The maths, with your numbers
What paying extra would do
Every dollar above the payment comes straight off the balance, so the interest stops being charged on it. These are worked out from the loan above.
How the balance falls
The same loan over different terms
| Term | Payment | Total interest | Total repaid |
|---|
A longer term lowers the payment and raises the interest. Your loan is highlighted.
Amortization schedule
Where each payment goes, from the first to the last.
A personal loan is an unsecured fixed-rate loan: the same payment every month, no house or car behind it, and usually a fee taken out of the money before it reaches you. The calculator above works out the payment and the true cost including that fee.
The fee changes the real rate
Most personal lenders charge an origination fee and deduct it from the proceeds. Borrow $20,000 with a 5% fee and $19,000 lands in your account, while the repayments are calculated on the full $20,000. That gap is why the APR is always higher than the interest rate, and why comparing rates alone is not enough.
Put the fee into the calculator and it shows both the APR and the cash you would actually receive. If you need $20,000 in hand, you have to borrow about $21,050 at a 5% fee.
What is a normal rate?
The only authoritative national figure is the Federal Reserve's quarterly survey of bank lending terms. The average rate on a 24-month personal loan was 11.86% in the second quarter of 2026. For context, the same release puts credit card accounts charged interest at 22.15%, which is the comparison that makes personal loans worth looking at.
You will see tables elsewhere claiming precise average rates by credit score band. Those come from lead-generation sites reporting their own applicant pools, not from any public dataset, so we do not repeat them. What is true is the shape: better credit means a lower rate and a smaller fee, and the difference between a good rate and a poor one on a five-year loan is usually thousands of dollars.
Before you sign
- Compare APRs, not rates. One lender's 10% with a 6% fee is worse than another's 11% with none.
- Check for a prepayment penalty. Most personal loans do not have one, but ask, because paying early is the cheapest way to cut the cost.
- Watch the term. Seven years at a low payment can cost more than three years at a higher one. The table above prices every term for you.
- If it is for consolidating debt, run the numbers on our debt consolidation calculator first. A loan only helps if the rate is genuinely lower than what you pay now.
Quick answers
What is the monthly payment on a $20,000 personal loan?
At 11.86% over five years it is about $444 a month, and you repay roughly $26,600 in total. A 5% origination fee would also mean only $19,000 reaching your account.
What is a good personal loan rate?
Compare against the Federal Reserve's average of 11.86% for a 24-month bank personal loan in Q2 2026. Below that is good; well above it usually reflects credit risk or a short-term lender.
Do personal loans have fees?
Often an origination fee, usually taken out of the money you receive. That is why the APR is higher than the interest rate.
Can I pay a personal loan off early?
Usually yes, and it saves interest because these loans are simple interest. Check the agreement for a prepayment penalty first.
How much can I borrow?
Lenders look at income, existing debts and credit history rather than a fixed limit. Our debt-to-income calculator shows the ratio they will be looking at.
Sources
- Federal Reserve, G.19 Consumer Credit, Terms of Credit (24-month personal loan and credit card rates, Q2 2026)
- CFPB, fees on personal installment loans
- CFPB, prepayment penalties
- 12 CFR § 1026.22, how a disclosed APR is calculated and its tolerance