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Loan Calculators: the Regional Math

Three free calculators: the true cost of any fee-based advance, the monthly payment on an installment loan, and the APR view that puts any two offers on one scale.

Four calculators share one design: honest arithmetic in the browser, nothing to install, no signup, and no number sent anywhere. Enter what an offer actually says, an amount, a fee, a term, or a rate, and the tool returns what it costs, in the units that make offers comparable. The one-number lesson behind all four pages is the APR. A fee looks small, a monthly rate looks smaller, and a payment can look smaller still, but the annual percentage rate stacks every offer against every alternative on a single scale. Start with the tool that matches the product in front of you, or jump straight to the APR view when an offer mixes units. When the arithmetic is clear, the licensed routes on our rates and fees page are the next stop.

Payday Cost Calculator

No one schedule governs this region: Virginia and Illinois hold licensed credit to a 36% all-in figure, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and DC license no storefront advance at all, and Delaware sets no fee cap. So this tool prices any offer honestly: pick an amount, a per-$100 fee, and a term, and read the fee in dollars plus the annualized APR.

Fee$45.00
Total due on the due date$345.00
Annualized APR391%

The Maryland rulebook explains what the state's 33% APR cap licenses instead; the whole region is on the caps page.

Installment Loan Payment Calculator

When the bill outgrows one paycheck, borrowing becomes an installment product priced in APR. Set the amount, the APR, and the term to see the monthly payment, the total of payments, and what the borrowing actually costs in interest.

Monthly payment$305.82
Total of payments$1,834.89
Total interest$534.89

Typical online installment pricing runs from about 6.63% to 225% APR. The Maryland installment page explains how to compare offers.

APR Calculator: Any Offer, One Scale

Enter any amount, any flat fee, and any term; the tool returns the annualized APR, the per-$100 reading, and the full repayment. It is the cleanest way to weigh a capped-market offer against an installment or sovereign one.

Annualized APR391%
Per $100 borrowed$15.00
Total repayment$345.00

The defaults show the market's common case: $15 per $100 for two weeks. The APR disclosure carries the complete ranges.

Dedicated calculator pages

Line items: common questions, answered straight

Are these calculators free to use?
Yes. All four tools run entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to our servers, stored, or shared with lenders, and there is no signup, email gate, or limit on how many times you can change the numbers. Rerun a scenario as often as you like until the arithmetic is clear, then close the tab and leave with nothing behind you.
How is the payday APR calculated?
The tool converts a flat fee into an annualized rate: fee divided by amount, multiplied by 365, divided by the term in days. The default case is $300 at $15 per $100 for 14 days. That is a $45 fee, which works out to about 391% APR. The rate is the price of time; the fee is the cash that actually leaves your account.
Which term should I enter?
Enter the term your agreement states, in days for a single-paycheck product or months for an installment schedule. Storefront-style offers in this region run 7 to 30 days when they exist at all, while installment terms run 3 to 24 months. Term matters: shortening the term raises the annualized rate on the same fee, because you are paying the same price for less time.
Why does the calculator disagree with my lender's offer?
Contracts often fold in origination charges, add-on products, or insurance that a simple fee-to-APR conversion does not capture. Some lenders also quote a periodic rate rather than an annual one. Use our figure as the clean baseline, then read the numbered cost of credit on your agreement line by line. The disclosure you sign is the binding version, not any calculator.
What does a legal loan cost in this region?
There is no single answer, because our six jurisdictions regulate credit differently. Virginia and Illinois cap licensed credit at a 36% all-in figure. Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC license no storefront payday product at all. Delaware leaves the rate to the contract, which is why the APR view matters here more than anywhere. See our caps page for each rulebook.
Which calculator should I start with?
Match the tool to the product in front of you: the payday calculator for fee-based single-paycheck offers, the cash advance calculator for the same math at smaller amounts, and the installment calculator for monthly payment schedules. If an offer mixes fees and rates in a way that is hard to classify, start with the APR view, which puts everything on one annual scale.

Reviewed by Lena Pindell, Reviewer, credit counseling background. Every fee, cap, and formula on this page was checked against the linked statutes and the regulator that enforces them.

Last reviewed: 2026-10-20

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