Estimate equipment loan payments, interest, total paid, and lender fee impact from price, down payment, APR, and term.
Table of contents
How to use our Equipment Loan Calculator
- Enter the Equipment price, Down payment, APR, and Loan term using the same loan offer you want to test.
- Open Advanced options if the lender charges an Origination fee or Fixed lender fees, then choose How fees are paid.
- Select Calculate to see the Monthly payment after financed fees, Cash needed at signing, Total paid over the loan, and fee impact.
- Check whether the Amount financed equals the equipment price minus the down payment, plus fees only when fees are added to the loan.
- Use the Monthly payoff schedule to review how each payment is split between interest and principal over time.
Definitions
Equipment price: The full price entered for the equipment before subtracting the down payment. Include tax, delivery, or setup only if those costs are part of the financed price.
Down payment: Cash paid before the loan starts. It lowers the loan balance.
APR: Annual percentage rate. This calculator uses APR as the yearly borrowing rate to estimate monthly interest.
Loan term: The number of monthly payments in the loan.
Origination fee: A lender fee for starting the loan, entered as a percent of the loan before fees.
Amount financed: The starting loan balance. It is the equipment price minus the down payment, plus lender fees only when fees are added to the loan.
Amortization: Paying down a loan over time through scheduled payments that cover interest and reduce principal.
Common mistakes and quick fixes
Mistake: Entering the Equipment price after subtracting the Down payment.
Fix: Put the full Equipment price in that field and put only the upfront cash amount in Down payment.
Mistake: Leaving APR blank because the offer says 0 percent promotional financing.
Fix: Enter 0 in APR; a blank APR is an error because the calculator cannot know your rate.
Mistake: Typing the Loan term in years instead of months.
Fix: Convert years to months before entering Loan term, such as 5 years as 60 months.
Mistake: Putting the Origination fee percent on the full Equipment price when the lender applies it to the loan before fees.
Fix: Enter the quoted Origination fee percent as given; the calculator applies it to Equipment price minus Down payment.
Mistake: Comparing offers without changing How fees are paid.
Fix: Match How fees are paid to the lender quote so Extra cost from lender fees and Cash needed at signing reflect the real offer.
Mistake: Reading Total interest paid as the full cost of the loan.
Fix: Use Total paid over the loan when you want the full cash cost including Down payment and any upfront lender fees.
Limitations & Key Assumptions / Boundary Conditions
- The calculator assumes a fixed APR and equal scheduled monthly payments for the full Loan term.
- It does not include insurance, maintenance, property tax, late fees, prepayment penalties, or taxes and delivery costs that were not included in Equipment price.
- APR is treated as the rate used for monthly interest. Real lender disclosures may calculate APR or fees differently.
- Origination fee is applied to Equipment price minus Down payment, as specified by this calculator.
- Rounding can make the final Monthly payoff schedule payment slightly different from the regular monthly payment.
- If your lender uses irregular first payments, seasonal payments, balloon payments, or variable rates, the results will not match the contract exactly.
Methodology
Loan balance and fees
The calculator first finds the loan before lender fees, then adds fees only when the selected fee choice says to finance them.
base_loan = equipment_cost - down_payment_amount
origination_fee = base_loan * origination_fee_percent / 100
total_lender_fees = origination_fee + fixed_lender_fees
amount_financed = base_loan + financed_lender_fees
Monthly payment
APR is converted to a monthly rate by dividing by 100 and then by 12 months per year.
monthly_rate = apr_percent / 100 / 12
When APR is greater than 0, the standard fixed-payment loan formula is used.
payment = amount_financed * monthly_rate / (1 - (1 + monthly_rate)^(-loan_term_months))
When APR is 0, the payment is straight-line principal repayment.
payment = amount_financed / loan_term_months
Total cost outputs
Total interest is the scheduled payment total minus the starting loan balance. Cash needed at signing includes the down payment and any lender fees paid upfront.
total_interest_paid = payment * loan_term_months - amount_financed
cash_needed_at_signing = down_payment_amount + upfront_lender_fees
total_paid_over_loan = payment * loan_term_months + cash_needed_at_signing
extra_cost_from_lender_fees = total_paid_over_loan - no_fee_total_paid_over_loan
Monthly payoff schedule
Each schedule row starts with the prior balance. Interest is calculated first, then the rest of the payment reduces principal. The last principal amount is capped at the remaining balance so the ending balance does not go below $0 because of rounding.
interest_for_month = starting_balance * monthly_rate
principal_for_month = scheduled_payment - interest_for_month
ending_balance = starting_balance - principal_for_month
Mini example
For a $50,000 equipment price, $5,000 down payment, 9% APR, and 60-month term with no lender fees, the base loan is $45,000. The monthly rate is 0.09 / 12, or 0.0075. The fixed monthly payment is about $934.13, total scheduled payments are about $56,047.59, total interest is about $11,047.59, and total paid over the loan including the down payment is about $61,047.59.