Add income to checkEnter your monthly income to see this signal.
A general guideline, not financial advice — lenders weigh your full finances, not one ratio.
Educational estimate — a lender's APR, fees, and payoff figures can differ.
Before you take a personal loan
Personal loans are unsecured and usually carry higher rates than secured loans — they get expensive fast when used for everyday consumption or to fund a lifestyle.
Using a personal loan to repay other debt only helps if the new APR (including fees) is genuinely lower and you do not re-run up the old balances.
Missed or late payments add fees and interest and can damage your credit, making future borrowing costlier.
The headline interest rate is not the full cost — fees and insurance add-ons raise the effective APR. Compare offers by total cost, not by the monthly payment alone.
This tool gives estimates to help you compare — it is not advice to borrow. Confirm everything with your lender.
Visual breakdown
Each chart has a data table beneath it for exact figures and screen readers.
Principal vs interest
How much of what you repay is the amount borrowed versus interest.
Principal vs interest
Amount
Principal
$20,000
Interest
$5,280
You borrow $20,000 and pay $5,280 in interest.
Show data table
Balance over time
How the outstanding balance falls toward zero.
Balance over time
Year
Balance
0
$20,000
1
$15,857
2
$11,188
3
$5,928
4
$0
The balance reaches zero at Jun 2030.
Show data table
Amortization schedule
The first 12 months show by default. Open the full schedule for every payment, or the yearly summary for a compact view.
A lender's APR, fees, and terms may vary — confirm your figures with the lender.
Updated 14 June 2026 · Works in any currency
A personal loan calculator estimates your monthly payment, total interest, and payoff date — and, here, the real amount you receive after fees plus an estimated effective APR, so you can compare offers by their true cost rather than the headline rate.
The 2% fee never touches the $526.68 payment, only the APR
The fee is charged on what you repay, not on what reaches you.
Six origination-fee levels on the same $20,000 loan at 12% over 48 months.
Fee
Fee charged
You receive
Monthly payment
Total cost
Effective APR
0% of the loan
$0
$20,000
$526.68
$5,280.38
12.00%
1% of the loan
$200
$19,800
$526.68
$5,480.38
12.54%
2% of the loan
$400
$19,600
$526.68
$5,680.38
13.09%
3% of the loan
$600
$19,400
$526.68
$5,880.38
13.64%
5% of the loan
$1,000
$19,000
$526.68
$6,280.38
14.78%
8% of the loan
$1,600
$18,400
$526.68
$6,880.38
16.55%
With no fee the APR is the note rate, 12.00%; each point of deducted fee adds about 0.54 points, and the increment widens as the fee grows. Size your borrowing against the You-receive column: to hold $19,600 under a deducted fee you must ask for more.
Paying the fee upfront changes when you feel it, not what it costs: $5,680.38 and 13.09% either way.
Monthly payment (EMI)
EMI = P × i(1+i)ⁿ / ((1+i)ⁿ − 1)
P is the loan amount, i the monthly rate (annual ÷ 12 ÷ 100), n the months; no fee term appears in it.
Paid upfront, you receive the full loan and pay the fee separately.
Estimated effective APR
amount received = Σ EMI / (1 + apr/12)ᵏ
The rate that equates the payments to the amount you actually receive, annualised — fee folded in.
Solved from the cash you actually receive, that third rate is reliable for comparing offers but is not a legal disclosure.
Stretching to 84 months lowers the APR and costs $4,376.41 more
The same $20,000 loan at 12% with the same 2% deducted fee, over six terms.
Term
Monthly payment
Total interest
Total cost
Effective APR
24 months
$941.47
$2,595.27
$2,995.27
14.05%
36 months
$664.29
$3,914.31
$4,314.31
13.41%
48 months
$526.68
$5,280.38
$5,680.38
13.09%
60 months
$444.89
$6,693.30
$7,093.30
12.89%
72 months
$391.00
$8,152.40
$8,552.40
12.76%
84 months
$353.05
$9,656.79
$10,056.79
12.67%
At 84 months the payment falls $173.63 and the cost rises $4,376.41, while the effective APR drops 0.42 points as the fixed fee thins. Compare on APR only when terms match, on total cost when they do not.
