Payment Calculator
Loan payment · Payoff time · Total interest · Amortization
💸 Enter a loan amount, rate, and term or payment to see your payment, payoff time, and total interest.
What This Payment Calculator Does
A payment calculator answers two questions about any fixed rate loan. In Fixed term mode it finds the payment needed to repay a loan over a set number of years. In Fixed payment mode it works backward and finds how long a payment you choose will take to clear the balance.
Both modes show total interest, total cost, the payoff date, and a yearly amortization schedule. You can pay monthly, semimonthly, biweekly, or weekly, and the optional income fields check the payment against your debt to income ratio.
Use it for personal loans, auto loans, the principal and interest part of a mortgage, or a credit card balance you pay down at a set amount. When comparing offers, enter each one and compare total interest: a 2 point lower rate on a 5 year $20,000 loan saves about $1,100.
Loan Payment Formula
Payment for a fixed term
Total interest
Number of payments for a fixed payment
When r is zero the payment is P ÷ n. The calculator keeps full precision internally and rounds only the values it displays, so the final payment absorbs any cents left over.
Monthly Payment Chart per $10,000
Monthly payment and total interest for each $10,000 borrowed. Multiply by your loan size in tens of thousands.
| Rate | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | $299.71 | $188.71 | $106.07 |
| 7% | $308.77 | $198.01 | $116.11 |
| 9% | $318.00 | $207.58 | $126.68 |
| 12% | $332.14 | $222.44 | $143.47 |
| 18% | $361.52 | $253.93 | $180.19 |
| 24% | $392.33 | $287.68 | $220.48 |
Total interest per $10,000 at 7 percent is $1,116 over 3 years, $1,881 over 5 years, and $3,933 over 10 years.
How to Use the Calculator: Worked Examples
- Choose a mode. Pick Fixed term when you know how many years you want to repay over. Pick Fixed payment when you know how much you can afford each period.
- Enter the loan amount and rate. Use the amount owed after any down payment and the annual rate from your offer.
- Enter the term or payment and a frequency. Match the frequency to your payday. A payment entered in Fixed payment mode is per period, so $250 biweekly is not $250 monthly.
Example 1: payment for a 5 year personal loan
A $20,000 loan at 7 percent over 5 years costs $396.02 a month for 60 months. Total payments come to $23,761, so the loan costs $3,761 in interest. The first payment includes $116.67 of interest and $279.35 of principal; by the final year almost the whole payment goes to principal.
Example 2: payoff time for a $500 payment
Paying $500 a month on the same loan clears it in 46 payments: 45 payments of $500 and a last payment of $341.23. Total interest falls to $2,841, about $920 less than the 5 year schedule, and the loan ends 14 months sooner.
Example 3: paying down a credit card
A $5,000 card balance at 24 percent accrues $100 of interest in the first month. A fixed $150 payment clears it in 56 months with about $3,322 of interest; a payment of $100 or less never reduces the balance.
Monthly vs Biweekly vs Weekly Payments
The frequency setting divides the annual rate and the term by the number of payments per year. The table shows a $20,000 loan at 7 percent over 5 years.
| Frequency | Payments | Payment | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | 60 | $396.02 | $3,761 |
| Semimonthly | 120 | $197.77 | $3,733 |
| Biweekly | 130 | $182.54 | $3,730 |
| Weekly | 260 | $91.22 | $3,717 |
More frequent payments save a little because principal falls sooner. Paying half the monthly amount, $198.01, every two weeks saves more: 26 half payments equal 13 monthly payments a year. With interest charged every two weeks, the loan clears in 119 payments, about 4.6 years, with about $3,373 of interest.
Understanding Your Result
Each period, interest is the balance times the periodic rate, so early payments carry the most interest and later ones mostly reduce principal. The yearly schedule and chart show this shift.
Debt to income ratio
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau defines debt to income as all monthly debt payments divided by gross monthly income, and notes that limits vary by lender and product. The calculator converts your payment to a monthly amount, adds your other debts, and labels the result:
- Comfortable: 36 percent or less.
- Stretched: above 36 up to 43 percent.
- High: above 43 percent.
These bands are rules of thumb, not a lending decision. In the default example, $396.02 plus $400 of other debt on $6,000 of income gives 13.3 percent.
Common Mistakes When Estimating Payments
- Using the interest rate instead of the APR. Under Regulation Z, the APR expresses the cost of credit as a yearly rate including finance charges. If fees are rolled into the loan, the APR gives a truer comparison.
- Mixing frequencies. A weekly payment of $100 is about $433 a month, not $400, because a year has 52 weeks.
- Assuming fixed rates on variable loans. Payments on adjustable rate loans and credit cards change when the rate changes.
Related Payment Calculations
Mortgages. A $300,000 loan at 6.5 percent over 30 years has a principal and interest payment of $1,896.20 and about $382,633 of interest. The mortgage calculator adds taxes, insurance, and PMI.
Other tools. The auto loan calculator adds trade in value and sales tax, the debt payoff calculator orders several balances, and the amortization calculator lists every payment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources & References
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, What is a debt to income ratio? (last reviewed August 2023). https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-debt-to-income-ratio-en-1791/
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z § 1026.22, Determination of annual percentage rate. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/22/
This calculator is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Results are estimates based on the information entered and assume a fixed rate with equal payments. Reference data reviewed: 2026.