Personal Loan Refinance Calculator

The best time to refinance a personal loan is when you’re offered a lower annual percentage rate (APR). A lower rate can save you money by reducing the monthly payment and the total interest.

Personal loan refinance calculator

Use this calculator to see how much a lower APR will save you in monthly payments and overall interest.

The loan term you choose will also affect your payments and interest. A refinanced loan with a longer term will reduce your monthly payment but may cost more in total interest. A shorter term could lower your interest costs but increase your monthly payments.

To see both the monthly payment and total interest lowered, select a lower APR for your refinanced loan and choose a loan term that’s the same as or close to the time remaining on your current loan.

How to read your results

Change in monthly payments: This is how much lower or higher your monthly payment will be if you refinance at the rate and term you’ve selected.

Change in interest costs: This is how much you’ll save or how much more you’ll spend in total interest on the refinanced loan.

Your current and refinanced loan: These are snapshots of the loans' monthly payments, the total interest you’ll pay over each loan’s term and the amount you’ll have spent by the time you pay off the loan.

» MORE: Compare personal loan rates

Reasons to refinance a personal loan

Consider refinancing a personal loan if your financial situation has improved in these two ways:

1. You've built your credit score: If you’ve been making on-time payments toward your existing personal loan and other debts over a few months or years, your credit may be in better shape than it was when you originally applied. Credit scores are a major factor in determining APRs, and the lowest rates go to those with good or excellent credit (690 or higher).

2. Your income is higher or debt is lower: A lender may also offer a better rate if you’ve bumped up your income or paid down debt to lower your debt-to-income ratio. Lenders typically like this number to be below 40%, but lower is better.

Lenders that let you refinance a personal loan

Lenders’ refinancing policies vary — some will only refinance loans from another lender, while others will refinance their own personal loans.

Here are lenders with the best rates and their refinance policies:

» MORE: Best personal loan lenders

How to refinance a personal loan

Here are steps to take when you're considering refinancing a personal loan:

Identify a lender. Check if your current lender allows refinancing or if you'll need another lender to refinance your current loan.

Pre-qualify for a new personal loan. Pre-qualify with multiple lenders to see the rates and terms on a new loan. Pre-qualifying only requires a soft credit check, so it doesn’t affect your credit score. Compare new loan offers to your current loan.

Complete a new loan application. Once you've identified the best pre-qualified offer, you can submit a formal loan application online or in person. You may be asked to provide documents to verify your details and income. The lender will run a hard credit check at this time, which can cause your credit score to dip a few points.

If approved, you’ll pay off your existing loan with the funds from the new loan and close the old account. The new lender will typically expect your first payment 30 days after your loan is issued.