Loan Calculator
How to Use the Loan Calculator
Calculating a loan payment amount with this calculator is very easy
- Click clear and enter values for:
- Loan Amount
- Number of Payments (term)
- Annual Interest Rate
- Optionally set the dates.
- Leave Loan Payment Amount set to 0.
- Click either "Calc" or "Payment Schedule."
You can leave the other dozen or so options untouched unless you have a specific reason for changing them.
However, this loan calculator gives users the ability to do a lot more than simple payment calculations. More below
Information
Recent changes and enhancements — Nov. 2023
- Export loan schedule's data to Excel/xlsx file. Click on "Payment Schedule" then "Continue" or "Skip" past the title page.
- Save loan schedule's data to Word/docx file. Saving to a .docx gives you the opportunity to alter the style of the schedule, to add notes, or incorporate the schedule into a report.
Always enter (and reenter) a 0 for the unknown value.
Note - You must enter a zero if you want a value calculated.
Why not design the calculator to recalculate the last unknown?
Because we want the calculator to be able to create a payment schedule using the loan terms you need. 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! (If the calculator always recalculated the last unknown, then this feature would not be possible.)
About the loan origination date (start date) and first payment date.
Important - The first loan payment period is seldom equal to the frequency of other schedule payments. That is, if a loan's payment schedule is monthly, the time from when the loan originates (when the borrower receives the money) until the day the first payment is due will likely not equal one month. The first period will typically be either longer or short than a month.
A longer or shorter first period impacts the interest calculation.
Very few (if any?) online calculators can correctly handle this detail. But if you want accurate interest and payment calculations, you need to be able to independently set the loan origination date and the first payment due date. You can do that on the "Options" tab of this calculator.
Warning - Selecting dates will result in payment amounts as well as interest charges that do not match other calculators.
That's the point!
If you want to match other calculators, then set the "Loan Date" and "First Payment Due" 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 "First Payment Due" should be set to June 15th, that is IF you want a conventional interest calculation.
See "Long Period Options" and "Short Period Options" below for additional details about payment amounts and interest calculations.
Yet keeping it simple - if you only need estimates and not absolute accuracy, you can always leave the dates set as they are when the calculator loads.
Much More Than a Payment Calculator
The four values you'll need to set:
- Loan Amount - the principal amount borrowed. It does not include interest.
- Number of Payments (term) - the "Payment Frequency" setting impacts the loan's term. For a loan term of five years, if the payment frequency is monthly, you need to enter 60 for the number of payments. (60 months = 5 years)
- Annual Interest Rate - the nominal interest rate. This the quoted interest rate for the loan. (If the lender is quoting anything other than an annual interest rate, you probably should avoid the loan.)
- Payment Amount - the amount that is due on each payment due date.
Set one of the above to 0 if unknown.
How much can I borrow?
- set the loan amount to "0" (zero)
- enter the number of payments
- enter the annual interest rate, and
- enter the desired or expected payment amount
- calculate
How long will it take to pay a loan off?
- enter the loan amount
- set the number of payments to "0" (zero)
- enter the annual interest rate, and
- enter the desired or expected payment amount
- calculate
What interest rate allows me to pay $350 a month?
- enter the loan amount
- enter the number of payments
- set the annual interest rate to "0" (zero), and
- enter $350 for the payment amount
- calculate.
Three loan options you most likely don't need to touch.
- Payment Frequency - set how often payments are scheduled. The calculator supports 11 options, including biweekly (every other week), monthly, and annually. The schedule calculates payment due dates from the first payment due date.
- Compounding - usually, you should set the compounding frequency to be the same as the payment frequency. Doing so results in simple, periodic interest. Setting this option to "Exact/Simple" results in simple, exact day interest.
- Amortization Method - leave this setting set to "normal" unless you have a specific reason for setting it otherwise. For a complete explanation of these options, see Nine Loan Amortization Methods.
Results - your loan summary
- Total Interest - assuming the debtor makes the payments as scheduled, this is the interest they will pay over the term of the loan.
