IIPersonal LoansWorksheet
Line up the loan offers you actually received
Enter up to three real offers. The worksheet totals each one, checks the numbers against each other, and shows which costs least overall.
Where to find the numbers
Every closed-end loan offer comes with a Truth in Lending disclosure. Copy the amount financed (or the loan amount and any fee taken out), the APR, the number of payments and the payment amount. Our guide to reading a loan agreement shows where each one sits.
What the worksheet checks
- Total cost: payment × term, minus what you’d receive. The lowest payment is often not the lowest cost.
- Consistency: it works out the APR implied by the payment, term and amount you receive. A big gap from the APR shown is worth a question.
- Warning signs: high fees, very high APRs, long terms and prepayment penalties.
More on reading offers side by side: how to compare personal loan offers.