Free UK tool · Loan repayment calculator UK
Understanding the true cost of debt is one of the most important things you can do for your financial future. Free, private, no sign up. Switch between loan and credit card modes to see your monthly payment, total interest, and exact payoff date.
Your data never leaves your device. Ever.How to use
Use this for personal loans, car finance, or any fixed-term repayment loan with a defined monthly payment. Enter the loan amount, the annual rate (APR — your loan agreement will show it), and the term in months. The calculator returns your monthly payment using the standard amortisation formula, plus a full month-by-month schedule showing how much of each payment goes to interest vs capital.
Use this for credit card balances or revolving credit. Enter the current balance, the APR (look at your statement — most UK cards show this prominently), and what you can afford to pay each month. Tick "Pay minimum only" to see what happens if you only pay the lender's minimum — usually a long, expensive timeline that's worth running once just to see the numbers.
Both modes show a what-if section underneath: how much faster and cheaper the debt clears if you bump your monthly payment by £50 or £100. Even small bumps make outsized differences on long-term debt.
Understanding the true cost of borrowing
Credit card interest is charged monthly on your outstanding balance. A £3,000 balance at 22% APR accrues ~£55/month in interest just sitting still. If your minimum payment is £85, only £30 actually reduces the capital — the other £55 covers the interest. That's why minimum payments take 20+ years to clear a £3,000 card. Increase the payment and a much higher fraction goes to capital, accelerating the balance down.
Lenders set minimums to be barely above the monthly interest charge — covering the interest plus a token capital reduction. The arithmetic ensures the balance shrinks but never quickly. The card stays profitable for the lender for as long as possible. The minimum payment isn't "what you should pay" — it's the absolute floor below which the lender takes action. Treat it as a warning line, not a target.
APR (Annual Percentage Rate) accounts for the compounding effect — what you actually pay over a year on a reducing balance. Flat rate interest is calculated on the original loan amount each year and ignores the fact that the balance shrinks as you repay. A 5% flat rate is roughly equivalent to 9–10% APR on a typical 5-year loan. UK consumer credit must advertise APR, but some short-term, point-of-sale, or guarantor loans quote flat rates — always check which rate type you're seeing.
On a £5,000 credit card at 22% APR, paying £100/month clears it in ~6 years 7 months and costs ~£3,000 in interest. Paying £150/month clears it in ~3 years 8 months and costs ~£1,400. The extra £50/month — about £600/year — saves ~£1,600 in interest and 3 years of payments. The maths is non-linear: each pound above the minimum reduces capital faster, which reduces future interest, which reduces future minimums, in a positive feedback loop.
Stretching a personal loan from 5 years to 7 years lowers the monthly payment but materially increases total interest. On a £10,000 loan at 8%: 5 years = ~£2,166 total interest; 7 years = ~£3,089 — about £900 more for the same money. Longer terms are useful for affordability when monthly cash flow is tight, but they're expensive. If you can manage a shorter term comfortably, take it.
UK specifics
Best-buy unsecured personal loans for 2025/26 sit around 5.9–7.5% APR for £7,500–£15,000 over 3–5 years for prime borrowers. Smaller loans (£1,000–£5,000) tend to be 10–25%. Larger amounts and stronger credit unlock cheaper rates. The advertised "representative APR" only needs to be offered to 51% of accepted applicants — the rest get their own personal rate, which can be higher. Compare on Money Saving Expert, Moneyfacts, or use a soft-search comparison tool that won't affect your credit score.
Average UK credit card APR sits around 23–28%. Specific products vary widely: standard purchase cards 18–25%, rewards cards 22–32%, store cards often 30%+. 0% balance transfer cards remain widely available — typical offers run 18–30 months at 0% with a 2–4% transfer fee. For high-interest card debt, transferring to a 0% card is often the fastest single change you can make. Always check the post-promotional rate so you don't drop straight back to 25%+ when the 0% ends.
