Loan Repayment Calculator
Lenders quote rates that flatter themselves. Enter the quote exactly as advertised — and any upfront fee — and see the installment, the total, and the real APR.
Nothing here is filled in for you. Enter your numbers — the receipt waits.
The rate is per day, as loan apps quote it.
Deducted before you receive the loan. Type 5 for 5%, or ₦5,000 for a naira fee — lenders often charge 3–5% upfront.
You repay one repayment after the term
₦130,000
Total ₦130,000 · interest ₦30,000 · effective annual rate (including the upfront fee when entered) 2,333.9%
The same loan, two readings
The headline figures above use the nearest-whole-month reading.
The exact-days reading prices the same quoted rate per day (flat %/mo ÷ 30, reducing %/yr ÷ 365) over the exact tenor — no month rounding.
APR solved from the repayment stream · upfront fee included when entered
Day tenors on flat and reducing rates are billed to the nearest whole month (days ÷ 30.4, minimum 1) — a 31-day loan is one month, not two. Daily rates use the exact day count.
Nothing entered · no figures invented
Repayment schedule
| Month | Interest ₦ | Principal ₦ | Balance ₦ |
|---|
Each month's interest is charged on the balance you still owe · reducing-balance loans only
Your numbers stay in this browser. Nothing you type here is sent to us — no salary, rent, income or savings figure is transmitted, logged or visible to anyone. Your numbers are not kept between visits unless you switch on Remember my numbers on this device above; with it on, this calculator remembers your figures for next time, and on a shared or public computer the next person could see them. Reset clears this calculator; Clear my saved numbers clears every calculator on this site.
Effective annual rate, solved from the repayment stream · the upfront fee is included when you enter one · lender quotes vary, confirm terms
This calculator is for informational guidance only and is not financial or lending advice. Figures reflect the interest rate and any upfront fee you enter; lenders may add other charges, and actual terms vary. Confirm the full repayment schedule with your lender before signing.
The single most misleading number in Nigerian lending is the quoted rate. Banks use a reducing (amortizing) annual rate, which is honest, the interest is recalculated each month on the balance you still owe. But most loan apps do not. They quote a "flat" rate: interest charged on the ORIGINAL amount every single month, even as you pay the balance down. A 1.5% flat monthly rate is not 18% a year; because you are paying interest on money you have already repaid, it works out closer to 35% a year. Some apps skip the pretense and quote a daily rate, 0.5% per day sounds small but annualizes to over 400%.
Take the default: ₦100,000 borrowed for 30 days at 1% per day. The interest is 1% of the original amount for each of 30 days, ₦1,000 a day, ₦30,000 in total. So you repay ₦130,000 on a ₦100,000 loan, a 30% interest charge in a single month. To compare that with a bank quote, the calculator converts it to an effective APR of well over 2,000%, that is not the rate a bank would quote you, but it is the honest annualized cost of what you just agreed to. That is precisely the gap this tool exists to expose.
Every lender can phrase its rate differently: "1.5% flat", "0.5% per day", "30% per annum reducing". These three can look similar on paper yet cost wildly different amounts. The effective APR strips away the phrasing by solving for the single annual rate at which the present value of your repayments exactly equals the loan. That one figure lets you line up a bank, a loan app and a POS advance side by side. If a lender will not tell you the effective APR, that is usually a sign the real cost is higher than the headline suggests.
Interest is only part of the cost. Many Nigerian lenders also deduct an upfront processing fee, a mandatory insurance or technology charge, or a "commitment" fee, often 3-5% of the amount, taken before you even receive the money. The upfront-fee field above prices exactly that: enter it and the effective APR solves on the amount you actually received, so a ₦100,000 loan with a 5% fee is compared on the ₦95,000 that landed in your account. When a lender quotes you a figure, always ask for the full schedule: amount you receive, every charge, and the total you repay.
Before you sign, get three things in writing. First, the effective APR, the single number this tool computes, and the one that lets you compare a bank to an app to a POS advance fairly. Second, the full repayment schedule: the exact installment, when it is due, and the total you will pay back including every charge. Third, what happens if you are late or fail to pay, the penalty rate, whether the lender reports to a credit bureau, and whether they can seize collateral or deduct directly from your account. A lender that is vague about any of these is usually the one to walk away from. A loan that looks cheap because of a small daily rate can be the most expensive money you ever borrow.
A loan is one side of your balance sheet. To build the emergency fund that keeps you from borrowing in the first place, use our emergency fund calculator. To see how much of your take-home a repayment really eats, our 50/30/20 budget calculator shows where the money goes, down to the needs-half lines in its step 2. And to plan how fast you can free up cash to clear the debt, our savings goal calculator charts the monthly amount you need.
Loan repayment questions
What is a flat interest rate on a Nigerian loan?
A flat rate charges interest on the original loan amount every month, even as you repay the balance. So "1.5% flat per month" costs far more than 18% a year, the effective APR is usually close to double the simple rate-times-twelve figure.
Is a 5% monthly loan app rate expensive?
Yes. A 5% flat monthly rate on a short tenor typically annualizes to well over 100%. Even at a longer tenor it is far above the 25-35% a formal bank loan costs. Use the effective APR on this calculator to judge it honestly.
Does this calculator include loan fees?
The interest follows the rate you enter, and the upfront-fee field includes the deduction most Nigerian lenders make before disbursement (often 3-5%) in the effective APR. Other running charges, late penalties and insurance premia are still yours to add when comparing a total.
How is the effective APR calculated?
The calculator finds the interest rate at which the present value of your repayments exactly equals the amount borrowed, then annualizes it. For example, ₦100,000 borrowed for 30 days at 1% per day costs about ₦130,000 to repay, an effective APR of about 2,333.9%. That is the honest way to compare loans with different quoted rates and terms.
Questions
Why is the APR higher than the quoted rate?
Two different reasons, and both are real. A flat rate is charged on the original amount every month, so the APR runs far higher. A reducing rate is charged only on what you still owe, so its APR sits just above the quoted figure — that gap is monthly compounding inside the year, not a hidden fee. Check the unit beside the rate field: the three rate types are not all quoted per year.
Daily vs monthly — which is worse?
A small daily rate compounds brutally: 1% a day is thousands of percent APR. The receipt shows the annualized truth.
How do I include the upfront fee?
Type it into the upfront-fee field: 5 reads as 5% (a plain number is a percentage), or ₦5,000 for a naira fee. Nigerian lenders often deduct 3–5% of the amount upfront before you receive the money, and the APR then solves on what you actually received — on ₦100,000 over 30 days at 1% per day, a 5% fee moves the honest APR from about 2,334% to about 4,443%.