- Total Prepaid Principal - this is the total of any extra payments. Note, the total interest saved is reported on the payment schedule.
- Total Principal & Interest - the loan amount plus the total interest paid. Thus the total amount you'll pay for the loan.
Eleven loan options you may want to tweak.
- Loan Date - the date the money is available. If the loan is for a vehicle or home, it is the loan's closing date.
- First Payment Due - for leases, it may be the same as the loan date. See "About the loan origination date (start date) and first payment date" above.
- Extra Payment Amount - want to make a single extra payment or series of additional payments? Enter the amount here.
- Extra Payments Start - enter the date you want extra payments to start. The date does not have to align with payment due dates. If you pay a loan monthly and payments are due on the first, you may want to make extra payments on the 15th to align with your pay periods.
- Extra Payment Frequency - set how frequently you'll make additional payments. Want to make extra payments annually when you receive a year-end bonus? This calculator will accommodate such a plan.
- Number of Extra Pmts - enter one or any integer value. If you want to make the extra payments until you pay off the loan, enter "U" for "Unknown."
- Days Per Year - 360/365 days per year option. This setting, also known as the day count convention, impacts interest calculations when you set compounding frequency to a day based frequency (daily, exact/simple or continuous) or when there are odd days caused by an initial irregular length period.
- Rounding Options - due to payment and interest rounding each pay period (for example, payment or interest might calculate to 345.0457, but a schedule will round the value to 345.05), almost all loan schedules need a final rounding adjustment to bring the balance to "0". A footnote on the payment schedule informs you of the rounding amount.
- Long Period Options (odd day interest) - setting for how interest is shown on the schedule when the initial period is longer than the selected payment frequency.
- Short Period Options - setting for how payments get adjusted when the initial period is shorter than the selected payment frequency.
- Fiscal Year-End - this setting establishes after what month the calculator shows year-end and running totals. This option is to accommodate businesses with fiscal year ends that do not coincide with the calendar year-end.
More details about the settings for odd day and irregular period interest.
Wrapping Up
On a more general note, I have been discussing with users, details about loans, some structured with unusual features, over several decades. At this point, I believe the loan calculators on this site can create schedules for any structured settlement loan that exists. If you have a loan with special requirements, please ask.
Milan Conner says:
I would like to track random additional loan payments in order to verify and confirm current pay out amount reported by loaning institution.
Karl says:
In that case, use the Ultimate Financial Calculator.
There’s a link just above the calculator to these tutorials. Tutorial #1 is an overview, and tutorial #25 is about tracking loan payments made on any date and validating balances.
Rob says:
Hi Karl,
Firstly, this website is wonderful!
I am trying to download an amortization schedule into excel, but it’s downloading as an xml file. When I convert the xml file to a newer excel version, I am only seeing the terms for the loan not the full schedule I am hoping to see. Any thoughts??
Thanks in advance!
Karl says:
Thank you!
The XML file is so that users can save their inputs and later load them back into the calculator or send them to someone else so that they can see the same calculation.
At this time, there is no way to easily send the results to Excel (I’m redoing the site so that hopefully by the end of the year some of the calculators will have an Excel export.)
However, if you use this amortization schedule, you might be able to select the contents of the schedule that the calculator generates below the input area and if so, then you might be able to copy/paste to Excel. I’m hedging my bets because a lot depends on the browser and version of Excel.
donna says:
Hi I need an Amortization Schedule for a loan closing. We have agreed to not start collecting payments on loan for 2 months. I need to accrue for the 2 months and have the amortization schedule show it. please help.
Karl says:
Hello. That should not be a problem. Under "Options," have you tried setting the "Loan Date" and "First Payment Due" with the first payment date being 2 months after the loan date? That should do it. You can control when interest is collected with the Long "Period Options" on the options tab. Let me know if you have a problem.
