Free Amortization Calculator
Build a complete amortization schedule for any fixed-rate loan. Enter your amount, rate and term, and this loan amortization calculator shows every payment, the principal vs interest split, your payoff date, and what an extra payment each month would change.
Amortization Calculator
Enter the details from your own loan offer — nothing is pre-filled for you.
$0.00
| Scheduled payment | $0.00 |
|---|---|
| Number of payments | — |
| Principal repaid | $0.00 |
| Total interest | $0.00 |
| Total paid | $0.00 |
| Payoff date | — |
| Extra payment saves | — |
Every figure here comes from the numbers you entered. We do not supply or suggest an interest rate.
We don't store your inputs. No sign-up required.
Your Amortization Schedule
Every payment on your loan, in order. The payment stays level on a fixed-rate loan while the principal and interest columns trade places over the term.
| Payment # | Date | Payment | Principal | Interest | Remaining Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enter your interest rate above and the full schedule appears here. | |||||
What Is an Amortization Schedule?
An amortization schedule is the full repayment plan for a loan: one row per payment, from the first to the last, showing exactly how each one is divided between interest and principal and what balance remains afterward. Lenders produce one for every fixed-rate loan they write, and you are entitled to see it before you sign.
The word amortize simply means to kill off a debt gradually. A fully amortizing loan is one where the scheduled payments, if made on time, reduce the balance to exactly zero on the final payment — nothing is left over and no lump sum is owed at the end. That is what separates it from an interest-only loan or one with a balloon payment.
The single most useful thing an amortization table reveals is the principal vs interest split, and how dramatically it shifts. Your payment never changes on a fixed-rate loan, but what that payment buys you changes every month: early on most of it is the lender's fee for lending, and late on almost all of it is reducing what you owe.
This page builds the whole table, not a summary. If you only need a monthly payment figure, the loan calculator or mortgage calculator will get you there faster; come here when you need to see the payment-by-payment detail, test extra payments, or find your payoff date.
How Loan Amortization Works
Two calculations run behind every amortization table. The first sets the payment; the second splits it.
Step 1 — the level payment
The payment is the single figure that will retire the balance exactly over the term. It comes from the standard amortization formula used across the lending industry:
M = P × [ r(1+r)n ] / [ (1+r)n − 1 ]
where M is the payment, P is the amount borrowed, r is the monthly rate (annual rate ÷ 12), and n is the total number of payments (years × 12).
Step 2 — splitting each payment
For every row in the schedule the lender works out the interest first:
- Interest = the balance still outstanding × the monthly rate.
- Principal = the payment − that interest.
- New balance = the old balance − the principal portion.
Then it repeats, using the new, smaller balance. Because the balance shrinks a little each month, the interest charge shrinks too — and since the payment is fixed, whatever the interest no longer takes goes to principal instead. That single feedback loop is the whole mechanism, and it is why the schedule accelerates toward the end rather than running evenly.
This also explains why amortization is front-loaded with interest without anyone designing it that way. No rule says early payments must favor the lender; it falls out of charging interest on a balance that starts at its maximum. For the background on how rates are quoted and compounded, see our guide to understanding interest rates.
Principal vs Interest Over Time
The chart below plots the two halves of your payment across the whole term, using the figures you entered. The orange line is the interest portion; the green line is the principal portion.
The two lines always move in opposite directions, and the point where they cross is the moment your loan tips from mostly paying the lender to mostly paying yourself. On a long mortgage that crossover can sit two decades in; on a short auto loan it arrives within the first year or two.
What the shape shows is that the curves are not straight. Interest falls slowly at first and then faster, because the balance it is charged on is falling faster each month. That is also the reason the total interest figure is so sensitive to the rate and the term: both change how long you spend on the flat, interest-heavy part of the curve.
How Extra Payments Change Your Schedule
An extra payment is the one lever that works on a fixed-rate loan without renegotiating anything. Because your scheduled payment already covers the interest due, every dollar above it goes entirely to principal.
That has a compounding effect on the schedule. A smaller balance means a smaller interest charge next month, which means more of the next regular payment goes to principal as well — so one extra payment keeps paying you back for the rest of the term. The schedule shortens from the end: you do not get a lower monthly bill, you get fewer bills.
