Loan Calculators

The two numbers every loan decision needs

Car loans, personal loans, business loans, and credit card debt all come down to the same two numbers: the monthly payment and the total cost. This page gathers the calculators that answer both. The Loan Calculator handles any fixed rate loan. The Auto Loan calculator covers a car purchase with its total cost and payoff schedule. The Business Loan calculator adds an origination fee to the calculation, which matters because a fee changes the true cost even when the rate looks the same. The Credit Card Payoff calculator answers a different kind of question: given the payment you can actually make each month, how many months until the balance is gone, and how much interest that takes.

Underneath, these calculators share one piece of math. A fixed rate loan is paid off in equal monthly payments, each covering that month's interest first and the rest reducing the balance. Because interest is charged on a shrinking balance, the principal slice grows every month even though the payment never changes. The Auto Loan and Business Loan calculators are the same amortization with different inputs: a car price and trade-in on one side, a fee on the other. The Credit Card Payoff calculator runs the logic in reverse. Instead of fixing the term and solving for the payment, it fixes the payment and solves for the term, which is why it can show a payoff stretching for years when the payment barely covers the monthly interest.

Choosing between them is a matter of what you already know. If you know the amount, the rate, and the term, the Loan Calculator is enough for any fixed rate loan. If you are buying a car, the Auto Loan calculator frames the same math around the purchase, including the total cost of the car loan rather than just the payment. If the loan carries an origination fee, the Business Loan calculator is the right one, because comparing two business loans by rate alone hides the fee. If you already carry a card balance and want to know when it ends, the Credit Card Payoff calculator is the only one on this page that starts from your payment instead of your term.

A small example shows why the term matters as much as the rate. Take a $20,000 loan at 8 percent over 4 years, or 48 payments. The monthly payment is $488.26 and total interest is $3,436.41, for total payments of $23,436.41. Stretching the same loan over more years would lower the payment but add years of interest, and the total cost would rise even though nothing else changed. That is the trade to watch in every calculator on this page: the lowest payment is not the cheapest loan. Pick the shortest term whose payment still leaves room for emergencies, and check whether interest is charged on the declining balance rather than on the original amount, because flat interest on the original balance costs far more at the same rate.

Before signing anything, compare both headline numbers on every offer: the monthly payment and the total interest. A slightly higher rate with no fees can beat a lower rate loaded with charges, which is what an APR comparison reveals, and a longer term can hide thousands of dollars of interest behind a smaller payment. Run the same loan through the relevant calculator on this page with each offer's real numbers, and let the total interest break the tie when the payments look close.