UK personal loans, credit agreements, and credit cards are regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (and the FCA Handbook). Lenders must give clear pre-contract information, a 14-day right of withdrawal on credit agreements, and follow strict rules on advertising and arrears handling. If you fall behind, regulated lenders must offer forbearance — payment holidays, reduced payments, freeze on interest — before defaulting you. Free, regulated debt advice is available from StepChange, National Debtline, and Citizens Advice.
Pay for a £100–£30,000 purchase with a UK credit card and Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes the card issuer jointly liable with the retailer if something goes wrong — non-delivery, fraud, the retailer going bust, faulty goods. This is one of the strongest consumer protections anywhere in the world and is the main reason to use a credit card for big purchases (then pay it off in full to avoid interest). Debit cards have weaker chargeback rights.
Every hard credit search (the kind a lender does when you formally apply) leaves a footprint on your credit file for ~12 months. Multiple hard searches in a short window can drop your score and signal financial stress to other lenders. Soft searches (eligibility checkers, your own credit report) leave no footprint. Always use eligibility checkers / soft-search comparison tools first to confirm you're likely to be accepted before doing a hard application.
Soft search: eligibility checks, prequalification tools, your own credit report, employer background checks. Visible only to you and the lender doing the check. Doesn't affect your score. Hard search: a formal application for credit. Visible on your credit file to other lenders for ~12 months and can lower your score slightly. The score impact of a single hard search is small (a few points) and recovers within months — but a cluster of hard searches in 30 days raises red flags.
FAQ
The questions people most often type into Google about UK loans and credit cards.
It uses the standard amortisation formula: M = P × r(1+r)n / ((1+r)n − 1), where P is the loan amount, r is the monthly interest rate, and n is the number of monthly payments.
Each payment covers all the interest accrued that month plus a chunk of capital. The calculator runs a what-if showing how £50 or £100 extra changes the timeline and total interest.
£5,000 at 22% APR with minimum only ≈ 22 years and ~£8,000 interest. £150/month flat ≈ 4 years 6 months. £250/month flat ≈ 2 years 4 months.
Switch the calculator above to credit card mode and tick "minimum payment only" to see how the trap works on your specific balance.
It runs a month-by-month simulation. Each month, interest is added (rate ÷ 12 × balance), then your payment is deducted. With "minimum payment only" ticked, the monthly payment is recalculated each month as max(£25, 1% of balance + monthly interest) — standard UK lender practice.
The simulation runs until balance hits zero, then reports time and total cost.
Total cost = monthly payment × number of months. A £10,000 personal loan at 8% over 5 years has monthly payments of ~£203, total repaid ~£12,165, total interest ~£2,165.
The same loan at 12% costs ~£222/month, ~£13,347 total, ~£3,347 interest. The longer the term and higher the rate, the more interest dominates the cost.
UK credit card minimum payments are typically the higher of (a) interest plus 1% of balance, (b) a fixed minimum like £5 or £25, or (c) 1–3% of balance flat.
The calculator above uses max(£25, 1% balance + monthly interest), matching standard UK practice. Paying only the minimum keeps the debt alive almost indefinitely.
Best-buy unsecured personal loans for 2025/26 sit around 5.9–7.5% APR for £7,500–£15,000 over 3–5 years for prime borrowers. Smaller loans (£1,000–£5,000) tend to be 10–25%.
Larger amounts and stronger credit unlock cheaper rates. Compare on Money Saving Expert, Moneyfacts, or with a soft-search comparison tool before applying.
APR accounts for the compounding effect — what you actually pay over a year on a reducing balance. Flat rate is calculated on the original loan amount each year and ignores the balance shrinking as you repay.
A 5% flat rate is roughly equivalent to 9–10% APR on a typical 5-year loan. UK consumer credit must advertise APR — always verify which rate type you're seeing.
No — clearing a loan typically helps your score short-term (lower utilisation) and long-term (more capacity for new borrowing).
Some loans charge an Early Repayment Charge (ERC) of 1–2 months' interest. Check your loan agreement before paying off in full. Credit cards generally don't have ERCs — you can clear them whenever you like.
The full picture
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