Why timing matters more than size
An extra payment made in year one removes interest that would otherwise have accrued for every remaining year of the loan. The identical payment made in the final year removes almost nothing, because there is barely any interest left to cancel. If you intend to overpay at all, early is worth considerably more than large.
Test it on your own numbers. Put a figure in the Extra Monthly Payment field above, then open View Loan Breakdown — the "Extra payment saves" row reports exactly how much interest and how many payments your figure removes, for your loan rather than a worked example.
Two practical cautions before you start. Check that your loan has no prepayment penalty — most US mortgages and auto loans do not, but it is worth confirming in the paperwork. And make sure the lender applies extra money to the principal, not to prepaying your next installment; some servicers default to the latter unless you tell them otherwise, which does not shorten the loan at all.
If your goal is clearing several debts rather than one, the debt payoff calculator compares the avalanche and snowball orders for the same spare cash.
Monthly vs Biweekly Payments
A biweekly plan means paying half your monthly amount every two weeks. Because a year holds 26 fortnights rather than 24, you end up making the equivalent of 13 monthly payments a year instead of 12 — and that thirteenth payment is the entire reason the method works.
It is not, despite how it is often sold, a clever interest trick. The saving comes from paying more per year, not from paying more often. Switching to biweekly and making one voluntary extra payment a year produce almost identical schedules, which the calculator above will confirm if you compare the two settings against the same loan.
Choose the frequency selector to see both versions of your own schedule. Three things are worth checking before committing:
- Does your servicer apply payments immediately? Some hold each half-payment and only credit the loan once a full monthly amount has arrived, which removes most of the benefit.
- Is there a fee? Third-party biweekly conversion services sometimes charge for what you can do yourself for free by overpaying.
- Does your pay cycle match? The plan suits fortnightly earners and can strain monthly earners, since two months a year carry three payments.
The honest summary: biweekly is a commitment device, not a discount. If an automatic schedule makes you more likely to keep overpaying, it is worth using — but the same result is available by adding one twelfth to each monthly payment, with no fee and no lock-in.
Amortization Across Loan Types
The math is identical for every fixed-rate amortizing loan. What changes is the term, which changes how long the interest-heavy stage lasts and therefore how the schedule feels.
Mortgages
Mortgage amortization runs the longest, typically 15 to 30 years, so the early interest-heavy phase stretches across many years and the total interest can rival the amount borrowed. This is also where overpaying has the greatest leverage, because there is so much future interest available to cancel. Escrow for taxes and insurance is collected alongside the payment but sits outside the amortization itself — the mortgage calculator handles that part.
Auto loans
Auto loans usually run three to seven years, so the schedule reaches the principal-heavy stage quickly. The complication here is not the math but depreciation: the vehicle can lose value faster than the schedule reduces the balance, leaving you temporarily owing more than the car is worth. Compare the balance column against a realistic resale value if you may sell early. See the car payment calculator or the auto loan calculator for the purchase side.
Personal and student loans
Personal loans amortize conventionally over two to seven years, and because rates are usually higher than secured lending the interest column is proportionally larger from the start. Student loans amortize the same way once repayment begins, but federal programs add complications this tool does not model — deferment, subsidised interest periods, income-driven plans that recalculate the payment, and forgiveness provisions. Treat the schedule here as the standard-plan picture only.
One pattern holds across all four: the shorter the term, the higher the payment and the lower the total interest. Nothing in amortization lets you avoid that trade-off — it only lets you see it precisely before you choose.
How to Use This Amortization Calculator
Six fields, and the schedule rebuilds as you type:
- Enter the loan amount — the sum actually being financed, after any down payment or trade-in.
- Enter the interest rate from your loan offer or quote. Nothing is pre-filled: the schedule stays empty until you supply this, because we will not guess a rate on your behalf.
- Pick the loan term, from 1 to 30 years. Try two terms on the same loan to see the total interest move.
- Add an extra monthly payment if you plan to overpay. Leave it at zero for the standard schedule.
- Choose monthly or biweekly to compare the two repayment rhythms.
- Set the first payment month so the dates in the schedule match your real calendar.
Read the payment figure first, then the payoff date, then scroll to Your Amortization Schedule for the payment-by-payment table. The table shows the first twelve payments by default; use Show all payments to expand the full term. Open View Loan Breakdown for the totals and what an extra payment saves.
Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere, so run as many versions as you like — two rates, two terms, or two overpayment plans on the same loan.
