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Loan Calculator

Calculate loan payment, term, interest rate, or amount.

How to Use the Loan Calculator

Loan Calculator
Loan Calculator

This loan calculator creates printable loan schedules with dates.

  • Calculate unknown payment, term, interest rate, or loan amounts
  • Saves to Excel & Word files.
  • Print or export colorful charts
  • Supports extra payments too!

Calculating a loan payment amount with this calculator is very easy

  1. Click clear and enter values for:
    • Loan Amount
    • Number of Payments (term)
    • Annual Interest Rate
  2. Optionally set the dates.
  3. Leave Loan Payment Amount set to 0.
  4. 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


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$ : mm/dd/yyyy

Information

Original Size
Click to make smaller (-) or larger (+).

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?

  1. set the loan amount to "0" (zero)
  2. enter the number of payments
  3. enter the annual interest rate, and
  4. enter the desired or expected payment amount
  5. calculate

How long will it take to pay a loan off?

  1. enter the loan amount
  2. set the number of payments to "0" (zero)
  3. enter the annual interest rate, and
  4. enter the desired or expected payment amount
  5. calculate

What interest rate allows me to pay $350 a month?

  1. enter the loan amount
  2. enter the number of payments
  3. set the annual interest rate to "0" (zero), and
  4. enter $350 for the payment amount
  5. 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

lump sum payment
Loan calculator showing lump sum payment made.
See the payment schedule for total interest saved.
  • 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.

Save interest charges
Amortization schedule shows the interest saved due to extra payments.

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.

147 Comments on “Accurate Loan Calculator | Export To XLSX/DOCX Files”

Join the conversation. Tell me what you think.
  • Hi, I recently used your loan calculator to create a payment and interest schedule for a personal loan my sister did for us. Rather than pay an escrow company, we decided I could just use your site to help us come up with a schedule that shows interest paid for her tax info.
    Then for Christmas, she gifted us a large sum of money to help pay down the loan. My question is, how do I add that gift to the calculator above? Do I add it as an extra payment? I want to make sure I get it right so we have the correct info for both of our taxes. Do you have any suggestions?
    Thank you

    • Nice sister!

      Do I have a suggestion? Yes. Don’t use this calculator.

      Use this calculator instead. The loan payoff calculator lets users record payments in any amount as they are paid and on the date paid.

      • Thank you. Yes, she is SUPER nice! Another reason why I want all this calculation to be correct, so she doesn’t experience any issues when I give her the report on this loan interest for her taxes. Thanks again for your help.

  • Jerry Cochran says:

    Don’t see what I need. Need a cal that shows loan with daily interest rate to accept additional principle payments made at various times to show adjustments to balance and interest paid. throughout the life of the daily interest loan. Received loan for Solar Panels – which has (I guess) a partial ballon payment(amount) due at the 14 month point to maintain a minimum payment amounts. some specifics Loan $16,269.00 — targeted Principle balance after 14 months $11,602.81 (supposedly at the 26% mark) at 2.99 percent with a monthly payment of 68.12 first 17 payments and then increases to $92.94 (if target missed) for 221 payments. If more info required, let me know.

    • I think you should use this calculator.

      It supports daily interest. The user can record payments on any date, for any amount, for the same loan. Interest rates can be changed as of any date as well.

      If you try it out, scroll down the page to the tutorials. And if you have any questions, please ask.

  • I have been working on this for several days now, and just can’t come up with the answer.
    I loaned someone $2125.00 on 9/20/2018. Beginning 12/1/2018 she was to pay $50/week at 10% interest until it was paid off. She paid the $50 5 times and up to today, nothing, zero, nada. I am going to sue her so I want to make sure I have everything right. Can you help??

    • Sorry, I can’t help you collect what she owes, but I can help you calculate the amount she owes you.

      Please use this loan payoff calculator. This calculator allows users to record the payments on the dates paid (or missed) and it will calculate the balance allowing for missed or extra payments.

  • I have this calculator in my “tool box”. It makes my job of selling used cars so much easier. The personalized Title page works perfectly, although I don’t put in addresses, but rather vehicle information.
    I have shared this with my colleagues upon their request. Well done!!!! 5 STAR!

  • im looking for a calculator that can do bi annual payments over 60 months with a vat payment in month 6 .how do i calculate this

    422 487
    60 months
    bi annula payments -12 payments in total
    strcutured payment in month 6 of R61 237 + normal instalment

  • Worked for Amortization with regular Extra Payments. Many thanks to you, Karl.

  • I need to do an amoritization schedule with interst figured monthly not annually, how do I do that?
    Thanks,
    D

    • This loan calculator will calculate monthly interest. However, I think what you may mean is, you want to use a monthly interest rate, that it won’t allow.

      The lending industry’s convention is to use a nominal annual interest rate. If you know only an effect monthly rate you can convert it to an annual rate. Excel will do the calculation. SolveIT! ($69.95 – link above) has a rate conversion calculator.

  • I have a loan with Actual/Actual. Is there a way to get this schedule using the calculator?

    • Yes.

      Set "Compounding" to either "Daily" or "Exact/Simple," depending on your needs. And set the "Days Per Year" option to 366.

      The calculator will then calculate interest based on the exact number of days, either with or without compounding, and the daily rate will be based on 365 or 366 days per years, whichever is appropriate.

  • Marlene Barras says:

    how to get payment schedule after loan info calculated

    • Click on the "Payment Schedule" button, and then either fill in the details for the title page if you want one, or click "Skip Title Page."

  • John Anderson says:

    I will like to apply for a personal loan to take care of some debts

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