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Printed August 25, 2026 · https://trycleartally.com/loan-payoff-calculator
Estimates for educational purposes only — not financial advice. See https://trycleartally.com/disclaimer.
Loan Payoff Calculator
What you pay toward this loan each month now.
Optional — applied straight to principal each month.
New payoff time
Debt-free around Sep 2029
Total interest
With your extra payments
Total paid
New monthly payment
$400 + $200 extra
Time saved
vs your current payment
Interest saved
Interest at current payment
Balance over time
The gap between the lines is your extra payments at work — the sooner the green line reaches zero, the less interest you pay overall.
Assumes a fixed rate and a level monthly payment. Late fees, rate changes, and prepayment penalties aren't modeled. Estimate only, not financial advice.
Loan Payoff Worksheet
New payoff time
3 yrs 1 mo
Fixed-rate, level-payment estimate. Fees, rate changes, and prepayment penalties not modeled. Not financial advice.
Calculated using the standard formulas described at https://trycleartally.com/methodology — for educational estimates only, not a quote or financial advice. Verify with your lender or financial institution before making decisions.
Enter your loan balance, rate, and monthly payment to estimate your payoff date and total interest — then see how much sooner an extra payment clears the loan.
Reviewed by the ClearTally editorial team · Last updated July 16, 2026 · Methodology & sources
How it works
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.
Sources & further reading
FAQ
You need three numbers: your current balance, your interest rate (APR), and your monthly payment. Each month, interest is added on the balance and the rest of your payment reduces the principal; the payoff date is the month the balance reaches zero. Enter those three figures above and the calculator returns the payoff date, the number of months left, and the total interest you'll pay getting there.
It depends on the size of the extra payment relative to your balance and rate, but the effect is usually bigger than people expect because every extra dollar skips the interest it would have accrued for the rest of the loan. On a $20,000 loan at 6%, paying $600/month instead of $400 clears it about 21 months sooner and saves roughly $1,139 in interest. Add an extra-payment amount above to see the exact numbers for your loan.
It only helps if it's applied to principal. Some lenders treat an overpayment as an early payment toward next month's bill, which advances your due date but saves you nothing in interest. To pay the loan off faster you usually have to tell the servicer to apply the extra amount to principal — check your statement after the first extra payment to confirm the balance dropped by the full amount.
Sometimes. A prepayment penalty is a fee some lenders charge for paying off (or paying down) a loan ahead of schedule, to recoup interest they'd otherwise have collected. They're most common on some mortgages and auto loans and rare on federal student loans and most personal loans, but the only way to be sure is to check your loan agreement for a 'prepayment' clause. If your loan has one, weigh the fee against the interest you'd save before making a big extra payment.
This calculator focuses on a single loan and answers 'when is this one paid off, and how much sooner with extra payments?' Our debt payoff calculator handles several debts at once and compares strategies for the order to clear them — the snowball (smallest balance first) versus the avalanche (highest rate first). Use this page for one loan; use the debt payoff calculator when you're juggling a few balances and a fixed budget.