Understanding Interest Rates
Learn how APR differs from the headline rate, why compounding frequency changes what you actually pay, and how the rate on your offer drives every row of the amortization schedule above.
Read Full GuideFrequently Asked Questions
An amortization schedule is a table listing every scheduled payment on a loan from the first to the last. For each payment it shows how much goes to interest, how much goes to principal, and what balance is left afterward. The payment itself stays the same on a fixed-rate loan, but the split between interest and principal changes every month.
Each row is one payment. The payment number column counts them in order, and the date column shows when each one falls due. The payment column is the total amount charged that month, which is the same figure every time on a fixed-rate loan. The principal column is the part that reduces what you owe, and the interest column is the part the lender keeps as the cost of borrowing. The remaining balance column shows what is still outstanding after that payment, and it should reach zero on the final row.
Interest is charged on the balance you still owe, and at the start of a loan that balance is at its largest. The lender takes the interest due first, and only what is left over reduces the principal. As the balance falls, the interest charge falls with it, so a larger share of the same fixed payment goes to principal each month. This is why the split shifts gradually rather than all at once.
An extra payment goes entirely to the principal, so it reduces the balance that all future interest is calculated on. That shortens the schedule and cuts the total interest, and it does both without changing your required monthly payment. The earlier in the term you pay extra, the larger the effect, because the money removes interest that would otherwise have accrued for the remaining years. Enter a figure in the extra payment field to see your own schedule shorten.
Yes. Any fixed-rate amortizing loan follows the same math, whether it is a mortgage, an auto loan, a personal loan or a student loan. Only the amount, rate and term differ. A mortgage simply runs for far longer, so the interest-heavy early stage lasts years rather than months, while a short auto loan reaches the principal-heavy stage much sooner.
No. Amortization describes paying down a debt over time through scheduled payments of principal and interest. Depreciation describes an asset losing value over time, such as a car being worth less each year. They are easy to confuse on an auto loan because both happen at once, but they are separate things: your loan balance follows the amortization schedule, while the vehicle's market value follows its own path.
The schedule on this page is produced by the standard amortization formula and was cross-checked against published loan figures before release. For impartial background on loan terms and repayment, see the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. More about who we are.
Suzon Mahmud
Suzon Mahmud is a consumer-finance writer covering saving, interest, loans and budgeting.
Our Methodology
The payment is calculated with the standard fixed-rate amortization formula M = P × [ r(1+r)n ] / [ (1+r)n − 1 ], then the loan is walked payment by payment: interest is charged on the balance still outstanding, the remainder of the payment reduces the principal, and the new balance carries into the next row. No rounding is applied during the calculation — only to the figures displayed. Before release the engine was checked against published loan values and every schedule was confirmed to repay the principal exactly and close at a zero balance.
Every figure is driven by your inputs. The interest rate field ships empty and stays empty until you fill it: we do not supply, suggest or pre-load a rate, because the right figure is the one on your own loan offer. No example on this page uses an invented rate.
What the schedule excludes: property taxes and insurance collected through escrow, PMI, HOA dues, origination fees and closing costs, late fees, and any lender-specific rounding. It assumes a fixed rate for the whole term and equal payments. Adjustable-rate loans, interest-only periods, balloon payments, mortgage points and income-driven student loan plans are outside its scope, as is any lender that calculates interest daily rather than monthly.
The biweekly option models 26 half-payments a year as the monthly schedule plus one twelfth of a payment each month, which reproduces the payoff behavior of 13 monthly payments. Servicers differ in how they credit fortnightly money, so confirm the handling with yours before relying on the saving.
Figures are rounded to the nearest cent for display only. If you find one that looks wrong, please tell us — we check every report. See our disclaimer for the limits of these estimates.
Related Calculators
These free tools cover the rest of the picture:
- Mortgage Calculator — home loan payment including property taxes, insurance and PMI.
- Loan Calculator — monthly payment and total interest on a personal or student loan.
- Car Payment Calculator — how much car you can afford and what the payment does to your budget.
- Auto Loan Calculator — compare loan terms and APRs to find the cheapest financing.
- Compound Interest Calculator — the mirror image: how a balance grows when interest earns interest.
- Understanding Interest Rates — what APR really means and how compounding works.
- All Calculators — every free tool on the site in one place.
- Disclaimer — the limits of what these estimates can tell you.