What will my personal loan cost?
See what a personal loan costs each month and in all, and how an origination fee raises its APR.
- Monthly payment
- $498.21
Borrowing $15,000.00 at 12% over 36 months costs $498.21 a month; with the fee, the APR is 15.61% and the loan costs $3,685.73 in all.
- APR
- 15.61%
- Cash you get
- $14,250.00
- Origination fee
- $750.00
- Balance you repay
- $15,000.00
- Total interest
- $2,935.73
- Total of payments
- $17,935.73
- Cost of the loan
- $3,685.73
- Paid off in
- September 2029
- Months
- 36
Answer for the example date Tuesday, September 29, 2026. It changes to today's date when the page loads.
Monthly payment: $498.21. Borrowing $15,000.00 at 12% over 36 months costs $498.21 a month; with the fee, the APR is 15.61% and the loan costs $3,685.73 in all.
How much of what you repay is cost?
Where does each year of payments go?
What does every payment look like?
The results are estimates for information only. They are not financial, tax, or legal advice. Check the numbers with your lender or a qualified professional before you decide. Terms of use
How to calculate
Computes the monthly payment, total cost, and APR of a fixed-rate personal loan with an origination fee taken from the loan or added to it.
Example with the default inputs (Loan amount $15,000.00, Interest rate 12%, Loan term (months) 36, Origination fee 5%, The fee is Taken from the loan, Loan start date September 29, 2026) on the example date Tuesday, September 29, 2026: Borrowing $15,000.00 at 12% over 36 months costs $498.21 a month; with the fee, the APR is 15.61% and the loan costs $3,685.73 in all.
Method: payment = L × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n), with L the balance you repay, r the rate ÷ 12, and n the months; the APR is 12 × j, where j is the monthly rate at which n payments repay the cash you receive.
- The rate is fixed and interest is charged monthly at the rate ÷ 12 on the balance.
- The fee is a percentage of the loan amount, taken from the money you receive or added to the balance.
- Payments are made at the end of each month, starting one month after the start date.
- The APR follows the actuarial method of Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026.22), with the fee as a prepaid finance charge.
- Values are not rounded to the cent between months; only the display is rounded.
Worked examples
Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.
- Loan amount $10,000.00, Interest rate 12%, Loan term (months) 36, Origination fee 5%, The fee is Taken from the loan gives Monthly payment $332.14, Cash you get $9,500.00, APR 15.605202%, Cost of the loan $2,457.15.Source: hand calculation in content.mdx; APR by the Regulation Z actuarial method, Python 3 in docs/progress/WP-31/python/personal_loan.py
- Loan amount $10,000.00, Interest rate 12%, Loan term (months) 36, Origination fee 5%, The fee is Added to the loan gives Monthly payment $348.75, Balance you repay $10,500.00, Cash you get $10,000.00, APR 15.427464%, Total interest $2,055.01.Source: hand calculation in content.mdx; APR by the Regulation Z actuarial method (Python 3)
- Loan amount $5,000.00, Interest rate 9%, Loan term (months) 24, Origination fee 0%, The fee is Taken from the loan, Loan start date 2026-10-01 gives Monthly payment $228.42, APR 9%, Total interest $482.17, Paid off in 2028-10-01.Source: hand calculation in content.mdx: with no fee the APR equals the rate
How it works
Write A for the loan amount, f for the origination fee rate, r for the yearly rate ÷ 12 (as a decimal), and n for the number of months.
- Fee: fee = A × f.
- Balance you repay (L) and cash you get:
- Fee taken from the loan: L = A and cash = A − fee.
- Fee added to the loan: L = A + fee and cash = A.
- Payment: payment = L × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n). At 0% it is L ÷ n.
- Schedule: each month, interest = balance × r and the rest of the payment lowers the balance. The last payment (number n) pays whatever is left.
- Totals: total interest is the sum of the monthly interest; total of payments is L plus the total interest; the cost of the loan is the total of payments minus the cash you get (the interest plus the fee).
- APR (Regulation Z, actuarial method): find the monthly rate j at which the n payments, discounted at j, add up to the cash you get: cash = payment × (1 − (1 + j)^−n) ÷ j. The APR is 12 × j. With no fee the APR equals the interest rate. The page finds j with a root finder; there is no closed form.
Assumptions
- The rate is fixed for the whole term.
- The fee is the only charge besides interest. Other required charges (for example a required insurance premium) would raise the APR further.
- Payments are made at the end of each month, starting one month after the start date.
- Values are not rounded to the cent between months; only the display is rounded. A lender rounds the payment to the cent, which can move the APR in the second decimal place at most.
Worked examples by hand
$10,000 at 12% over 36 months, 5% fee taken from the loan. The fee is $500, so the cash you get is $9,500 and you repay L = $10,000. r = 0.01 and 1.01^−36 = 0.698925, so the payment is 10,000 × 0.01 ÷ (1 − 0.698925) = $332.14. The total of payments is 36 × 332.143 = $11,957.15, so the cost of the loan is 11,957.15 − 9,500 = $2,457.15. The APR is the monthly rate j at which 36 payments of $332.14 are worth $9,500: j = 1.30043%, so the APR is 15.61%.
The same loan with the fee added. L = 10,000 + 500 = $10,500 and the cash is $10,000. The payment is 10,500 × 0.01 ÷ (1 − 0.698925) = $348.75. The interest adds up to $2,055.01. The monthly rate at which 36 payments of $348.75 are worth $10,000 is 1.28562%, so the APR is 15.43%.
$5,000 at 9% over 24 months with no fee, starting October 1, 2026. r = 0.0075 and 1.0075^−24 = 0.835831, so the payment is 5,000 × 0.0075 ÷ (1 − 0.835831) = $228.42. The interest is 24 × 228.4237 − 5,000 = $482.17, the APR equals the rate (9%), and the last payment is in October 2028.
Other questions people ask
What is an origination fee?
It is a one-time fee some lenders charge for making the loan, usually a percentage of the loan amount. Most lenders take it out of the money they pay you, so a $10,000 loan with a 5% fee puts $9,500 in your account while you still repay $10,000. Some add the fee to the balance instead.
Why is the APR higher than the interest rate?
The APR (annual percentage rate) counts the fee as a cost of borrowing. Under the Truth in Lending rules it is the yearly rate at which your payments repay only the cash you actually receive. On $10,000 at 12% over 36 months, a 5% fee taken from the loan raises the APR to 15.61%.
Is it better to have the fee taken out or added to the loan?
With the fee taken out you get less cash and pay less each month. With the fee added you get the full amount but pay interest on the fee too. For the same loan the APR is a little lower when the fee is added (15.43% against 15.61% in the example), because the fee is spread over the term instead of reducing the cash on day one. If you need the full amount in hand, you would have to apply for more when the fee is taken out.
How do I compare two personal loan offers?
Compare the APR and the total cost for the same amount and term. A loan with a lower rate but a higher fee can cost more. Enter each offer here and compare the "Cost of the loan" line, which is everything you pay above the cash you get.
Does paying off a personal loan early save money?
It saves the interest you would have paid on the rest of the term, but not an origination fee that was already charged. Some loans also charge a prepayment penalty, so check your loan agreement first. The loan payoff calculator shows the saving from extra payments.
How is the monthly payment worked out?
With the standard formula for a fixed-rate loan: payment = L × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n), where L is the balance you repay, r is the yearly rate divided by 12, and n is the number of months. For $10,000 at 12% over 36 months it is $332.14.