Personal loan EMI calculator (UK monthly repayment)
Not a lender · illustrative only.Figures are examples, not offers or advice.
Enter the loan amount, interest rate and term to see your monthly repayment (EMI), total interest and total to repay on a reducing balance. EXAMPLE: £5,000 at 10% over 24 months with a £0 fee is £230.72 a month — £537 interest and £5,537 in total. Illustrative only; your lender’s figures may differ slightly.
Methodology: how this is calculated · Last checked:
Your inputs
EXAMPLE Loan A defaults (£8,500 · 24.9% EXAMPLE rate · 48 months · £0 fee) — illustrative only, not a live quote.
Results
Monthly repayment
£281.36
Total interest
£5,005
Total repayable (incl. fee)
£13,505
Net proceeds (after fee)
£8,500
First-year interest (approx.)
£1,962
Method: Capital-and-interest reducing balance; monthly rate = APR ÷ 12. Representative APR on UK credit ads may include fees — we model fees separately unless stated.
Most people next
Illustrative only — not personalised advice, not a credit offer, and not an FCA-regulated recommendation. LoanCalc Lab is not a lender or broker. Check the lender’s pre-contract information for the APR, fees and early settlement terms. Rates and fees change. Full calculator disclaimer.
How this is calculated
Step by step, exactly as the calculator above works it out. Nothing is sent to a server — the sums run in your browser.
- The annual rate you enter is turned into a monthly rate: r = annual rate ÷ 100 ÷ 12. For example 24.9% becomes 0.02075 a month.
- The term is rounded to a whole number of months (n), with a minimum of 1.
- The fixed monthly payment is M = P × r × (1 + r)n ÷ ((1 + r)n − 1), where P is the loan amount. If the rate is 0%, M is simply P ÷ n.
- A month-by-month schedule is then built: interest = opening balance × r, principal = M − interest, new balance = opening balance − principal. The last payment is capped so the balance ends at zero.
- Total interest is the sum of every month’s interest. Interest in year one is the sum of months 1 to 12.
- An upfront fee is added to the total repayable and taken off the cash you receive. It does not change the monthly payment, because the payment is still worked out on the full loan amount.
- Figures are held to full precision and only rounded for display, so a lender’s schedule can differ by a few pence.
Equations & assumptions
M = P × r(1+r)ⁿ / ((1+r)ⁿ − 1), where P is the loan, r is the monthly rate (annual ÷ 12 ÷ 100), and n is the number of months.
- Capital-and-interest reducing balance; monthly rate = APR ÷ 12. Representative APR on UK credit ads may include fees — we model fees separately unless stated.
- Fixed rate for the whole term; monthly payments in arrears.
- Optional upfront fee is added to total repayable and reduces net proceeds; it is not rolled into the amortising balance unless you add it to the loan amount yourself.
Using this calculator well
When to use it
Use this before you apply, when a lender or comparison site shows you a rate and a term and you want to know what the monthly repayment would really be. It is also handy for checking the repayment in a quote you already hold: if your figure and the lender's differ by more than a few pence, ask why. Try two or three terms side by side, because a longer term lowers the monthly figure but almost always raises the total you repay.
Common errors to avoid
- Typing the APR into the rate box when the quote also gives a lower interest rate. Use the rate the lender says it charges, then check fees separately.
- Entering the term in years when the box asks for months: 5 years is 60 months.
- Judging a loan by the monthly payment alone. Read the total repayable line before you decide.
- Forgetting that the rate you are offered may differ from the advertised representative rate.
UK traps and limits to check
- Arrangement fees. A fee taken from the advance means you receive less cash but repay the full amount. Compare offers on APR and on total repayable, not just the interest rate — MoneyHelper makes the same point in its personal loans guide.
- Early settlement fees. On most regulated UK personal loans you can repay part or all of the loan early (Consumer Credit Act 1974, s94). On a fixed-rate loan the lender may charge compensation, capped at 1% of the amount repaid early (0.5% if 12 months or less remain), and generally only where early repayments exceed £8,000 in a 12-month period. The rebate rules sit in the Consumer Credit (Early Settlement) Regulations 2004; MoneyHelper explains them in plain English in repaying a personal loan early. Ask the lender for a settlement figure rather than relying on any schedule.
- Credit score. Eligibility checkers use a soft search that other lenders cannot see; a full application leaves a hard search on your credit file. Several hard searches close together can make the next lender more cautious. See MoneyHelper on hard and soft credit checks. The rate you are finally offered may not be the advertised representative APR, which only 51% of accepted applicants must receive.
- Variable vs fixed. These calculators hold the rate constant for the whole term, which matches a fixed-rate loan. Some loans and most credit cards are variable, so the real figure can move — for example when the Bank of England Bank Rate changes and a lender passes it on. Re-run the numbers with a higher rate to see how much headroom you have.
- 14-day withdrawal. For most regulated credit agreements you can withdraw within 14 days (Consumer Credit Act 1974, s66A), repaying the credit plus interest for the days you had it. It is a safety net, not a reason to rush.
