How to use this UK personal loan calculator
A personal loan calculator turns an unsecured instalment offer into a monthly payment, total interest, and a fair comparison with a second representative APR. UK personal loans are usually fixed-rate for one to seven years, sometimes with an arrangement fee. This calculator runs that math in pounds in your browser.
- Enter the amount you will borrow. Use the figure on the credit agreement, not the cash you hope to net if a fee is deducted.
- Set term and unit. High-street loans are commonly 12–60 months. Switch to years if that is how the offer is written.
- Type the representative APR and any arrangement fee. Representative APR is the rate at least 51% of accepted customers receive. Your offer may be higher after a credit search.
- Read payment, interest, and cash in hand. Cash in hand subtracts a fee paid up front so the true cost of money in your account stays honest.
- Enter a second APR to compare. Same amount, same term, different rate — the usual choice between a bank you already use and a marketplace quote.
- Save the offer. Keep competing quotes in history for seven days.
Early repayment charges, payment protection, and broker fees are not modelled. Read the pre-contract credit information (the SECCI / PCI) before you sign.
Why compare two fixed APRs, not a teaser rate
UK unsecured personal loans almost never reprice mid-term the way a US variable personal loan might. The useful comparison is quote versus quote: a 7.9% representative example against an 11.9% offer you were actually given.
- Term is a bigger lever than a small rate gap. Stretching £8,000 from 24 to 60 months drops the payment and adds interest. Run both terms before you obsess over 0.5% of APR.
- Fees hide in the payment. A £150 arrangement fee is cash you never see if it is deducted, or extra if it is added to the loan. Cash in hand keeps it on the page.
- Representative is not a promise. Eligibility and the rate after a search can differ. Model the APR on your agreement in principle, not the homepage banner.
- Debt consolidation still needs a payoff date. Rolling card balances into an instalment loan only helps if the new total interest is lower and you do not refill the cards.
- No hard search to experiment. Soft-search eligibility tools are separate. This page does not contact a CRA.
From Provident books to representative APR
British instalment credit is older than the credit card: check trading, hire purchase, and the 1927 Moneylenders Act all tried to put a number on the cost of borrowing. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 and later APR rules gave shoppers a comparable rate. What they still lacked was a sandbox — direct-mail leaflets printed one example at one amount.
High-street personal loans in the 1990s and comparison sites in the 2000s made representative APR a marketing weapon. FCA rules on representative examples (at least 51% of customers) are why this calculator treats the second APR as a first-class input, not a variable teaser. Use it to decode two quotes, then read the actual agreement — including early settlement terms — before you borrow.