Loan Calculator

With Payment Schedule
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Since you may have happened upon this loan calculator to calculate a monthly payment, I'll cut to the chase. You'll only need to enter three numbers, and you can leave the other dozen or so options untouched.

Here's all you need to do.

  • Click clear and enter values for:
    • Loan Amount
    • Number of Payments
    • Annual Interest Rate
  • Leave Loan Payment Amount set to 0.
  • Click either "Calc" or "Payment Schedule."

There you have it. Now you have what you need.

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Info...

  Original Size  

Updated for 2020

  • Improved!: improved use on mobile devices - usually defaults to numeric keypad.
  • Fixed: problems with numeric entry on Android mobile devices.
  • Recent: save the custom URL for repeating the calculation or for sharing with others

Click, copy, paste this URL to save the inputs for yourself or to share with others.

This custom URL updates when you click the "Calc", "Clear" or "Schedule" buttons. Paste it into a browser's address bar to reload.

About Dates & Calculations

VERY IMPORTANT - You must enter a 0 if you want a value calculated. Some users have been frustrated by this. They want to know why the calculator does not just recalculate a payment if they have changed the loan amount, interest rate, or term.

This is because we want the calculator to be able to create an amortization schedule using whatever parameters you want to use. This behavior is a feature! After all, there is no such thing as a "correct" loan payment. The payment amount is correct as long as both the lender and debtor agree to it!

About the loan origination date (start date) and first payment due date - This calculator now allows irregular length first periods. That is, the calculator calculates the exact amount of interest due even when the initial period is shorter or longer than the other scheduled periods. This will result in payment amounts as well as interest charges that do not match other calculators. If you want to match other calculators then set the "Loan Date" and "1st Payment Date" so that the time between them equals one full period as set in "Payment Frequency". Example: If the "Loan Date" is May 15th and the "Payment Frequency" is "Monthly," then the "1st Payment Date" should be set to June 15th, that is IF you want a conventional interest calculation. See amortization with dates — first period interest & year-end totals for details about the long and short period interest options.

Of course, you can always leave the dates set as they are when the calculator loads.

Much More Than a Payment Calculator

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Since the calculator will solve for multiple unknowns, it can easily be used to answer the following questions:

  • How much can I borrow?
  • What would my payment be?
  • What is the lending rate?
  • How long will it take to pay off my loan?
  • What date is my loan paid off?
  • What is the impact of making extra payments?
lump sum payment
Loan calculator showing lump sum payment made.
See the payment schedule for total interest saved.

Related: 3 Easy Ways to Save on Your Next Loan

Loan Calculator with Extra Payments or Lump Sum Payment

If, for example, your loan payment is $550 a month, but you could afford to pay more, say $625 a month, you could go ahead and pay the lender $625.

Why would you want to do that`?

If you made an additional payment each month, you would be prepaying principal - frequently called making extra payments (though there is nothing "extra" about it because the debtor owes the money). When a borrower prepays loan principal, they save interest charges. Loan interest gets calculated each period on the unpaid balance. The extra payment lowers the balance as of the next interest calculation and for all future interest calculations. The result is, you'll potentially save a lot in interest charges because the interest due gets calculated on a lower balance.

How much interest can I save?

That's what this calculator will tell you.

On the options tab, enter an "Extra Payment Amount."

With this calculator, the extra payments can start on any date and be for any frequency. Perhaps you pay the loan monthly, and you receive regular income that is paid to you quarterly (a stock dividend for example) that you want to use for prepaying principal. The calculator gives you the ability to enter extra payments on a schedule that suits you.

Perhaps you anticipate getting a year-end bonus. The loan calculator will calculate the impact of making a single lump sum extra payment. Just pick a payment date and enter 1 for "number of Extra Pmts."

You'll save even more in interest charges if you make multiple extra payments. You can enter a specific number or if you enter "Unknown" for the "number of extra pmts", the calculator will create a payment schedule, adding the extra payment amount as indicated until the loan is paid-in-full.

Another detail about additional payments. Notice if you make the extra payments on a date other than the scheduled periodic payment date, the layout of the amortization schedule changes. You'll see a few new columns. When making an extra payment, the borrower will want the entire amount used to reduce the principal balance. That is what this calculator will do. The additional columns make this clear by tracking the accrued interest in the interest balance column, and the calculator reduces the principal balance by the extra payment amount. The lender collects the accured interest with the next scheduled payment.

If you are a borrower, you can use this calculator to confirm that the lender is allocating the payments in this manner. I believe this is the only free loan calculator with extra payment support on the web that either allow an extra payment on a different date than the regular loan payment schedule or that correctly applies the prepayment 100% to the principal balance.

Save interest charges
Amortization schedule shows the interest saved.
loan calculator with amortization schedule showing extra payments
Loan calculator with amortization schedule showing extra payments made.
$100 prepaid principal reduces principal balance by same amount.

Related: Extra Payment Calculator — making extra principal payments will save you interest charges, but what-if you invested the money instead? Would you be further ahead? This calculator will answer that question.

