Monthly payment, total interest and amortization for personal, auto and any fixed-rate loan
| Year | Paid | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|
Yearly totals; the final row shows the payoff year. Interest is computed on the reducing balance each month, the way real loans work.
Every fixed-rate loan — personal, auto, student, appliance financing — resolves to one number: the equated monthly installment, or EMI. This calculator computes it exactly, shows how much of what you pay is interest, and lays out the year-by-year payoff schedule, so you can compare loan offers on total cost instead of monthly sticker price.
An EMI (Equated Monthly Installment) is the fixed amount you pay each month so that a loan is fully repaid — principal and interest — by the end of its term. Early payments are mostly interest; late payments are mostly principal. The payment itself never changes, which is what makes fixed-rate loans easy to budget around.
where P is the amount borrowed, r is the monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12 ÷ 100) and n is the number of monthly payments. This is the same reducing-balance formula banks use, so the result matches what a lender will quote for the same rate and term.
Borrow $20,000 at 9.5% APR for 5 years: r = 0.095/12 = 0.007917, n = 60. The formula gives an EMI of $420.11. Over 60 payments you pay $25,206 in total — the $20,000 you borrowed plus $5,206 in interest, about 21% on top of the loan.
A useful mental shortcut: scale these per-$10,000 payments to any loan size (a $30,000 loan costs 3× the numbers below).
| APR | 3 years | 5 years | 7 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6% | $304/mo | $193/mo | $146/mo |
| 9% | $318/mo | $208/mo | $161/mo |
| 12% | $332/mo | $222/mo | $177/mo |
| 15% | $347/mo | $238/mo | $193/mo |
| 18% | $362/mo | $254/mo | $210/mo |
Notice the trap in longer terms: at 12% APR, stretching from 3 to 7 years cuts the payment by nearly half but almost triples the total interest ($1,957 vs $4,868 per $10,000).
Some lenders (especially for auto and consumer financing) advertise a "flat rate" where interest is charged on the original principal for the whole term. A flat rate dramatically understates the real cost:
| Quote type | Interest charged on | Effective APR of a "10%" quote |
|---|---|---|
| Reducing balance (this tool) | Remaining balance each month | 10% — as stated |
| Flat rate | Original principal every month | roughly 17–19% over 3–5 years |
If a quote sounds too cheap, ask whether the rate is flat or reducing. This calculator uses reducing balance — the honest, standard method — so enter the true APR from your loan disclosure.
Yes — EMI is simply the standard term for the fixed monthly payment on an amortizing loan. US lenders usually just say 'monthly payment'; the math is identical.
Yes. Any fixed-rate, fully amortizing loan follows the same formula — auto, personal, student (fixed-rate), boat, or furniture financing. Enter the amount, APR and term.
Small differences usually come from fees rolled into the loan (origination fees increase the financed amount), a first-payment date more than a month out, or rounding conventions. Differences beyond a few dollars deserve a question to the lender.
The interest rate is the cost of borrowing; APR also folds in mandatory fees, making it the better comparison number. If your offer lists both, using the APR here gives a more realistic total cost.
Yes. All calculations happen locally in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded or stored on a server.
The table shows yearly totals to stay readable; every monthly payment inside it is computed individually on the reducing balance, so yearly figures are exact sums of the real monthly schedule.
No. It's completely free with no account required, and there's no limit on recalculations.
In short: the EMI formula is fixed math, which means every dollar of difference between loan offers comes from the rate, the term and the fees. Run each offer through the calculator, compare total interest — not monthly payment — and the cheapest loan identifies itself. For the borrowing-side of home purchases, see our Mortgage Payment (PITI) Calculator.