Personal loan repayment calculator - Estimate your repayments

RateCity offers two personal loan calculators that may assist you in different ways - calculating your personal loan repayments, and to calculate your personal loan borrowing power.

Repayment Calculator

Firstly, our repayment calculator is a helpful interactive online tool that can be used to show you an estimation of your potential weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments. A personal loan repayments calculator can tell you:

• Your estimated repayment
• Total interest payable
• Total cost of the loan

By entering basic information, such as the amount you’d like to borrow your preferred loan term and interest rate, the personal loan calculator will crunch the numbers on the loan repayments, as well as the interest payable.

Borrowing Power Calculator

Calculate how much you may be approved to borrow based on your salary with our borrowing power calculator. A borrowing power calculator can tell you:

• Your estimated loan size
• Total interest payable
• Total cost of the loan

Simply enter how much you can afford to repay and the repayment frequency and we’ll calculate how much you may be able to afford to borrow with a personal loan.

1. Enter how much you’d like to borrow

Try putting in different amounts to compare results. If you borrow a larger loan amount, you may need to make higher repayments, or take on a longer loan term.

2. Select your preferred interest rate

The lower the interest rate, the more affordable your personal loan repayments may be.

3. Choose monthly, fortnightly, or weekly repayments

Choosing a repayment schedule that suits your pay cycle could help make your budgeting simpler. Plus, more frequent repayments could help reduce the total interest you may pay.

4. Choose a loan term 

A shorter personal loan term means your repayments may be higher, but you could pay off your debt sooner and pay less total interest. A longer personal loan term means your repayments may be lower, but the cost of the loan may be higher, and you might need to pay more in total interest.

5. Compare personal loans 

Look for personal loan options that have similar interest rates to your calculation. Aside from the interest rate, be sure to check a personal loan’s fees and features before you apply to make sure it suits your needs.

RateCity’s Personal Loan Repayment Calculator offers estimates only, making it a personal loan estimator, and does not include fees and other charges. Variable interest rates may change over time, and affect the cost of your personal loan repayments. Products are not recommendations. You may not be eligible for every personal loan offer. Consider contacting a financial counsellor for professional advice about whether a personal loan is right for you. 

1. Repayment amount

Enter how much you can commit to paying. Consider how much of your household budget you’d be willing to put toward repaying a personal loan.

2. Repayment frequency

Select how frequently you’d like to make repayments; weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.

3. Interest rate

If you’ve already found a loan you like, you can select your preferred personal loan rate. However, the calculator can automatically suggest an average interest rate based on your credit rating.

4. Credit score

Personal loans typically use your credit score as one of the main factors in determining your loan interest rate. This is why we recommend you also select your credit score category (i.e. ‘good’ or ‘excellent’) to give you a more accurate estimation of how much you could be approved to borrow. If you don’t know your credit rating, consider checking your credit score.

5. Compare personal loans

Now is the fun part - you get to choose your personal loan. Look for personal loan options that are similar to your calculation, as RateCity’s tables will show you the potential repayment amount. Aside from the interest rate, be sure to check a personal loan’s fees and features before you apply to make sure it suits your needs.

A personal loan calculator is just one part of the comparison process. Before applying for a personal loan, it's wise to do your research to understand how a personal loan works. You should always make sure the personal loan you're considering matches your financial needs.

Here are five factors to consider when comparing personal loans.

Does the length of a personal loan matter?

The length of the personal loan - aka the loan term - is one of the crucial factors that impact the overall cost of the loan. 

A loan term is typically one to five years, and can be up to seven depending on the lender you choose. A shorter loan term requires you to pay off your loan balance faster, with higher repayment amounts. However you will typically pay far less interest. Whereas a longer loan term may mean smaller repayments, but those interest charges will add up over time.

You can use the repayment calculator to see how different loan terms compare in terms of regular repayment amounts and overall price.

For example, let’s say you were borrowing $10,000 and wanted to see how a shorter loan term (two years) compared to a longer loan term (five years) at a rate of 8%. RateCity’s repayment calculator shows that opting for the longer loan term means paying an extra $1,311 in interest over the life of the loan. 

Short versus long term loan repayments

Source: RateCity.com.au. Based on hypothetical personal loan repayments for $10,000 loans at 8% interest on 2-year term and 5-year term. 

A longer loan term may suit borrowers who need some breathing room in their budget to pay off the loan. In this example, a five year loan term would save you $249 each month in repayments. However, understandably the longer you pay off a loan the more interest you are charged.

How do you pay a personal loan off sooner?

There are a few options available to borrowers to help them pay off their personal loan sooner. This includes:

• Make extra repayments (if lender allows)
• Increase your regular repayment amount
• Change your payment frequency
• Consider refinancing to a shorter loan term

While there may be some costs associated with refinancing a personal loan, switching to a shorter loan term, or one that allows you to make extra repayments without penalty, could go a long way in helping you pay off your loan faster. 

There are a few key differences between RateCity’s personal loan calculators and the personal loan calculators offered by lenders and some other comparison sites.

Experiment with variables

Some personal loan calculators only let you use pre-filled information for specific personal loan products. RateCity’s personal loan calculator lets you select each variable for yourself, to help you better understand how each option may affect your personal loan.

Find the total interest payable 

Rather than simply showing you the interest rate or the regular repayment of a personal loan, our calculator can help you find the total amount of the personal loan, including interest, though you’ll also need to account for any other fees and charges that may apply.

Compare personal loans based on your calculations

Once you’ve made a personal loan calculation, our calculator can point you towards personal loans that are similar to the variables you entered. While these loans may not match your calculation exactly, this can serve as a benchmark for working out whether these loans may suit your needs.

Find personal loans based on your credit score

By including your credit rating with your personal loan calculations, you can be more confident about applying for the loans based on your results, as you’re more likely to fulfil the eligibility criteria.