Loan Comparison Calculator
The offer with the smaller payment and the offer that costs less are frequently two different loans.
What This Calculator Does
Competing loan offers are placed next to one another, showing the monthly payment, the total interest across the full term, and the cumulative cost at the point you genuinely expect to sell or refinance — a view that often reorders the ranking the lifetime numbers produced.
Who Is This For
Built for borrowers holding more than one quote, buyers weighing a shorter term against a longer one, and anyone deciding between a lower rate with higher closing costs and a higher rate with none.
How It Works
Supply the amount, rate, term, and upfront costs for each offer, along with how long you realistically expect to keep the loan. The calculator returns each option's payment, its lifetime cost, and its cost across the horizon you specified.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my holding period reorder the answer?
Because upfront costs are paid immediately while interest savings accumulate gradually. An offer pairing higher closing costs with a lower rate wins across a long hold and loses across a short one. Rank the offers over the years you will actually keep the loan, not over thirty.
Is the smallest payment the best offer?
Frequently not. A longer term lowers the payment and raises total interest substantially. Choosing the lower payment is a perfectly legitimate cash flow decision — simply make it deliberately, rather than by mistaking it for the cheaper loan.
What belongs in the comparison?
Rate, term, discount points, origination and lender fees, and any mortgage insurance the program requires. Third-party costs such as title and recording run broadly similar across lenders and rarely alter the ranking.
How do I keep the comparison fair?
Collect the quotes on the same day, since pricing moves, and compare loans with matching terms and structures. Setting a fixed loan against an adjustable one, or a thirty-year against a fifteen-year, is a different decision from comparing two versions of the same product.
What rate should I model before quotes arrive?
Benchmark 30-year rates have run near 6.6-6.7% in mid-2026, which serves as a reasonable placeholder for modelling. Replace it the moment real quotes arrive — your credit profile, loan size, and property type will move your pricing away from the benchmark in one direction or another.