Trulend personal loan calculator and payment guide

Enter the amount you plan to borrow, an estimated APR and a term in months. The personal loan calculator returns a fixed monthly payment, the total interest and the total you would repay over the full term.

1. Amount: type the cash you need, from $500 to $5,000. If a lender may deduct an origination fee, see the fee section below before you settle on a number.
2. APR: start with 24% if you are unsure, then try the range for your credit tier. Estimated APRs across lenders run from 6.99% to 35.99%.
3. Term: pick between 6 and 36 months. Smaller balances usually fit 6 to 12 months; larger ones may run 12 to 36.
4. Read the three results together: the monthly payment tells you if it fits your budget, and the total repaid tells you what it really costs.

Most trulend borrowers run the personal loan calculator three or four times. Try your ideal term, then one shorter and one longer, and write down each payment and total. A shorter term that you can comfortably afford almost always saves money; a longer term buys breathing room in the budget but costs more in interest.

Some personal loan lenders charge an origination fee of 0% to 10%, often deducted from the amount you receive. If you need a set amount in hand, borrow enough to cover the fee and recalculate the payment.

Say a trulend borrower needs $2,000 for a repair and the lender charges 5%. Borrowing $2,000 leaves you $1,900 after the $100 fee. To receive the full $2,000, you would borrow about $2,105.26, and at 24% over 12 months that payment rises to about $199.07, for roughly $2,388.84 repaid. Enter the larger amount in the calculator to see the real cost, and check that the lender's quoted APR, which includes the fee, matches what you expect.

You can estimate early-payoff savings by running a shorter term with the same amount. The gap between the two totals is roughly what paying ahead could save, if the lender has no prepayment penalty.

Take a $2,000 trulend scenario at 24% APR. On an 18-month plan you would repay $2,401.20; on a 12-month plan, $2,269.44. If you sign the 18-month personal loan for its lower $133.40 payment but send $189.12 whenever money allows, you move toward the 12-month result and could save up to $131.76. A tax refund applied in month three does even more, because interest is highest early in the schedule.

• Confirm in the loan agreement that extra payments go to principal, not to next month's payment.
• Ask whether the personal loan has a prepayment penalty; most lenders that publish terms say they do not.
• Keep the required payment automatic and make extra payments separately, so a tight month never causes a late fee.

A personal loan calculator shows math, not an offer. Lenders set the actual APR, fees, term options and approval after reviewing your credit, income and state, and some round payments or bill on schedules other than monthly.

• Your real APR can land anywhere in a lender's range, and many people see a rate higher than the lowest advertised.
• Late fees, returned-payment fees and optional add-ons are not included in the estimate.
• Some lenders bill biweekly, which changes the payment amount even if the total is similar.
• The first payment date can shift interest by a few dollars depending on how many days pass before it is due.
• Funding can arrive as soon as the next business day after approval, depending on the lender, but not every request is approved.

Use the calculator to set a trulend payment ceiling, then compare actual offers against it. When you are ready, a trulend request through the personal loan request form is free, and any lender that can help shows its own terms. Trulends readers who check the eligibility basics first usually know what documents to have ready.