General information only, not advice. LoanCalc Lab is not a lender or broker and does not recommend borrowing.
Notes & FAQs
How do I map a lender illustration to these fields?
Use amount of credit as loan amount, the schedule interest rate (not the advert’s representative APR) as the annual rate, the number of instalments as term, and any arrangement fee taken from the advance as the upfront fee. EXAMPLE Loan A (£8,500 · 24.9% · 48 months · £0 fee) maps one-to-one.
What is the fee trap on this page?
A fee taken from the advance usually leaves the contractual monthly payment unchanged while cutting cash you receive. On EXAMPLE Loan A a £150 fee still shows about £281.36 / month, but net proceeds fall to £8,350. Compare cash received, not only the instalment.
What is this monthly figure not?
Not a quote, credit offer, affordability decision, or the lender’s statutory APR. Lenders may use different day-count, rounding, or first-period rules. Always read the pre-contract credit information.
When should I not use this EMI calculator?
Do not use it for a residential mortgage, hire-purchase balloon, 0% purchase card, or a flat-rate “EMI” advert that charges interest on the original principal for the whole term. Those products use different maths.
Is EMI the same as a monthly instalment?
Yes for reducing-balance loans. “EMI” is the common label in India/SEA; elsewhere we show “monthly payment” or “repayment”. Maths are the same reducing-balance formula.
Do you support flat-rate loans?
No — this calculator models reducing-balance only. Flat-rate quotes often look cheaper but cost more; convert or ask the lender for the reducing-balance / APR equivalent.
Why does EXAMPLE Loan A show about £281.36 / month?
That is the standard reducing-balance payment on £8,500 at 24.9% EXAMPLE over 48 months with £0 fee: total repayable about £13,505 and interest about £5,005. Change any input and the figure updates; it is illustrative only.
Does changing country mode change the maths?
No. Country mode only changes currency symbols and labels. The formula stays reducing-balance amortisation. UK £ is the default.
Why is my lender’s payment a few pence different?
Lenders may calculate interest daily, round each instalment up to the penny, or make the first or last payment slightly different. This page uses a monthly rate of annual ÷ 12 and does not round until display, so small differences are normal.
Does a longer term ever reduce the total cost?
Not at the same rate. Spreading the same amount over more months lowers each payment but leaves the balance outstanding for longer, so total interest rises. A longer term can only be cheaper overall if it comes with a meaningfully lower rate.
Related tools & guides
Who this EMI calculator is for
Use this page when you have — or are about to receive — a personal-loan illustration and you want the contractual monthly payment on a reducing-balance loan. Typical inputs come straight off a UK pre-contract credit information sheet: amount of credit, annual interest rate, term in months, and any arrangement fee taken from the advance.
Do not use it for a residential mortgage, a hire-purchase balloon, a 0% purchase card, or a flat-rate “EMI” advert that charges interest on the original principal for the whole term. Those products use different maths. LoanCalc Lab is not a lender and this output is not a quote.
Map the illustration to the fields
- Loan amount — the principal the lender amortises, not cash after a fee.
- Annual rate — the schedule rate, not the representative APR in the advert.
- Term (months) — the number of contractual instalments.
- Upfront fee — add it when the illustration takes the fee from the advance.
UK £ is the default. Other country modes only change labels, not the formula. See country mode help and using calculators with a lender illustration.
The formula this page uses
Monthly payment M = P × r(1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n − 1), where P is principal, r is the monthly rate and n is months. A fee raises total repayable and cuts net proceeds; it does not change the instalment unless you also change principal. Compare fees on the APR / true cost calculator.
Case study: choosing a term for a boiler loan
A household needs £6,000 to replace a failed boiler and has an illustration at a fixed 11.9% with no fee. The question is how long to borrow for. Over 36 months the calculator shows £199.00 a month, about £1,164 interest and £7,164 repaid in total. Over 48 months it is £157.71 a month and about £1,570 interest. Over 60 months the payment drops to £133.16, but interest rises to about £1,990.
So the five-year term frees up £65.84 a month compared with three years, and costs about £826 more in interest. Neither answer is “right”: the shorter term only makes sense if £199 fits the budget with room to spare, and a fixed-rate loan can usually be overpaid later (see the extra payment calculator) if money becomes easier. The same reasoning applies to EXAMPLE Loan A (£8,500 at 24.9% over 48 months), which comes out at £281.36 a month and £5,005.36 interest; a £150 fee taken from the advance leaves £8,350 in hand without changing that payment.
Not a quote, credit offer or affordability decision. Full wording: calculator disclaimer. Next: amortisation, extra payment, how EMI works.
Edge cases
At 0% the payment is simply amount ÷ months. A fee equal to or above the loan, a term outside 1–420 months or a rate outside 0–50% shows a message rather than a figure. Very large amounts calculate normally but are well outside typical UK personal-loan sizes.
Sources for product-norm wording only: MoneyHelper — credit; FCA consumer credit. Case-study figures are EXAMPLES produced by this calculator’s own code, not a quote or an offer. Last checked 24 October 2026.