Wrapping Up

On a more general note, we have been discussing details about loans, some structured with unusual features, over several decades. At this point, we believe our software calculators can create a schedule for any structured settlement loan that exists. If you have a loan with special requirements, please ask.

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243 Comments on “Loan Calculator”

financial online calculator Join the conversation. Tell me what you think.
  • Monte Friedman says:

    Karl,

    That should have been,

    “Even though the Total Dollars Paid over a 365.25 Day (1 Year) Period are the same.”

    • Karl says:

      Hi Monte, have you tried the calculator? It will calculate this for you and you should be able to compare the schedules.

      That’s a great thing about calculators — they can be used as a teaching tool.

  • John Dmochowski says:

    We have a small corporation and the stockholders make loans to the company. I would like a program that is on a computer that calculates monthly balances, instead of our paper and pencil method. Does this financial calculator do that?

    • Karl says:

      I don’t think this is the calculator you’ll want to use. It will calculate a loan balance after a scheduled payment (see the calculator’s amortization schedule), but it assumes the payments are made as scheduled.

      I recommend looking at the loan payoff calculator on this site. It’s designed to calculate payments on the actual date paid. Check it out. If you have any questions, just ask.

  • Steven Peters says:

    I am confused, I have a loan in which the payor makes monthly payments and sporadic and variable amounts of principal payments. I used to use one of your calculators for this. It had a screen in which I could input the date and amount of principal payments and it would recalculate the loan and amortization schedule. Cannot find the calculator, have you discontinued it?

  • Steven Peters says:

    Thanks, preferred your version that allowed you to enter extra principal payments on a separate page with date and amounts. Thanks again.

    • Karl says:

      Hi Steven, the recommended calculator allow you to enter extra payments. I assume you saw that. However, I don’t recall ever having a calculator where the extra payments were shown on a separate page. No calculator has been dropped from this site either. So perhaps the calculator you are thinking of was on another website?

  • Tan says:

    Hi Karl,

    Thanks for your plugin. This is awesome !
    How i can download lastest Loan Calc Plugin ? WordPress version is 1.3
    And how i can change Currency decimal ? For example, to display $32,500 instead of $32,500.00

    Thanks again.

  • Angel Mortenson says:

    Hi Karl,
    How do I calculate a land sales contract with the following?
    30 year amortization, 5 year balloon, 6% interest, loan amt $245,000, monthly pmt of $1000.00 which started on 12/01/2017 and one additional pmt of $5000.00 on 03/2019 ???
    I have tried several ways without any success…

    Thanks,
    Angel

    • Karl says:

      First, a couple of things. Since you are stating the payment amount ($1,000) 30 year amortization is not relevant to this calculation.

      Secondly, the $1,000 a month does not cover the interest due on a $245,000 loan @ 6% – so you have what is known as negative amortization. That is, the balance, rather than being paid down is growing.

      Those things aside, you can set the calculator as follows and get an accurate amortization schedule.

      Loan Amount?:           $245,000.00
Number of Payments? (#):         60
Annual Interest Rate?:      6.0000%
Payment Amount?:          $1,000.00

      Options tab:

      Loan Date?:              12/01/2017
First Payment Due?:      01/01/2018
Extra Payment Amount?:    $5,000.00
Extra Payments Start?:   03/01/2019
Extra Payment Frequency?:   Monthly
Number of Extra Pmts? (#):        1
  • Susan Laderoute says:

    I am trying to find a schedule that I can input two payment amounts but I don’t have the interest rate only the payment amounts and the loan amount. I tried the loan calculator but it doesn’t allow for multiple payments (unless I am missing something).

    • Karl says:

      I think I understand. You want to solve for an unknown interest rate, and (this is what I’m not so sure about) there are only 2 payments and they are for different amounts, or there are two series of payments, and each series if for a different amount?

      Either way, there is a calculator on this site that will solve for the rate for you when there are different payment amount. Please try the Ultimate Financial Calculator. Scroll down the page for tutorials. You can have 2 series of payments, each series for different amounts.

      • Susan Laderoute says:

        Thanks Karl. The first payment amount is for 6 periods and then the 2nd payment amount is for 53 periods. I have tried that one and have entered the loan and the different payments but it won’t let me not put a value in the interest rate

  • Ryan says:

    Hello,

    Thank you for your calculator. Unfortunately it has flawed math. Check this out:

    $12K loan amount, 5.75% annual interest rate, quarterly payment frequency and compounding quarterly. Amortization method normal

    Total interest for:
    4 payments: $448.21
    8 payments: $669.41
    12 payments: $531.37

    Notice how the interest goes up for a 2 year (8 payments) and down for a 3 year (12 payments) loan. Interest payments should go up for a longer term!

    Thank you.

    • Karl says:

      You’re welcome.

      You’re information is incomplete. What is the loan date and the first payment date for each case? How are your long and short period options set.

      The calculator is very sensitive to all option settings. Not saying it is not possible, but I doubt at this stage, after being used for years, that there is a calculation bug. I myself run 1,400 automated tests on it when making a change.

