Loan Calculator With Extra Payments

Use this loan repayment calculator to work out monthly repayment and interest figures for personal loans, student loans or any other type of credit agreement.

Like this? Please share

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made in building our calculator tools, we are not to be held liable for any damages or monetary losses arising out of or in connection with their use. Full disclaimer.

Calculating loan repayments

Personal loans offer you an opportunity to get hold of a lump sum of money upfront, and then gradually pay the money back to the lender. There are many different types of loans - both unsecured and secured - and they all carry different degrees of risk vs reward and varying rates of interest. Often, the options available to you will depend upon your credit history.

Our loan calculator can help create projections for monthly repayments based upon the amount you are looking to borrow. By providing you with an estimate of loan repayments, you can then feel better informed when you weigh up the risk and reward of taking out the loan.

Common reasons for taking out a personal loan in 2024 include: 1

Consolidating debt
Paying for a dream wedding
Paying medical bills
Paying off credit cards
Buying a home
Funding home improvements
Financing a new car (or even a new boat)
Paying for funeral expenses (sadly becoming more common!)
Funding a dream holiday

Making extra payments

Some types of loan allow you to make extra monthly or quarterly payments on top of the minimum monthly payment required. By making additional payments, you can pay your loan off quicker and therefore reduce the amount of interest you will end up paying back by the end.

When making extra payments, it's important to remember that paying off the loan more quickly is unlikely to allow you to reduce your minimum payments in the future, or to allow you to skip a payment. So, it's important you don't leave yourself short.

To assist in the decision-making process, Forbes.com has put together an excellent article about the advantages and disadvantages of paying off a mortgage loan early, with some ideas on how best to do it.

How to calculate personal loan payments

To begin your calculation, enter the amount you are hoping to borrow along with the yearly interest rate and the number of months that you are intending to borrow the money for. If you wish, you can alter the start loan date and include any extra fees or balloon payments. You can also enter additional payments. Once you click the 'calculate' button, the personal loan calculator will show you:

Your regular monthly payment figure
The total interest you will pay
Your total loan repayment figure
Your estimated payoff date

You will also be able to see graphs and a monthly repayment schedule of your principal and loan interest payments. Note that if your loan is not calculated with compound interest, we have an alternative simple interest calculator that you can try instead.

Loan calculator FAQ

Here are some common questions that you have been asking about our calculator:

What is the effective annual rate?

The effective annual rate is the yearly interest rate that you're paying on a loan, taking into account for the effect of interest compounding. This loan calculator compounds interest on a monthly basis. We have an article discussing the differences between nominal rates, effective rates and APR, if you're interested in finding out more.

What is a balloon payment?

A balloon payment is a large, lump-sum payment made at the end of a long-term loan. It is commonly used in car finance loans as a way of reducing monthly repayment figures. You can find out more about balloon payments here.

What is APR?

APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate and is an important factor in determining the overall cost of a personal loan. You can use APR to compare different loan offers. When you arrange a loan with a finance company, their offer can include extra fees associated with the loan. The APR figure takes that information into account, giving you a simple percentage interest rate to allow you to compare and shop around.

Loan calculator formula

The loan calculator featured on this page uses the following formula to calculate repayment figures:

PMT = [ r + r / ((1+r)^t -1) ] x P

Where:

PMT = monthly payment amount
r = annual interest rate (decimal) / 12
P = principal loan amount
t = time in months
^ = ... to the power of ...

Loan repayment example

To work out the monthly payment on a loan of $1000 at 5% interest for 12 months, we could calculate it as follows:

PMT = [ (0.05 / 12) + (0.05 / 12) / ( (1+ (0.05 / 12)) ^ 12 -1) ] × principal
PMT = [ 0.0041666667 + 0.0041666667 / (1.0041666667 ^ 12 - 1)] × 1000
PMT = [ 0.0041666667 + 0.0041666667 / (1.0511618983 - 1)] × 1000
PMT = [ 0.0041666667 + 0.0041666667 / 0.0511618983] × 1000
PMT = [ 0.0041666667 + 0.081440816] × 1000
PMT = 0.085607483 × 1000
PMT = $85.61

So, our monthly loan repayment figure from our example is $85.61. You can use the calculator at the top of the page to check your figure.

To conclude

I hope you've found this loan calculator with extra payments useful. If you have any questions or suggestions for improvements, please get in contact.

By Alastair Hazell. Reviewed by Chris Hindle.