Auto loan payoff calculator
Payoff date for $15,000 at 12.5%, paying $340.00/monthworked example
August 1, 2031
- Time to zero
- 5 years
- Total interest
- $5,190.52
- Total paid
- $20,190.52
Paying $340.00 every month clears this $15,000 auto loan in 5 years and costs $5,190.52 in interest. Interest is computed monthly on the declining balance. Check your agreement for a prepayment penalty or precomputed-interest clause before committing to an early-payoff plan — this calculator cannot see your contract.
When your car is actually paid off: the payoff date at your current payment, what extra payments change, and the total interest across the remaining term. Enter the balance and payment from your statement — the math runs month by month on the declining balance, entirely in your browser.
How to use this calculator
- 1
Take the balance and APR from the lender, not the contract
The original loan amount is history. Your lender's current principal balance and APR are what the remaining schedule runs on, and they are in the app or on the latest statement.
- 2
Enter the payment you are contractually making
Then use the extra field separately. Auto lenders sometimes apply extra amounts to the next payment rather than to principal unless you say otherwise — worth a phone call before assuming these savings apply.
- 3
Confirm the loan is simple-interest
Simple-interest loans accrue on the declining balance, so paying early genuinely saves interest — that is what this calculator models. Precomputed-interest loans fix the total at signing and early payoff saves little. Your contract says which one you have.
- 4
Treat the interest saved as one input among several
The dollars are real, but so is whether that money has a better job elsewhere — a higher-rate card, for instance, which the snowball planner would put first. The number here is an input to that comparison, not a verdict.
- Fixed-payment amortization — each month: interest = balance x APR/12; principal = payment - interest; closed form n = -ln(1 - rP/M) / ln(1+r). Verified against CFPB — How does paying down a mortgage work?
- Monthly interest accrualconvention — interest per month = balance x (APR / 12). Verified against CFPB — How does my credit card company calculate the amount of interest I owe? (issuers compound daily on the average daily balance, so a real statement can differ by a few dollars)
Everything you type here is computed in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored on a server, sent anywhere, or shared — there is no account, and your balances never leave your device.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find my real balance and rate?
Is paying off a car loan early worth it?
What is a precomputed-interest auto loan?
Does being underwater on the car change this math?
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