Payment math · Amortized, not estimated
Personal loan calculator
Set an amount, an APR and a term — the calculator returns the monthly payment, the total interest and the total you will repay, with the full month-by-month schedule. No email, no soft pull, no "estimated rate" games: the math is the standard amortization formula, shown in full below the tool.
Precomputed rows
The 36% benchmark, every common size
Fixed 36% APR · 36- and 60-month terms · the ceiling where much of this market prices
| Amount | 36 mo payment | Total repaid | 60 mo payment | Total repaid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $45.8 | $1,648.94 | $36.13 | $2,167.98 |
| $2,000 | $91.61 | $3,297.87 | $72.27 | $4,335.96 |
| $3,000 | $137.41 | $4,946.81 | $108.4 | $6,503.93 |
| $5,000 | $229.02 | $8,244.68 | $180.66 | $10,839.89 |
| $7,500 | $343.53 | $12,367.02 | $271 | $16,259.83 |
| $10,000 | $458.04 | $16,489.37 | $361.33 | $21,679.78 |
| $15,000 | $687.06 | $24,734.05 | $541.99 | $32,519.66 |
| $20,000 | $916.08 | $32,978.73 | $722.66 | $43,359.55 |
| $35,000 | $1,603.13 | $57,712.78 | $1,264.65 | $75,879.21 |
| $50,000 | $2,290.19 | $82,446.83 | $1,806.65 | $108,398.88 |
Computed with the standard amortization formula at a fixed 36% APR — the high end for personal loans and the ceiling used across our installment guides. Terms past 84 months are rare in this market; quotes beyond that deserve extra scrutiny.
What the credit tier does to the payment
Same $10,000, same terms — the only variable is the rate your profile commands. This is the spread every personal-loan market page here is built on:
| Credit tier | APR | 36 mo payment | 60 mo payment | Extra interest vs strong, 60 mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong credit | 8% | $313.36 | $202.76 | $0 |
| Average credit | 15% | $346.65 | $237.9 | $2,108.12 |
| Damaged credit | 30% | $424.52 | $323.53 | $7,246.2 |
Over a five-year term the gap between strong and damaged credit on $10,000 is $7,246.2 — often more than the emergency that started the borrowing. If your quotes land in the bottom tier, a smaller loan at a shorter term, or a credit-union PAL at the 28% federal cap, can cost less than the same amount stretched to 60 expensive months.
How the math works
The tool uses the standard amortization formula: payment = P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)−n), where P is the principal, r is the monthly rate (APR ÷ 12) and n is the number of months. Worked example for the default inputs — $10,000 at 15% APR over 36 months: r = 0.015 ÷ 12 = 0.0125, so the payment is 10,000 × 0.0125 ÷ (1 − 1.0125−36) = $12,500 a month. Thirty-six payments of $12,500 total $450,000, which puts the cost of credit at $440,000.
Two things a bare monthly payment hides: fees rolled into the APR are already inside r, but upfront fees deducted from proceeds are not — a $10,000 loan that arrives as $9,700 after an origination fee costs more than the same APR without one. And the schedule is front-loaded: early payments are mostly interest, which is why the "balance left" column above falls slowly at first. Ask any lender for the APR and the total of payments — those two numbers make every offer comparable.
Personal loan vs payday: the same $300, two clocks
Speed is what payday sells, and its price is best seen next to an amortized loan. California's own worked example: a $300 payday loan carries a statutory fee that takes the total to $345 — 15% of face value ($17.65 per $100 advanced) — due in about two weeks. The same $300 borrowed over 12 months at this page's 36% benchmark costs $30.14 a month and $361.66 in total. Twelve months of use costs about $61.66; two weeks of payday speed costs about the same for 1/26th of the time. That is the honest case for a personal loan when the timing can stretch past a week — and the honest case for payday when it cannot. State-by-state payday math: every amount, every state; personal-loan market structure: the full guide.
Questions people ask about loan payments
How do I calculate a monthly loan payment?
Use the standard amortization formula: payment = P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n), where P is the amount borrowed, r is the monthly APR rate (APR ÷ 12), and n is the number of months. For a $10,000 loan at 15% APR over 36 months: r = 0.0125, so the payment is $10,000 × 0.0125 ÷ (1 − 1.0125^−36) ≈ $346.65. The calculator above does this arithmetic for any amount, rate, and term.
What APR should I put in the calculator?
Use the rate that matches your credit profile, not the lowest advertised one. As a benchmark: strong credit historically prices in the high single digits, average credit in the mid-teens, and damaged credit approaches 30% — with 36% acting as the practical ceiling in much of this market. Your actual APR comes only from a lender's written offer; the tiers here are for comparison, not a quote.
How much of a personal loan can I get?
Lenders size the loan against your income and existing debts, not a published table — a common guardrail is that total debt payments stay within a sensible share of gross monthly income, and each lender draws its own line. Practical bounds for this market: $1,000–$50,000 for most online personal loans, and $200–$2,000 for a federal credit-union Payday Alternative Loan. The number that matters is the one on a written offer that discloses APR and total of payments.
Does using a loan calculator affect my credit?
No. Calculating payments reads nothing from your credit file and leaves no record. Credit is only touched when a lender checks it — a pre-qualification usually runs a soft check that you cannot see as a score impact, while a full application authorizes a hard check. Estimate here first, then let lenders quote.
Why is total interest so much higher on longer terms?
Interest accrues every month the balance is outstanding, so more months means more payments even at the same APR — and the monthly payment drops much more slowly than the term grows. Doubling this page's default term from 36 to 72 months at 15% APR cuts the payment by roughly $90 but adds over $2,600 in total interest. Pick the shortest term whose payment actually fits the budget.
Is a personal loan cheaper than a payday loan?
Almost always, by a wide margin. A typical two-week payday fee works out to roughly 400% APR where the product is legal, while the 36% APR ceiling used on this page is the high end for personal loans — and a credit-union PAL runs under a 28% federal cap. The trade-off is speed and paperwork: payday is same-day with a pay stub; a personal loan takes a day or more and a credit check. The calculator puts both in the same currency: total dollars repaid.
LendMap USA is an information platform, not a lender: this calculator computes the arithmetic of the numbers you enter and tables computed from published benchmarks — it is not an offer of credit.