I’ve recently been thinking about taking out personal loans, but I wasn’t sure exactly how much I could afford, so I did what anyone would do: consult the internet. As I was researching, I found a website called AppGrooves with a top 10 list of the best loan calculator apps and thought I’d check them out for myself. I’ll add a link below so you can take a look if you’d like. Turns out, there are actually quite a few handy loan calculator tools to help with saving, budgeting, investing and borrowing money.
To me, the thought of taking out a loan was incredibly overwhelming until I realized that I can actually afford more than I thought. It was such a good and freeing experience, that I wanted to share my findings with other people, so hopefully, I can help you feel the same thing. I’ve chosen my three favorite apps and shared the pros and cons of them with you below.
Keep It Simple with Simple Loan Calculator
Simple Loan Calculator is, just as its name suggests, simple and easy to use. I personally think this is a good app for beginners because all you have to do is enter the amount of your potential loan, the interest rate, and the term of the loan, and the app will break it down into the monthly payments and total interest you will pay. You also have the ability to look at a month-by-month schedule so you can figure out exactly how much of your payment is applied to the principal and interest. It’s like loan calculations for dummies, which is exactly what I needed when I was starting out.
I guess the major con about Simple Loan Calculator is the same as its major pro: it’s simple. There aren’t a lot of extra features for you to play with. It doesn’t let you export the payment schedule and you can’t change the payment period; you will see all of your results on a monthly payment schedule.
Adjust Font Size & Color with Loan Calculator
Loan Calculator is another simple option for you, but this one is especially good for you if you’re looking for something with big, easy-to-read fonts and lots of colors. Overall, the design is quite simple and intuitive to use, so there really isn’t a lot of second-guessing yourself as you input your numbers. It has all the features of Simple Loan Calculator, plus early payoff calculations, so you can determine what your loan payment schedule would look like if you increased the payments.
On the other hand, Loan Calculator does have ads that pop up when you’re entering your loan information. Sure, it can be kind of annoying, but I will say that with all the extra features available to experiment with, I wasn’t spending a whole lot of time being bothered by the ads.
Calculate Payments for Multiple Types of Loans with Financial Calculators
Financial Calculators has a variety of calculators to help you determine your monthly payments for a variety of loan types, including an auto loan calculator, loan payment calculator, mortgage calculator, and compound interest calculator. It seems to me that no matter what kind of loan you’re dealing with, Financial Calculators has an option for you that’s, best of all, totally free of charge with no hidden fees or in-app purchases. You can make calculations for all of your loans with just one app, which is extremely helpful because then you don’t have to waste a bunch of time logging in and out of apps and entering and re-entering your information.
There is one con that stuck out to me: in order to access the app’s features for free, you have to watch a short ad when you open the app. Though, I will say as far as ads go it’s not very intrusive, and with so many features you’ll probably never need another financial app.
Having a good loan payment calculator is essential for finding the loan and loan payments that are right for you at this point in your life. They’re designed to help you know exactly how much you can afford and how long it will take you to pay your loan off. This isn’t stuff to mess around with, so you want to make sure you have the right tool to help you succeed. I firmly believe that one or all of these apps would be incredibly beneficial for you if you are considering taking out a loan.
