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Title Loan Calculator

Enter your loan amount, monthly rate, term, and fees to see the true cost of a title loan.

How it is calculated

The tool uses simple interest, charged on the original amount every month: monthly interest = principal × monthly rate ÷ 100, total interest = monthly interest × months, and total repayment = principal + total interest + fees. The rate is a monthly percentage, the term is in months and fees are a one-off amount in dollars. The APR shown is simply monthly rate × 12: it does not compound and it does not include the fees, so a loan with high fees costs more than its APR suggests. Fees are optional and count as zero if left blank. Principal and months must be above zero and a negative rate or fee returns no result. Title loan rules and rate caps differ by state and country.

Worked example

Borrow 1,000 at 25% a month for 3 months with a 50 fee. Monthly interest: 1,000 × 25 ÷ 100 = 250. Total interest: 250 × 3 = 750. Total repayment: 1,000 + 750 + 50 = $1,800.00. The APR shown is 25 × 12 = 300.00%.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering an annual rate in the monthly rate field. A 25% monthly rate is 300% a year, so typing 25 when the lender quotes 25% per year understates the cost twelvefold.
  • Entering the term in days. The term field is months, so a 30-day loan is 1 month and a 15-day loan is 0.5.
  • Leaving out fees such as origination or lien fees. They go in the fees field and raise the total, but they are not part of the APR shown here.
  • Comparing the APR figure alone between two loans with different fees. Compare the total repayment instead.
  • Assuming interest falls as you repay. This tool charges interest on the full principal every month, which matches a loan repaid in one lump sum, not an amortizing one.

Sources

About this calculator

A title loan is a short-term, high-cost loan secured by a vehicle's title, typically repaid over 15 to 30 days or in monthly installments, with the lender able to repossess the car on default. Because rates are usually quoted monthly rather than annually, the true cost is easy to underestimate.

This calculator applies the stated monthly rate over the loan term to find total interest, adds any fees (such as origination or lien fees) to get total repayment, and annualizes the monthly rate (monthly rate × 12, with fees left out) into the simple annualized figure shown as APR. It is not the APR that lenders in the US are required to disclose under the Truth in Lending Act, which also counts fees, so treat it as a rough yardstick when comparing a title loan with other borrowing options.

Because title loan APRs frequently run into the triple digits, seeing the total repayment and APR side by side helps make the real cost of borrowing against a vehicle explicit before signing.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    The APR line leaves fees out, so on a short loan it can understate the true cost badly. Borrowing 1,000 for one month at 25 percent with a 50 fee means repaying 1,300, a 30 percent cost for that single month, which is about 360 percent annualised, while the tool's APR line still reads 300 percent. Judge a loan by the total repayment. What fees did your lender list, and were they in the quoted rate?

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