Each loan calculator is slightly different. Some suggest a specific method to repay the loan, while others have simulators that let you see how your total payment amount would drop if you increase your monthly payments.
Here’s some guidance on some useful calculators and what makes them different.
A Straightforward Plan: Bankrate
Bankrate’s free loan repayment calculator gives you a timetable for paying off each of your loans. Enter the number of loans you want to include, their interest rates, total loan amount and other details. You also enter any new income you expect to receive, such as an annual salary increase or windfall, and the amount you can put toward your debts. The calculator then produces a payment table for each loan showing how much to pay each month until the loan is paid off.
Bankrate gives priority to paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first. Once your first loan is paid off, the money you put into it is put towards your other monthly payments. In other words, as you pay off the loan, the monthly payments on your other loans increase until they are also paid off.
Who should use it? Bankrate’s calculator works for people who have multiple loans, and the total monthly minimum payment is within their financial reach. If that’s you, you’ll get a clear plan to get rid of all your debt – with a timeline.
Where it falls short. This calculator assumes that it is in your best interest to pay off your debt by paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first. This is not true for everyone. You may have other options, like consolidating credit card debt into a new card with a 0 percent introductory rate or filing for bankruptcy. Bankrate also doesn’t take into account other personal finance concerns, such as other uses of monthly funds that are freed up after paying off your first loan – Bankrate tells you to put that money toward your next-highest-interest loan. You may be better off putting it toward retirement savings or an emergency fund.
Big-Picture Guidance: NerdWallet
NerdWallet’s free debt load calculator determines your debt load as a percentage of your income. The resulting debt burden is classified as small (less than 36 percent), large (37–42), or heavy (43 percent or more). Based on the results, NerdWallet suggests a way to eliminate your debt, which you read about in an educational article below the results.
Who should use it? This calculator helps you get a detailed breakdown of your loan. If you have a lot of debt, it may be worth ruling out (or entering into) the option of declaring bankruptcy.
Where it falls short. It is not good at analyzing the finer details of your loan. For example, in Setup, there is no line item for a student loan or mortgage, much less the exact interest rate you’ll pay on the loan. The results are a rough guide rather than an individual strategy.
Automated Input: WalletHub
When you sign up for WalletHub (free) and connect your financial accounts, the app pulls real information about how much money you owe and your payment history. Its loan repayment plan has a calculator that lets you play with the numbers to see what would happen if you increased your monthly payments. How fast can you pay off the loan? How much will you save in interest? You can immediately see the difference between increasing your monthly payments by $50 versus $150.
Who should use it? This calculator is for WalletHub users who have connected their financial accounts. This is most useful for people who are able to make more than the monthly minimum payments on their loan.
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