•Working out monthly repayments before taking out a car or personal loan
•Checking whether a mortgage or business loan fits your budget
•Seeing how much interest extra payments would save over the life of a loan
•Comparing two loan offers with different rates or terms side by side
💡 Pro Tip
When comparing two loan offers, check the total interest paid over the full term, not just the monthly payment — a lower monthly payment on a longer term can cost more overall.
Works out repayments, total interest, and a full amortization schedule for any loan — whether you're planning a new loan, tracking one already in progress, or comparing two offers.
When to use this
Use this when taking out a loan, checking whether a loan is affordable against your income, comparing two loan offers side by side, or figuring out how extra payments would shorten an existing loan.
Step-by-step workflow
1Pick a Loan Term mode Manual Term (amount + years/months), Calendar Dates (start and end date), or Running Loan (for a loan you already have — enter the current outstanding balance and dates instead of the original terms).
2Enter the loan details Amount, interest rate, and repayment frequency (Monthly, Bi-weekly, or Weekly).
3Add optional details if relevant Down payment, processing fee, insurance fee, or an extra payment per period to see early-repayment savings.
4Check Compare Scenarios or Affordability Compare against an alternative loan offer, or check your Debt-to-Income ratio against your income and expenses.
5Review the amortization schedule Search or jump to any specific payment in the full payment-by-payment breakdown.
Tips for best results
✓Use Running Loan mode if you're tracking a loan you already took out — it recalculates the remaining schedule from your current balance, not the original terms.
✓Add an Extra Payment amount to instantly see how many payments and how much interest you'd save by paying more than the minimum.
✓Use the amortization table's search and jump controls rather than scrolling through hundreds of rows to find a specific payment.
Common mistakes to avoid
⚠Reading the "Effective Interest %" figure as an official APR — it's total interest plus fees divided by the amount financed, a useful comparison number but not a regulated APR calculation.
⚠Entering a down payment larger than the loan amount — the tool will flag this, but double-check your numbers if you see the warning.
⚠Using Manual Term mode for a loan you're already partway through — Running Loan mode gives a more accurate remaining schedule in that case.