Paul says:
Hi! I need a calculator that will let me calculate payments for a loan I made to a borrower who can only make two equal pymts a month, but on borrower’s bi-weekly payroll schedule. So, it works out that for the two months in a given year in which a bi-weekly payroll schedule would normally result in 3 pymts, the 3rd pymt would NOT be made (agreement). Twice year, the next pymt borrower could/would make would then be after a 4wk gap, instead of the “normal 2 week gap”.
I would really like to be able to have a schedule that clearly coincides with borrower’s paydays – for my convenience in tracking and posting pymts in receive, as well as borrower’s convenience, but also have payments showing as DUE on the two payroll days the borrower can afford to make payments each month. So, twice a year, there would be a longer period without a pymt being applied to either principal or interest.
I may be missing something in the existing instructions, but have spent a LOT time trying to figure this out and just cannot. Help, please! Thanks! /PD
Karl says:
Hi Paul, what you have is a structured loan.
You should use the Ultimate Financial Calculator. It can create a printable payment schedule with payments for any amount made (or skipped) as of any date.
If you try the calculator, I don’t think you’ll want to use the biweekly payment frequency. Instead, use the twice-monthly payment frequency.
If, after trying it, you don’t get what you need, you may ask any required question at the bottom of that calculator’s page.
Laurie says:
We have a land loan that started July 1, 2020. The terms are 4.5% with quarterly payments for 10 years. From the start we have paid $2500 each quarter. Thus the extra principal amounts vary with each payment. In the future when our auto loan is paid, we expect to apply that to the land loan to further speed up the payoff. Which calculator should I use? Thank you.
Karl says:
If you want to calculate a loan balance (with or without extra payments), I suggest using this loan payoff calculator. The calculator will let you record your payments for any amount on any date. You can save your entries so that you can come back and add payments later too.
.Robinson Gomez Rosario says:
Hola me gustaría saber cual es el costo de agregarle a la calculadora la opción de poder a agregar campos personalizados al cronograma de amortización más el botón imprimir
Karl says:
Hola, lo siento, pero en este momento no puedo ofrecerle este tipo de servicios. Te sugeriría que intentaras contratar a un programador local y que hable español (algo que yo no hago).
Hi, I’m sorry, but I’m not able to provide such services at this time. I would suggest that you try to hire a local programmer and one that speaks Spanish (something I do not).
Monica Wooten says:
If I have a loan due and payable in 5 years, but amortized over 15 years. Is that an option on your website?
Karl says:
Yes. Please see this balloon payment calculator.
If you scroll down the page there are examples of different scenarios that should git you started. If you have questions, or this doesn’t give you what you need, please ask again.
acmeglass says:
Hello
Please help
What calculator to use ? I have personal/ business loan from bank with monthly payment 4218.77. How to calculate schedule with fix monthly payment and interest additional on top 8.95 %
Karl says:
Are you saying that the $4,218.77 payment amount is applied to principal only? And then the interest amount at a rate of 8.95% is added on top of the payment.
If that the case, then you can use this loan calculator.
I would set the calculation up this way:
Enter the "Loan Amount"
Enter 0 for "Number of Payments" (so that is what gets calculated)
Enter the "Annual Interest Rate"
Enter the $4,218.77 "Payment Amount"
And then, and this is important:
Set "Amortization Method" to "Fixed Principal"
Adjust other settings as needed and click "Calc"
The schedule will show the principal payment amount as $4,218.77 with the interest added for a total payment that is larger than this amount.
The schedule will run until the loan is paid off (because 0 was entered for number of payments).
If this is not what you need, please ask again and provide additional details.
divya gorule says:
how can we remove Payment Method field from this calculator
Karl says:
There is no "Payment Method" field for this calculator.
Are you asking about the WordPress plugin?
Carolin says:
Hi, the formatting of the website and calculator has changed. Please help
Karl says:
Thank you for taking your time to report the problem.
I believe it is now fixed.
There apparently was a conflict between two third party software products I use to help enhance this website and the conflict caused the formatting errors.