APR estimates the yearly cost of borrowing — the interest rate plus certain fees — so you can compare similar loans on equal terms.
Calculator
General APR Calculator
Enter your loan details
Loan details$20,000 · 6.50% · 60 moEdit
The amount, rate, term, and how interest compounds and is repaid.
$
Total amount you are borrowing.
%
The nominal annual rate. Use 0 for a 0% loan.
Loan term
Fees$500 totalEdit
Fees raise the true APR above the note rate. Financed fees are added to the loan; upfront fees are paid out of pocket.
$
Added to the loan balance.
$
Paid at closing — reduces net proceeds.
Real APR
7.563%
Formula verified 14 June 2026
High fee impactnote 6.500% · gap +1.063 pts
Monthly payment
$391.32
60 payments
Amount financed
$20,000
Payment base
Total interest
$3,479
Total APR-included fees
$500
2.50% of loan
Cost stack — where the money goes
Principal $20,000Interest $3,479Fees $500
Exports your current inputs, APR result, fee breakdown, amortization schedule, comparison table, assumptions, sources, and disclaimer.
What this means
High fee impact — it is worth comparing this with lower-fee offers. Fees add about 1.06 percentage points to your borrowing cost.
APR is not APY. The effective annual rate (EAR/APY) of this APR is about 7.830% — shown as support; APR is the comparison figure lenders disclose.
Offer comparison
The lowest APR is not always the lowest total cost if you repay the loan early — upfront fees are spread over the full term in APR, so a shorter holding period changes the ranking.
Loan offer APR and cost comparison
Offer
APR
Payment
Total interest
Total fees
Cost (full term)
Cost (payoff @24)
Offer A
7.422%
$382.02
$2,921
$900
$23,821
$22,720
Offer B
6.500%
$391.32
$3,479
$0
$23,479
$22,160
Offer C
6.631%
$386.66
$3,199
$300
$23,499
$22,290
Total interest
Offer A$2,921
Offer B$3,479
Offer C$3,199
Total fees
Offer A$900
Offer B$0
Offer C$300
Highlighted cells show the lowest APR, lowest full-term cost, and lowest early-payoff cost under the entered assumptions — not a recommendation to choose any loan.
Visual breakdown
Each chart has a data table beneath it for exact figures.
Cost breakdown
Principal vs interest vs fees over the life of the loan.
Cost breakdown
Component
Amount
Principal
$20,000
Interest
$3,479
APR fees
$500
Interest $3,479 and fees $500 on top of $20,000 borrowed.
Show data table
Note rate vs APR
How much the fees lift the rate.
Note rate vs APR
Rate
Value
Note rate
6.500%
APR
7.563%
APR is 1.063 points above the note rate.
Show data table
Balance over time
The remaining balance as you repay.
Balance over time
Payment
Balance
1
$19,717
5
$18,570
9
$17,397
13
$16,199
17
$14,975
21
$13,724
25
$12,446
29
$11,140
33
$9,805
37
$8,441
41
$7,047
45
$5,623
49
$4,168
53
$2,681
57
$1,162
60
$0
Falls from $20,000 to zero over 60 payments.
Show data table
Amortization schedule
The first 12 payments show by default. Open the full schedule or the yearly summary.
This tool finds the real APR from your rate, financed and upfront fees, compounding, and payment frequency; adds a mortgage mode with points and PMI; compares up to three offers on APR and total cost; and shows how an early payoff changes the real cost. Download a 10-sheet Excel report — in any currency.
Real APR from the rate plus financed and upfront fees
Compounding and payment frequency, simple or itemised fees
Mortgage APR with points, lender fees, and PMI
Compare up to 3 offers on APR and total cost
Early-payoff impact and a downloadable Excel report
Fee inclusion in APR varies by loan type and rules.
Updated 14 June 2026 · Works in any currency
APR is the yearly cost of a loan including interest plus certain fees. It is usually a little higher than the interest rate, it helps you compare similar offers on equal terms, and it can understate cost if you repay early.
Jump to a section
The 1.06 points that $500 of upfront fees adds to a 6.5% loan
The real APR is the headline number, and the gap between it and your note rate is the fee impact — the wider that gap, the more the fees are costing you relative to the rate alone. Financed fees raise APR by growing the balance you pay interest on; upfront fees raise it by shrinking the cash you actually receive while you still repay the full amount. In Mortgage mode, points and PMI are folded into that same real-APR calculation.
A $20,000 loan at a 6.5% note rate over 60 months, with $500 of upfront fees, has a monthly payment of about $391. Because the $500 reduces the net proceeds to $19,500 while you still repay the full $20,000, the real APR works out to roughly 7.56%— about 1.06 points above the note rate. That gap is the fee impact in a single number: comparing this loan’s 6.5% rate to another lender’s rate, without accounting for fees, would understate its real cost. Comparing the two APRs instead tells you which loan is actually cheaper.
Why APR discounts your net proceeds, not the amount you borrowed
The page models a fixed-rate amortized loan with regular payments and solves APR numerically: the APR is the periodic rate that discounts your payments back to the cash you actually received.