      • Ryan says:

        Hello Karl, glad to hear you automate your testing. All other fields were default, so you can load the page like a visitor and put in the inputs I provided. For your question however, loan date, 1/1/2020. First payment due, 2/1/2020, long period ‘with origination’, short period ‘reduce first’, fiscal year end, December. Hope that helps

        • Karl says:

          Hi Ryan. Thanks for the details. I’m not getting the results you mentioned earlier. I don’t see where you mentioned the payment amount – so I’m assuming that you are asking the calculator to calculate payment by entering a 0 each time.

          When I do that, I get the following total interest:

          4 payments, $3,108.58 quarterly payment amount, $320.42 total interest.
          8 payments, $1,598.65 quarterly payment amount, $675.27 total interest.
          12 payments, $1,095.88 quarterly payment amount, $1,036.67 total interest.

          When you first posted, I read the comment quickly, and I was thinking that the payment frequency was also changing. You clearly stated that payment and compounding are quarterly. Had they been changing though, the short/long period options would have been more important.

          But anyway, I see that 12 payments requires that more interest than 8 or 4 payments.

          When the payment amount is left the same between 8 and 12 payments, then the loan is paid off prior to 12 payments and if you look at the schedule the loan balance is negative and the cash flow starts to earn interest. 🙂 a bit strange, I admit. But what should happen is, the user should allow the calculator to calculate at least one unknown – usually number of payments if user provides a payment amount.

          • Ryan says:

            I see now. The calculator is working, I just didn’t have a $0 for the payment amount. So when I hit calc the first time, it filled in the payment amount. Then changing the number of payments then causes it to calculate “incorrectly”.

            I design web app UIs for a living, I would recommend changing something up so that users make proper calculations. I think many users would want to change the number of payments to see what that would change in the payment amount, but I wouldn’t expect to have to zero out the payment amount value each time to recalculate. Hope that feedback helps. Otherwise now that I know how to work it, I can see how it calculates properly!

          • Karl says:

            Thanks for your feedback, Ryan.

            I understand your point. However, I want the calculator to support "one-off" loans. Meaning, what if someone wants to borrow $50,000 for 72 months @ 4.5%? The "normal&quote payment is about $793 for this scenario. But, what if the borrower says I’ll pay $1,000 a month? By letting the user provide all inputs, the calculator will create an accurate payment schedule. If I forced a recalculation of any one of the inputs, then the user would not get what they want.

            In such cases, you might say, well adjust the number of payments. I could do that, but then what if the borrower said I want to pay $1,000 a month and I’ll pay the balance in 24 months? By letting the user enter 24 months, the calculator will handle this scenario as well (that is, there will be a large final payment or as it is known, a balloon payment).

            So, I’m not sure how I can handle an automatic recalculation of one of the user inputs and still give users full control. The interface does say to enter a "0" for one unknown. Thus it implies that if a user enters all 4, the calculator will use the values provided. Perhaps, I should not imply it though?

            I have also thought of adding a message: "There are no unknown values. Did you want the calculator to calculate the term?" Or something along this order. But then I thought that users would get annoyed with the message once they understood how the calculator functioned.

            I think it’s the classic trade-off – ease-of-use vs features.

  • Margaret Lockyear says:

    Hello. I really appreciate your calculators and have used them many times in the past.
    For another one I am working on now, for obtaining the repayment schedule using the loan calculator, I know the loan amount, and the weekly repayment amount, but not the interest rate, only the total interest which will be charged over the life of the loan, 78 weeks. How best to do this?
    Thank you in anticipation
    Kind regards

    • Karl says:

      Thank you! Glad you find them useful.

      I think the first thing you should do is confirm the math. Does 78 times the payment amount minus the loan amount equal the total interest you expect? That is:

      (78 x pmt) – loan amount = total interest

      I only mention this, because usually people don’t know the total interest, and I think since you do, that’s worth checking.

      But to answer your question, enter the 3 values, loan amount, number of payment and payment amount and enter 0 for annual interest rate.

      Click "Calc" and the calculator will calculate the rate for your.

      Hope this helps.

  • James says:

    I have several student loans with different interest rates and balances. I want to compare the repayment type depending on which option I choose: smallest balance first, highest interest first, consolidate on lover balance and pay additional etc. Could you upgrade your calculator to include the most common options and the ones I just mention?

  • Ryan says:

    Karl, thanks for responding. I don’t have any great ideas on this (having lots of flexibility), but I do like instantly updating calculators. Perhaps a function similar to a radio button on what to calculate for would help? Anyway, thanks for clearing up my confusion on how the calc worked.

    • Karl says:

      Hi Ryan. It’s a tough design problem (at least for me). I’ve thought of checkboxes (not radio button because I want the option of having none checked – don’t know if I can have no radio buttons selected in a group?), but that will add to the width I guess and thus make it more crowded on mobile devices. I’ve thought of an option on the options tab – "Force recalc of last unknown?" Yes/No. But don’t know what default to use for the option. A lot of people may not find it, and if they found it, they might not know why there’s a choice. People don’t want to read. After all, all of this is explained in the text on this page! And we see how people can miss that. 🙂

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