Loan Payoff Calculator — When Will My Loan Be Paid Off?
Enter the three numbers already on your statement: balance, interest rate, and monthly payment. The calculator solves for how many payments are left, turns that into a calendar payoff date, and shows what extra payments or a one-time lump sum would do to that date.
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Results
| Year | As scheduled | With extras |
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How Much Extra Would Each Amount Save?
Every row below is computed by the same engine as the calculator, on your balance and rate, using fixed extra amounts. Find the row where the payoff time you gain stops feeling worth the cash you give up.
| Extra each month | Loan paid off in | Time saved | Interest left | Interest saved |
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Why the Payment, Not the Remaining Term, Is the Right Input
Most payoff calculators ask how many years are left. That is the one number your statement usually does not print. Your statement does print the balance and the monthly principal-and-interest payment, and for a fixed-rate loan those two numbers plus the rate fully determine the payoff date. So this page solves for the term instead of asking you to recall it.
The formula is n = −ln(1 − P × r / M) / ln(1 + r), where P is the balance, r is the annual rate divided by 12, and M is the monthly payment. It comes from rearranging the standard payment formula M = P × r / (1 − (1 + r)−n). Because n is the exact number of monthly payments, an estimate built on it lands on the right month; the calculator then rounds to whole installments and checks whether the final payment is a full one or a small remainder.
One consequence is worth flagging. If your payment is smaller than the interest that accrues each month, the formula has no solution and in reality neither does your loan: the balance grows. The calculator refuses to produce a date in that case and tells you the interest charge instead, because a payoff date there would be fiction.
The rounding also tells the truth. A 30-year loan of $240,000 at 6.5% has an exact payment of $1,516.963256. Pay that number and the loan dies on payment 360. Pay $1,516.96 — the same figure one fraction of a cent lower — and $3.60 of principal survives payment 360, so a 361st payment is required. That is not a rounding artifact to be hidden; if you pay the rounded-down amount, the 361st payment really is due.
Example: When Does $240,000 at 6.5% Get Paid Off?
Balance $240,000, rate 6.5%, payment $1,516.96 — the standard 30-year payment on a loan that size, entered to the cent. That last fraction of a cent matters: the exact payment is $1,516.963256, so paying $1,516.96 leaves $3.60 after payment 360 and requires a 361st. The calculator shows that honestly. Counting from the current month (October 2026, which the form fills in for you) and adding $200 a month of principal, the same loan behaves like this:
- Interest charged in the first month: $1,300.00 — of a $1,516.96 payment, only $216.96 touches principal.
- As scheduled: 361 payments, the last one tiny, paid off November 2056, with $306,109.22 of interest left to pay.
- With $200 extra monthly: 262 payments, paid off August 2048, with $209,838.24 of interest.
- Time cut: 99 months — 8 years and 3 months. Interest saved: $96,270.98.
Note what the numbers say about the scale of the trade: $200 a month for 262 months is $52,400 of extra cash, and it removes $96,271 of interest. That ratio is not a trick, it is the compounding you are refusing to pay. And it is front-loaded — the same $200 applied in year 15 does far less than in year 1, because by then much of the interest has already been charged.
Extra Every Month Versus One Lump Sum
On the same $240,000 / 6.5% loan with a $1,516.96 payment, $10,000 applied once with the first payment retires the loan in 319 payments instead of 361 — 42 months (3 years, 6 months) earlier, paid off May 2053, saving $52,584.67 of interest. Spreading that same $10,000 as $200 a month for 50 months does worse on both counts: the loan ends in 324 payments and saves only $45,423.08. Same money, $7,162 less benefit, purely because the balance came off later.
The rule the math enforces: for the same dollars, earlier beats later, and more often beats less often. If you have a lump sum, apply it now rather than December. If the lump sum is your emergency reserve, keep the reserve and use the monthly extra instead — a paid-off loan you had to re-borrow against is not progress.
Smaller Loans Behave Differently
On a $8,000 five-year loan at 9%, the payment is $166.07 and the interest bill is $1,963.96 over 60 months. Adding $50 a month ends it in 44 payments instead of 60 — 16 months earlier — and saves $557.05. The absolute saving looks small next to a mortgage, but it is a 28% cut to the total interest on a loan this size, and the loan is gone in under four years.
Auto and personal loans are where extra payments usually pay off fastest, because the balances are small and the rates are high. A 9% or 12% car loan costs more per dollar borrowed than a 6.5% mortgage, so each extra dollar of principal blocks more interest. The same calculator handles both — enter the balance and payment from the loan statement and the mechanics do not change.
Reading Your Payoff Date Correctly
Three things move a real payoff date away from the calculated one, and none of them are in the formula. Escrow: if your statement payment includes taxes and insurance, subtract them first, or the calculator will think you are paying down principal faster than you are. Recasting or rate resets: the formula assumes a fixed rate and a level payment; an adjustable rate changes both. Servicer allocation: an extra payment that lands in a suspense account has no effect until it is applied, so the date moves by however many months that money sat idle.
For the same balance and the same payment, a shorter calculated term is not automatically good news — it can also mean a higher rate is eating your payment. Compare the interest-charged-next-month figure against the payment: the closer those two numbers are, the more of your money is going to the lender rather than to your own balance.
FAQ
How do I calculate when my loan will be paid off?
You need three numbers: the current balance, the annual interest rate, and the monthly principal-and-interest payment. The remaining number of payments is n = −ln(1 − P × r / M) / ln(1 + r), where P is the balance, r is the annual rate divided by 12, and M is the monthly payment. Add that many months to today and you have your payoff date. This calculator runs that formula and also shows the month-by-month balance.
Why does this calculator ask for my monthly payment instead of my remaining term?
Because your statement shows the payment and the balance, while the remaining term is something most borrowers would have to guess or reconstruct. Solving for the term from the payment removes that guess: the payment and balance on your statement fully determine the payoff date of a fixed-rate loan.
What happens if my payment does not cover the monthly interest?
Then the balance never falls and the loan can never be paid off. On a $240,000 balance at 6.5%, interest alone is $1,300.00 in the first month, so any payment at or below that amount makes no progress. The calculator detects this case and tells you the interest charge instead of a fictional date.
Does an extra monthly payment always shorten the loan?
Only if the servicer applies it to principal. Many servicers apply unexpected extra amounts to the next scheduled payment or hold them in a suspense account, which delays the benefit instead of removing balance. Label extra payments as principal-only and confirm on the next statement that the balance dropped by the full amount.
Is a one-time lump sum better than paying extra every month?
For the same total dollars, paying earlier wins, because the balance it removes stops accruing interest sooner. A $10,000 lump sum in month one saves more than spreading $10,000 across later months. But a lump sum requires cash on hand, while a monthly extra is easier to sustain, so the practical answer depends on which one you will actually follow through on.
Does this work for car loans and personal loans?
Yes, for any fixed-rate installment loan with level payments: auto loans, personal loans, and student loans all fit the same formula. The math assumes the rate does not change and no fees are added mid-stream, so a variable-rate loan will drift from these estimates when the rate resets.
Related Tools
To model a fixed extra amount month by month with a mid-schedule balance table, open the Extra Payment Calculator. If you want to see what half a payment every two weeks does instead, use the Biweekly Mortgage Calculator, and for a head-to-head comparison of both cadences read Biweekly vs Extra Payments. If your loan is a personal, auto, or student loan rather than a mortgage, the Personal Loan Payoff Calculator is tuned for small high-rate balances. If the balance has not fallen after an extra payment, read why an extra payment may miss principal. The AmortWise homepage lists every tool, and the terms of use explain how to interpret these estimates.