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Whether you’re considering taking out a business loan or a start-up business loan, our business lending calculator can help you estimate:
- monthly repayments to understand the cost of a business loan
- the loan amount you can afford to borrow
All that’s needed is the loan term you want to borrow over, the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) you expect to pay, and either the amount you want to borrow or the amount you can afford to repay each month.
How to use our business loan calculator
NerdWallet’s business loan calculator helps you estimate monthly payments and total amount repayable, including interest, over the term of a loan. At the same time, you can work out the size of loan your business might be able to afford, based on how much you’d be willing to repay each month. Play around with the numbers to see how different terms, APRs, and loan and repayment scenarios change your results.
1. Enter your information
Depending on what you wish to calculate, you’ll enter either the:
- Loan amount. This is the total amount you plan to borrow.
or
- Repayment amount. This is the loan repayment you think you can afford to make each month.
For both calculations, you’ll then need to enter:
- Loan term. Enter your repayment term in years.
- Annual percentage rate (APR). This is the total cost of borrowing, including interest rate and fees, over a year. If you don’t know the loan’s APR, you can enter the interest rate here instead.
2. Calculate your results
Once you’ve populated the necessary fields, our calculator automatically generates either:
- Monthly repayment amount. The fixed amount you’ll repay each month. It includes the original loan amount, interest and fees.
or
- Loan amount. The maximum loan size your business can afford to borrow, based on how much you’re able to repay each month.
For both calculations, you’ll also see:
- Total fees/interest. The charges you’ll pay for a loan in interest and fees.
- Total payments. The sum of all payments made on the loan, including the amount you borrowed, plus interest and fees.
3. Using your business loan calculations
Before committing to a business loan, it’s sensible to calculate the monthly and overall costs you’ll be paying to make sure you’re getting the most affordable and best loan for you.
Evaluate affordability
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you consider whether or not you can afford a business loan:
- Is my business’s monthly cash flow enough to comfortably (and consistently) cover these estimated payments?
- Would I feel comfortable setting up regular payments for the monthly amount of this loan?
If you answered “no” to either of these questions, you may want to consider a different type of business loan or even an alternative way to finance your business.
Compare lenders
Once you know the estimated costs of a loan, you can use our business loans calculator to plug in loan terms and APRs from competing lenders to find the least expensive loan for you. Just keep the following in mind:
- Consider total interest cost, not only the monthly payment. A lower monthly payment may mean more interest paid over the life of the loan, so compare both monthly payments and the total interest cost.
- Weigh additional factors. As you compare options, consider early repayment charges and other potential fees, how often you have to make payments, how fast the lender can provide funding and whether or not a lender allows you to adjust payments if needed.
» MORE: Compare business loans
What is a business loan calculator?
A business loan calculator is a tool you can use to estimate the cost of a business loan and the amount you may be allowed to borrow. Other names for similar tools may include a company loan calculator, business loan estimator, or business loan payment calculator.
» MORE: What is a business loan?
Why use a business loan calculator?
Using a business loan calculator can be a simple and effective way to gauge how much a loan may cost you – every month in terms of expected repayments, and the overall cost of borrowing.
Our business loan calculator can also give you an idea of how the overall cost of borrowing is affected by changes to the size of a loan, the interest rate, and the term length. By assessing how each detail affects the cost per month, you will gain a better understanding of what you can realistically borrow.
What a business loan calculator will not provide you with is the exact interest rates and borrowing limits available to your individual business. These details are highly dependent on your business and financial circumstances and will ultimately be decided by your lender.
However, once you have an idea of the rough cost of borrowing, you can more confidently move on to comparing business loans and starting your application. At this stage, you will then be able to find out how much a loan will cost your business specifically.
» MORE: How to get a business loan
What is APR?
APR, or annual percentage rate, is used to reflect the total cost of borrowing over a 12-month period. It will include the interest rate, as well as any fees or charges associated with taking out the business loan. It can be used to more easily compare the cost of borrowing with different providers.
If you see a business loan advertised with ‘representative APR’, that means at least 51% of customers who have successfully applied for a loan have received that rate, or lower. However, it is important to stress that not everyone within that 51% will get the same rate.
What affects the interest rate for business loans?
The interest rate you pay on a business loan will depend on a range of factors. These could include:
- how long you want to borrow for
- your business’ credit history and your own
- how long your business has been up and running
- your business revenue and income
- your business plan and cash flow forecasts
- the type of loan you want
- how the loan will be used
Often you will not know the exact interest rate available to you until you have applied for a business loan.
» MORE: How do business loans work?
Alternatives to small business loans
If you’ve put some details into our business loan calculator and it turns out a loan may not be right for you at this stage, you could consider other forms of small business finance.
These include, but are not limited to:
- business overdrafts, which are offered by some banks as a short-term line of credit tied to your business bank account
- business credit cards, which can provide greater financial flexibility and may allow you to earn rewards for regular spending, transfer balances, or spend fee-free overseas
- invoice financing, which could allow you to quickly release some of the money tied up in unpaid invoices
- asset finance, which can be used by businesses to cover the cost of critical assets
- small business grants – which can provide your business with up-front capital but which, unlike loans, do not need to be paid back
- crowdfunding, which involves soliciting funding from multiple sources – usually individuals and often online
» MORE: Find business loans to suit you
Business Loan Calculator FAQs
The size of business loan you’re allowed depends largely on how much a lender believes you can afford to borrow and repay. Your business’s financial situation, forecasts, and credit history are all usually important.
The monthly repayments on a £20,000 business loan will depend on the term of the loan and the interest rate being charged. As an example, a £20,000 business loan with a 5.0% APR being repaid over a 10 year term will have repayments of around £212 per month.
Unsecured business loans are generally the easiest business loan to get. This is because they can be arranged without having to put forward a business asset as security for the loan.
There are plenty of lenders that offer business loans in the UK. Meeting their eligibility criteria is key. Proving you have a financially viable business and a good credit history usually makes it easier to get a loan.
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