The 10.5% offer stays cheaper until its fee passes 5.5%
Both offers lend $20,000 over 48 months. Offer A — 12% carrying a 2% fee — charges $400, releases $19,600, bills $526.68 a month at an effective APR of 13.09%, and costs $5,680.38. Offer B — 10.5% carrying a 4% fee — charges $800, releases $19,200, bills $512.07 a month at 12.68%, and costs $5,379.21.
Offer B wins by $301.17 despite the bigger fee: a 1.5-point rate cut absorbs about 3.5 extra points of fee, no more.
$526.68 of unsecured EMI needs $2,633.40 of income to land in this page’s Comfortable band
Your monthly income after tax is used for that one division only and is not stored.
The bands cut at 20%, 35% and 50% of monthly income after tax. Comfortable is a payment of 20% of income or less, which for this $526.68 outflow needs $2,633.40 a month or more coming in. Manageable is over 20% and up to 35% — $1,504.80 to $2,633.40 of income. Stretched is over 35% and up to 50% — $1,053.36 to $1,504.80. High is anything over 50%, which is what this payment becomes on anything below $1,053.36 a month.
The band uses the whole outflow, add-on included, and does not know the rest of what you owe.
For a salary in and a maximum loan out, use the Loan Calculator’s Eligibility mode, which works from income, existing EMIs and an FOIR or DTI ceiling.
A $1,000 lump returns $0.42 per dollar sent early; the $50 monthly drip returns $0.28
Left alone the loan runs 48 payments to Jun 2030 at $5,280.38 of interest. Adding $50 a month sends $2,100 of extra principal and clears it in 43 payments by Jan 2030 for $4,683.41 of interest — $596.97 saved, $0.28 per dollar. One $1,000 at payment 12 clears it in 46 payments by Apr 2030 for $4,862.23 of interest — $418.15 saved, $0.42 per dollar. Both together send $3,000, finish in 41 payments by Nov 2029 for $4,334.05 — $946.33 saved, $0.32 per dollar.
Timing beats size. A lump lands while the balance is still large, so every later month accrues on less: the same $1,000 saves $580.35 at the first payment and only $120.21 at the 36th.
Extra payments are not free money: the saving needs an agreement that lets you prepay, and a prepayment penalty can swallow the whole $596.97. The tool shows interest and months, not advice.
No credit file is read here — the 12% rate and the 2% fee are yours to supply
Nothing here is an offer, and none of it is a decision anyone has made about you.
What the model holds fixed:
Models a fixed-rate personal loan with monthly payments and monthly compounding.
The effective APR folds the origination fee into the rate; a lender’s disclosed APR may differ by rounding or fee classification.
If the fee is deducted, you receive the loan minus the fee; if paid upfront, you receive the full loan and pay the fee separately.
Results are estimates from your inputs — not a lender quote or a loan offer.
Switching to INR, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, SGD or AED restyles every figure, schedule and export included, but converts nothing: enter amounts already in that currency.
What it does not model, and cannot tell you:
Not included by default: taxes, late fees, lender-specific charges, variable-rate changes, and insurance unless entered as the monthly add-on.
It does not guarantee loan approval, a rate, or any specific terms.
The affordability signal is a rough gut-check against income, not a lender's actual underwriting decision.
Results depend entirely on the values you enter.
This is a tool for understanding the numbers, not a recommendation to borrow. Personal loans are expensive money, especially against everyday consumption, and this page cannot tell you whether you will be approved.
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This page fetches no live lender offers, and the starting rates behind the Global, US and India presets are illustrative defaults you can overwrite. Each source below names the figure, rule or default it backs; links open in a new tab.
This calculator is for educational and estimation purposes only. It is not financial, lending, tax, accounting, or legal advice and is not a loan offer or approval. It models a fixed-rate personal loan with monthly payments. A lender’s APR, fees, insurance, payment timing, prepayment rules, and rounding can change actual results. Confirm all numbers with your lender before borrowing or prepaying.