Personal Loan Calculator

A personal loan is a fixed-rate, fixed-term installment loan with no collateral. Your monthly payment is a standard reducing-balance figure on the full amount you borrow: interest is charged on the outstanding balance each month, the rest of the payment reduces the balance, and the payment stays level until the loan is cleared.

The twist is the origination fee. Lenders commonly take it out of the loan upfront — borrow 15,000 with a 1% fee and only 14,850 lands in your account. But your repayments are calculated on the full 15,000. That gap means your effective cost of borrowing is higher than the quoted rate, because you are paying interest on money you never received and you lost the fee on day one. This calculator makes that gap visible so you can compare offers on real cost rather than the advertised rate alone.

Borrow 15,000 at 11% for 3 years (36 months) with a 1% origination fee. The fee is 15,000 × 1% = 150, so you actually receive 14,850 — but you repay the full 15,000. The monthly payment is about 491. Over 36 months you repay roughly 17,683, meaning about 2,683 in interest. Add the 150 fee and the loan costs you about 2,833 against the 14,850 you received, a noticeably steeper deal than the 11% headline rate implies.

Fees range widely — from zero at some lenders to 8% or more for borrowers with weaker credit — so always model the fee, not just the rate. A short term raises the monthly payment but cuts total interest; a long term does the reverse. If a lender quotes an APR, it already bakes the fee into a single comparable rate; if they quote only a nominal rate plus a separate fee, use this tool to see the combined cost. Prepaying early reduces interest because it shrinks the balance sooner, though some loans carry prepayment penalties worth checking first.