Loan comparison calculator: compare EMI, interest, fees, and total cost

Set a like-for-like comparison first

Both fictional offers below provide Rs. 10 lakh for five years, with monthly reducing-balance payments. Offer A charges 9% annual interest and Rs. 25,000 upfront. Offer B charges 9.5% with no upfront fee in this illustration.

Rates stay constant, fees are paid separately rather than borrowed, and every instalment is paid on time. The examples are not lender offers. Include every known cash-paid charge in your own comparison, including applicable taxes on fees.

The lower rate loses after fees

The calculator's total cost is all monthly repayments plus the entered upfront fees. It is not an APR computation and does not discount future cash flows.

Find the fee break-even point

Offer A saves about Rs. 14,610.37 in interest before fees. Its Rs. 25,000 fee is larger than that saving, so Offer B costs about Rs. 10,389.63 less over the full five years, despite its higher monthly payment.

With Offer B's fee still zero, Offer A would break even at approximately Rs. 14,610.37 of upfront fees, holding all other assumptions fixed. This threshold helps you evaluate a fee waiver: a reduction from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 10,000 would change which offer has the lower modelled total.

This is a full-term comparison. If you expect to close the loan early, compare actual balances, interest paid to that date and closure charges instead. The full-term fee threshold would not necessarily apply.

Do not compare a longer term by EMI alone

Extending Offer B from five to seven years lowers its EMI from about Rs. 21,001.86 to Rs. 16,343.98. Its total interest rises from about Rs. 2,60,112 to Rs. 3,72,894, an extra Rs. 1,12,782.78.

That lower payment may change monthly affordability, but it is not a cheaper version of the same five-year offer. Compare the same term first, then deliberately examine a longer term as a separate trade-off.

Questions to resolve in the written offer

Check that both quoted rates use the reducing-balance method. A flat rate is applied differently and cannot be compared merely by placing its headline percentage beside a reducing rate. Confirm when funds are disbursed, when payments begin, and whether any charges are deducted from the proceeds.

Ask for the Key Facts Statement and repayment schedule. Keep APR, contract interest rate, financed charges and cash-paid charges separate. Do not add a financed charge to principal and also count it as an upfront fee.

The estimate excludes unentered taxes, insurance, future rate changes, missed-payment costs and prepayment costs. It does not determine eligibility or the best offer for a particular household.