Loan Payoff Calculator

Most payoff tools ask for a loan term; this one works the way you actually think about a loan you already have — you know the balance and what you pay each month, and you want the payoff date. Each month, interest is charged on the current balance and the rest of your payment chips away at the principal. As the balance falls, the interest slice shrinks and more of every payment goes to principal, so the loan clears faster and faster toward the end. We run that month by month until the balance hits zero.

An extra payment goes straight to principal, and because it skips all the future interest that principal would have accrued, a little extra early is worth far more than the same amount late. That's the whole engine behind paying a loan off faster — biweekly payments, a rounded-up payment, or a one-off lump sum all work the same way. This calculator covers any fixed-rate installment loan (auto, personal, and the like); for a home loan specifically, the mortgage payoff calculator starts from your remaining term instead.

Example:a $20,000 loan at 6% with a $400 monthly payment takes about 58 months — just under 5 years — to pay off, costing roughly $3,072 in interest. Raise the payment to $600 and it's gone in about 37 months instead, trimming the interest to around $1,934 — a payoff estimate roughly 21 months sooner and about $1,139 cheaper.