Payment
PMT = P × r(1+r)ⁿ / ((1+r)ⁿ − 1)
P is the financed balance, r the periodic note rate, n the number of payments.
APR (solved numerically)
net proceeds = Σ payment / (1 + a)ᵏ
a is the periodic APR rate; APR = a × payments per year. Net proceeds = loan − upfront finance charges.
Fee treatment
financed → in balance · upfront → reduces proceeds
Excluded fees are shown but left out of APR unless reclassified.
Move one fee from excluded to financed and the APR moves with it
Generally lender finance charges — origination fees, discount and origination points, processing and underwriting fees, and PMI while it is required — are included. Third-party charges that are not a condition of the loan, such as appraisal, title, taxes, and prepaid insurance, are often excluded. The exact list depends on the loan type and your jurisdiction, so this calculator lets you classify each fee as financed, upfront, or excluded.
Fee treatment follows that classification, and the two included kinds do not act alike: financed fees are added to the balance, upfront fees reduce net proceeds. PMI, where entered, is assumed to apply until the balance reaches 78% of the home’s value.
Three numbers decide an offer, and APR settles only one of them
Use the interest rate to work out the monthly payment, and the APR to compare offers — it folds in the lender fees that count as finance charges, so it reflects more of the true cost. If a loan has no fees the two are essentially equal; the more fees, the wider the gap. Just do not compare one lender’s APR against another lender’s plain interest rate.
In the Compare Offers tab you can put up to three loans side by side on the same amount and term, then look at three numbers — APR, total cost over the full term, and total cost if you repay at your expected month. For a full-term hold the lower APR usually wins; for a short hold the offer with lower upfront fees can win even at a higher rate. The tool highlights the lowest in each under your assumptions, not as a recommendation.
Repay at month 30 and the fees land on 30 months, not 60
APR assumes you keep the loan for its full term and spreads upfront fees evenly across every month. If you repay early — refinance, sell, or pay it off — those same fees are absorbed over fewer months, so your real annualized cost is higher than the APR implied. The Early Payoff tab shows that effective cost for your expected payoff month. If you do not plan to hold the loan to term, read that tab before the headline APR: fees that are large relative to the months you actually keep the loan can turn the cheaper offer on paper into the dearer one in practice.
Any fixed-rate installment loan — but not a card rate and not a savings yield
It works for any fixed-rate installment loan — car, personal, student, or mortgage — since APR is calculated the same way from the rate, fees, and term. Mortgage mode adds points and PMI handling specifically; for other loan types, use the general mode. Currency is no constraint either: switch to INR, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, SGD, or AED and every figure, including the Excel export, displays in that currency.
A credit card is the exception. This tool models a fixed-rate, fixed-term installment loan, while a card is revolving debt with no fixed term, so it cannot price one directly — for credit card interest and payoff timing, use the Credit Card Payoff Calculator instead, which models revolving APR correctly per card. It also does not value money you are saving rather than borrowing: for a savings or investment rate you want APY, and the Compound Interest Calculator handles savings growth.
APR is a nominal annual rate — the periodic rate times the number of periods per year — the way lenders disclose borrowing cost. APY (or EAR, the effective annual rate) accounts for compounding within the year and is slightly higher: APY = (1 + APR/n)ⁿ − 1, where n is the number of compounding periods per year. APR is the figure to compare loans with; this tool shows the effective annual rate only as supporting context.
The 1/8 of a point your lender is allowed to be off by
Regulation Z treats a disclosed APR as accurate when it sits within 1/8 of 1 percentage point of the true one. That tolerance is the lender’s, not this page’s — the solver here lands far tighter — and it is one reason a lender’s official APR may differ from the figure here; the other is that fee inclusion depends on loan type, jurisdiction, and disclosure rules. Use this page to compare offers; rely on the lender’s disclosure for the exact, legally binding figure.
The model’s own limitations are worth stating plainly. Not included by default: property tax, homeowners insurance, prepayment penalties, variable-rate changes, and third-party charges you classify as excluded. Mortgage APR is not your total housing cost either — it excludes taxes, insurance, HOA dues, and most closing costs. The calculation assumes no missed or late payments, no variable-rate changes, and no balloon payment unless you enter one, and every result is an estimate from the values you enter — not a lender quote or an official APR disclosure.
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APR here is solved numerically from the figures you enter — this page fetches no live lender rates, fee schedules or points pricing. APR is a legal disclosure rather than a market convention, so the first four sources are the rule itself: Regulation Z defines what counts as a finance charge, Appendix J defines the computation, and 1026.22 fixes how far a disclosed APR is allowed to sit from the true one. The remaining sources cover the fee, points and offer-comparison behaviour this calculator models. Links open in a new tab.
This calculator is for educational and planning purposes only. It is not financial, lending, tax, mortgage, or legal advice and is not a lender disclosure. It models a fixed-rate amortized loan and solves APR numerically. Whether a particular fee is included in APR depends on the loan type, jurisdiction, lender, and disclosure rules, and a lender’s official APR may differ. Variable APR, prepayment penalties, balloon payments, taxes, insurance, and third-party charges may not be fully modeled unless explicitly entered. Confirm all numbers with your lender or a qualified professional.