insurance, taxes, and lender-specific terms.
This tool provides simplified estimates for learning and planning. It is not a loan offer and not financial, legal, or tax advice. Fees, escrow, variable rates, and prepayment rules can change real payments.
Enter the amount you are borrowing, the annual rate your lender quoted, and the term in months. The calculator returns the monthly payment, the total you will repay, and how much of that is interest. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Borrow $28,000 at 7.4% over 60 months and the payment is $559.73 a month. Over five years you repay $33,583.98, of which $5,583.98 is interest. That interest figure is the number worth staring at: it is a fifth of the car on top of the car.
Add $50 a month to that payment and the loan clears in 55 months instead of 60, with $5,020.92 of interest — about $563 saved for roughly one extra payment spread across the term.
This is the standard amortizing payment formula:
M = P × i / (1 − (1 + i)−n)
where P is the amount borrowed, n is the number of monthly
payments, and i is the monthly rate — the annual rate divided by
12. A 7.4% loan uses 0.0061667 per month, not 0.074. Dividing the annual rate is the step
people most often miss when checking a lender's figure by hand.
APR is not the interest rate. The interest rate prices the borrowing; the APR folds in origination fees and points as well. Two loans quoting the same rate can have different APRs, and the higher APR is the more expensive loan. Enter the interest rate here, and compare offers on APR.
Extra payments only help if they reduce principal. Some lenders apply anything above the scheduled amount to next month's payment instead, which changes nothing. It is worth asking in writing how additional payments are applied.
Your lender's number will differ slightly. Lenders round, count days differently, and sometimes charge interest from the disbursement date rather than the first payment date. Expect a difference of a dollar or two on a payment of several hundred.
Principal and interest only. Property taxes, homeowner's or auto insurance, PMI, HOA dues, and any fees rolled into closing are all excluded. For a mortgage, the amount that actually leaves your account each month is usually meaningfully higher than the figure here.
An educational estimate, not financial advice. Confirm any figure with your lender before signing. Part of the QuikUtil tools collection.
With the standard
amortizing formula, M = P × i / (1 − (1 + i)−n),
compounding monthly. The annual rate is divided by 12 to get the monthly rate.
Rounding, day-count conventions, and whether interest starts accruing at disbursement or at the first payment. A difference of a dollar or two is normal; a difference of twenty means something else is in the loan, usually fees.
The interest rate is the cost of borrowing the money. The APR adds origination fees and points, so it reflects the true cost of the loan. Use the interest rate in this calculator, and use the APR when comparing two offers.
Yes, provided your lender applies it to principal. On $28,000 at 7.4% over 60 months, an extra $50 a month clears the loan five months early and saves about $563 in interest.
No. It estimates principal and interest only. For a mortgage, budget for escrow separately — it is often several hundred dollars a month on top.
No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or logged.
No. It is an educational estimate. Confirm the numbers with your lender before committing to anything.