APR Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Enter or choose loan amount.
2. Enter or choose interest rate (per year).
3. Enter or choose term.
4. Enter or choose fees paid upfront or deducted.
5. Enter or choose fees added to the loan.
6. The aPR updates as you type. Use Copy result or Share to keep it.

Method

Payment A = PMT(Loan + financed fees, rate ÷ 12, n); find i with A × (1 − (1 + i)^−n) ÷ i = Loan − upfront fees; APR = 12 × i

A

level monthly payment

n

number of monthly payments

i

monthly rate found by search

EAR

(1 + i)^12 − 1

Worked example

1. Payment on $200,000 at 0.5% a month for 360 months = $1,199.10.
2. You receive 200,000 − 4,000 = $196,000.
3. Searching for the monthly rate at which 360 payments of $1,199.10 are worth $196,000 gives 0.51579%.
4. APR = 12 × 0.51579% = 6.189%.

A 6% 30-year loan with $4,000 of upfront fees has an APR of about 6.19%.

What the result means

Compare loans of the same length by APR rather than by interest rate: it puts fees and rate on one scale. Fees weigh more heavily on short loans, so a fee that adds 0.2 points to a 30-year APR can add a full point or more to a 3-year loan.

Assumptions and limits

• Fixed rate and level monthly payments.
• All fees you enter count as finance charges.
• APR is quoted as 12 times the monthly rate (nominal), as in US Regulation Z and most loan disclosures.
• Which fees legally belong in APR differs by country and loan type; your lender’s disclosed APR may include or exclude items differently.
• Variable rates, irregular payment dates and odd first periods are not modelled.