This calculator covers four types of common loan products, namely personal instalment loan, revolving loan, credit card cash instalment and credit card cash advance. It shows repayment scenarios with different repayment amounts, repayment periods and annualised percentage rates (APR) for review and comparison; and works out the debt-to-income ratio to measure the impact of debt against the borrower's income. But this calculator will not be suitable for calculating mortgage and student loans which have specific calculation assumptions. The results are for reference only. Calculation method may different from other financial institutions.
Objectives:
- Help users who are considering a new loan to work out the monthly repayment amount/repayment period/borrowing cost, so that users can consider their affordability and compare different loan products, and;
- Help users who already have a number of loans or debts to manage and reduce their debts.
Taking out a new loan:
The calculator works out the repayment of a loan. The monthly repayment amount (or repayment period) and cost of borrowing (total interest and fees) will be calculated based on user's input on the loan amount, APR and repayment period (or monthly repayment amount). The calculation converts the APR specified by the user to estimate the effective monthly interest and then works out the cost of borrowing and monthly repayment amount (or repayment period) required to settle the loan. For personal instalment loan and credit card cash instalment, the calculator offers an option to use the monthly flat rate (or handling fee) for calculation. In addition, the calculator will provide tips on prudent borrowing.
Managing existing debts:
Users have to input the details of each debt, including the loan/debt amount, repayment period, monthly repayment amount, interest rate etc. The calculator will then provide an overview of the debts to facilitate review and comparison. Users can better understand their debts by looking at the total debt balance and total monthly repayment amount, as well as sorting the debts by outstanding balance, APR and outstanding period. In addition, the calculator will provide tips on debt management.
The calculator offers the following features which allow you to:
- Save and print your record
- Share the borrowing and debt calculator with your friends by email, Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp
Assumptions and methodology:
The borrowing and debt calculator takes into account the following:
- The cost of borrowing is calculated by means of:
- APR which takes into account the interest rate plus any related fees or charges to be paid e.g. handling fee and withdrawal fee, except the annual fee of credit card and revolving loan, or fees and charges which are payable as a result of the failure of the borrower to carry out his obligations under the agreement (e.g. late charge) or those which are payable upon the provision of additional services by the money lending institutions; OR
- Monthly flat rate (or monthly handling fee) plus other fees and charges. Fees and charges to be added to the total borrowing amount which will be repaid by instalments.
- APR is calculated in accordance with the method specified by the Hong Kong Association of Banks.
- It does not consider the interest free period for credit card debt.
- It does not include annual fees in the calculation of credit card cash instalment, credit card cash advance, credit card debt and revolving loan(s).
- Repayment made on or before the payment due date of each statement or repayment period.
- It assumes that repayment is made at the end of the month.
- It assumes no additional transaction, unbilled instalment or new loan added over the repayment period.
- The minimum payment of credit card cash advance and credit card debt is based on monthly interest/fees plus 1% of outstanding balance.
- Assume no interest/fees for family and friend loans.
- For the calculation of payoff period, the payment of the final month may be smaller than the monthly repayment amount inputted by the user.
- Users can input a maximum of three loans under “Taking out a new loan” and a maximum of eight debts under “Managing existing debts”.