APR calculator, what a loan really costs.

The APR, or annual percentage rate, is the yearly cost of a loan shown as a rate, with certain fees counted in. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says an APR reflects the interest rate plus other charges, and that the interest rate alone leaves out fees (CFPB, checked 24 Oct 2026). This APR calculator finds it for a loan from the amount, the fees, the term and either the interest rate or the monthly payment. It also compares two offers and turns a card’s APR into a daily and a monthly rate. You type every number. The page claims no rates, and the lender’s own printed APR always wins over this estimate.

How to use it

1. Under What are you working out pick Loan APR, Compare offers or Card APR.
2. For a loan, type the Loan amount, the Term (months) and the Fees. Under I know the pick the interest rate or the monthly payment.
3. Say whether the Fees are Taken from the loan (you receive less than the amount) or Added to the loan (you owe more than you receive).
4. Read the big APR card and the table of the same loan with other fees. Copy result copies a line and Copy link to these numbers reopens the page with your inputs.

A worked example

A loan of 20,000 at an example 7 percent over 60 months has a payment of 396.02 and payments of 23,761.44 in all. With 600 of fees taken from the loan you receive 19,400. The yearly rate that makes 60 payments of 396.02 worth 19,400 is 8.286 percent, so the fees add 1.286 points to the 7 percent. The cost of credit, the payments less what you received, is 4,361.44. If the same 600 is added to the loan instead, you owe 20,600, the payment is 407.90 and the APR is 8.248 percent.

The payment does not move because the interest rate and the amount do not change. Only the money you receive does, and that is what the APR picks up. The longer the term, the less a fixed fee adds to the APR, and the shorter the term, the more.

Comparing two offers

Offer A is the loan above, 7 percent with 600 of fees. Offer B is 7.5 percent with no fees. Offer B has the higher payment, 400.76 against 396.02, but its APR is 7.500 percent against 8.286 percent, and its cost of credit is 4,045.54 against 4,361.44. B costs less in this case. APR is a yearly rate, so it lets you compare loans of different lengths fairly, but a longer loan can still cost more in total at a lower APR, so the page shows the cost of credit next to it.

APR on a credit card

A card’s APR is divided into a daily rate, usually by 365 although some issuers use 360, and the statement says which. At an example 22 percent, the daily rate is 0.06027 percent, the monthly rate is 1.8333 percent and 2,500 left unpaid for 30 days adds about 45.21 of interest. If interest is added daily and never paid, 22 percent grows to about 24.599 percent over a year. The page’s table shows this arithmetic for round APRs:

These are only sums on round numbers, not rates any card offers.

How the term changes what a fee does

A fee is paid once, but the APR spreads it over the life of the loan. The same 600 of fees on a 20,000 loan at an example 7 percent gives very different APRs depending on the term:

A short loan carries the fee over fewer months, so each month bears more of it. If you plan to pay a loan off early, the APR shown at the start understates what the fee costs you, because you will have had the money for less time. Ask whether the fees are refunded if you leave early, and compare offers of the same length where you can.

APR is not APY

APR is the cost of borrowing, with fees counted. APY is what a saver earns, with compounding counted. For savings, see the APY calculator. For the monthly payment and the full schedule of a loan, use the loan calculator. To plan a payoff, there is the credit card payoff calculator.

Limits of this estimate

• It treats the payments as level and monthly, with the first one a month after the loan starts. Lenders count odd first periods and days in their own way.
• Which charges count in a printed APR is set by law and differs by loan type. The page counts whatever you type in the fees box.
• A rate that changes cannot be shown by one APR.