PMT Loan Payment Calculator
Work out the fixed payment on a loan from its interest rate, number of payments, and amount borrowed.
PMT
Work out the fixed payment on a loan from its interest rate, number of payments, and amount borrowed.
Annual rate divided by payments per year. Use 5%/12 for a 5% loan repaid monthly.
Total payments over the life of the loan, not the number of years. 30*12 is a 30-year monthly loan.
The amount borrowed. Enter it as a negative number so the payment comes back positive.
=PMT(5%/12, 30*12, -250000)Worked Example
A $25,000 car loan at 6% a year, repaid monthly over 5 years.
=PMT(6%/12, 5*12, -25000)Returns: 483.32 - the monthly payment, positive because the loan amount was entered as a negative present value.
Checks Before You Paste
- •The single most common PMT error is mixing units - an annual rate with a term in months. Divide the rate by the payments per year and multiply the years by the same number: =PMT(5%/12,30*12,-250000) returns 1,342.05 a month, while =PMT(5%,30*12,-250000) prices a 5% monthly rate and returns 12,500.
- •PMT returns a negative number because it models cash leaving your pocket. Either enter the loan amount as negative, as the default does, or negate the whole formula with =-PMT(...). Doing both flips the sign back to negative.
- •PMT covers principal and interest only - no taxes, insurance, or fees. Its optional 4th and 5th arguments are fv (balance still owed at the end, default 0) and type (0 = payment at the end of each period, 1 = at the start, as with most leases). For uneven cash flows use NPV and IRR instead, or XNPV and XIRR when the dates are irregular.