User Guide
- Choose Loan for a personal or general loan, or Auto Loan for a car with price, down payment, trade-in and sales tax.
- Enter the amount (or vehicle price), the term in years (plus extra months if needed) and the interest rate (APR).
- Optionally add an extra payment per month to see interest saved and how much sooner you’d be debt-free.
- Read the monthly payment, total interest, principal-vs-interest split and payoff date, then explore the yearly or monthly amortization schedule.
About the Loan Calculator
This free loan calculator answers the question every borrower actually has — “what will this cost me per month, and in total?” — for personal loans, car loans, student loans, home-improvement loans or any other fixed-rate instalment loan. It computes the standard amortized payment, then goes further than most calculators: a full amortization schedule, a principal-vs-interest split bar, the exact payoff date, and an extra-payment simulator.
Worked example: a $20,000 personal loan
Borrow $20,000 over 5 years at 7.5% APR and the monthly payment is about $401. Over 60 payments you’ll hand back roughly $24,046 — so the loan’s true cost is about $4,046 in interest, around 20% on top of what you borrowed. The split bar makes this visible instantly, and the schedule shows the balance falling month by month: after year one you still owe about $16,600, because early payments are interest-heavy.
Auto loan mode: tax and trade-in done right
Car payments have two wrinkles generic calculators miss. First, sales tax is usually charged on the price minus your trade-in (in most US states) and is often financed into the loan. Second, your down payment and trade-in reduce the amount financed, not the taxable price, in different ways. Auto mode handles both: a $35,000 car with $5,000 down and 7% sales tax means financing $32,450 (including $2,450 of tax) — about $650/month over 5 years at 7.5%. That’s the number the dealer’s finance office will show you, and walking in already knowing it is genuine negotiating leverage.
The extra-payment simulator
Type any extra monthly amount and the calculator re-runs the loan against the baseline: interest saved and months cut are shown immediately. Even $50/month on the $20,000 example saves about $550 of interest and clears the loan seven months early. Because the schedule recalculates live, you can find the exact extra payment that gets you debt-free by a target date — before a wedding, a house purchase or a career break.
Loan vs mortgage vs EMI
For home loans with property tax, insurance and PMI, use the dedicated Mortgage Calculator — those costs change the monthly picture substantially. If your lender quotes Indian-style EMIs, the EMI Calculator matches that convention, and the Interest Rate Calculator works backwards when you know the payment but not the rate. This calculator assumes a fixed rate and standard amortization; borrow figures are estimates and your signed agreement governs. Free, instant, and everything stays in your browser.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the monthly payment on a $20,000 loan?
At 7.5% APR over 5 years, about $401/month, with roughly $4,046 of total interest. Enter your own rate and term — the payment updates instantly along with the full amortization schedule.
How does the auto loan calculator handle trade-ins and sales tax?
It applies sales tax to the vehicle price minus your trade-in (the rule in most US states), adds the tax to the amount financed, and subtracts your down payment and trade-in — giving the same figure a dealer’s finance office would quote.
What is an amortization schedule?
A payment-by-payment table showing how much of each instalment goes to interest versus principal, and the remaining balance. Early payments are interest-heavy; the schedule shows the balance falling faster over time — viewable yearly or monthly here.
Do extra payments shorten the loan or lower the payment?
They shorten it. Your required payment stays the same, but every extra dollar reduces principal directly — the calculator shows the interest saved and how many months earlier you finish.
What’s the difference between this and the EMI calculator?
The maths is the same fixed-rate amortization. Use this tool for dollar-quoted personal and auto loans with US-style tax/trade-in handling; the EMI Calculator speaks the Indian lending convention with rupee formatting.