Understanding & Calculating The Different Loan Interests

When you borrow money from someone else, like a bank or any other financial institution, you are expected to pay back the money over time. But along with an additional sum, this price you pay to borrow money is known as the interest. Interest is one of the primary ways banks, a Borrow Money App and other financial institutions earn money.

As you repay a loan over time, like a Salary loan, a part of each payment goes towards the principal (the amount you borrowed), and another part goes towards interest costs. The interest amount the lender charges is determined by the borrowers’ income, the loan amount, credit history, the terms of the loan and the current amount of debt the borrower is.

Lenders take different approaches in charging interest to maximize their profits. As a result, calculating a loan interest (for example, interest on low interest loan) can vary in difficulty depending on the type of interest.

Simple Interest

If a lender uses this method, it is easy to calculate a loan interest on any loan (like a zero interest loan). To calculate this interest, you need information like the principal loan amount, interest rate and the total number of months or years one will be paying the loan.

To calculate a loan interest using the simple interest method, you use the formula: Principal loan amount x Interest rate x The number of years in term = interest.

Amortizing loans

A lot of lenders charge interest based on an amortization schedule. Loans that fit into this category include student loans, mortgages and auto loans. The monthly payments on these types of loans stay fixed, and the loan is paid over a period in equal instalments, although the lenders’ application of the charges you are making to the loan balance would change over time.

The initial payments are generally heavy in interest, with amortizing loans, meaning less of the money you are paying each month would pay your principal loan amount.

However, as time passes and you draw closer to your loan payoff date, the table turns. And toward the end of your loan, the lender applies most of your monthly payments to your principal balance and less to the interest fees.

To calculate the interest:

  1. You first divide the interest rate by the number of payments you will be making that year.
  2. You multiply that number by your remaining loan balance to determine how much you will pay in interest that month.
  3. Then Subtract that Interest from your fixed monthly payment to see how much in principal you will pay in the first month.
  4. Finally, you repeat the process for the following month with the new remaining loan balance and continue repeating this for each subsequent month.

Since calculating amortization schedules is very math-intensive, some banks have an amortization calculator that does all the work. All you need to do in this calculator is enter the initial amount, the number of months and the interest rate, the calculator then determines your monthly payment.

Several factors can affect how much interest you pay for financing, like your principal loan amount, interest rate, loan terms, repayment schedule and repayment amount.