Loan calculator

The calculator charges interest on the balance you still owe, the diminishing balance method. Each month the interest is the monthly rate (the annual rate divided by 12) times what is left of the loan, and the rest of your payment reduces the principal. With equal payments, the early ones are mostly interest and the later ones mostly principal. You can also choose decreasing payments: the principal part stays the same and the payment falls over time.

The example in the form: ₱50,000 over 12 months at 24 % a year gives a monthly payment of ₱4,727.98 and ₱6,735.76 in interest (Tasamira calculation, no fees). If your lender charges a processing fee, enter it in the fee field: the total you pay includes it.

Many lenders quote the rate per month or as an add-on, and the two are not the same as the annual rate on the remaining balance. An add-on rate is charged on the full amount you borrowed for the whole term, even though you repay part of it every month. The same ₱50,000 over 12 months, two ways:

So 3 % a month add-on is not 36 % a year: the same payments equal about 61 % a year on the balance (Tasamira calculation). Check yours: if the lender gives you the payment, test annual rates in the calculator until the payment matches, and that annual rate is what you really pay.

A real quote from our comparison: Honey Loan's website gives ₱3,000 for 180 days at 0.4 % a day, which it calls a 12 % monthly effective rate, with ₱2,160 in interest and fees paid in 6 monthly payments of ₱860 (Honey Loan's website, Oct 25, 2026). That is a rate on the original ₱3,000, the add-on logic from above: ₱360 a month for six months. Because part of the principal is repaid every month, the same six payments equal about 18 % a month on the declining balance (Tasamira calculation). The BSP ceilings below cover loans of up to four months, so a 180-day loan is outside them. Ask each lender which method its quoted rate uses.

BSP Circular No. 1133 (dated 22 December 2021, effective 3 January 2022) set these ceilings for unsecured, general-purpose loans of up to ₱10,000 with a term of up to four months, offered by lending companies, financing companies and their online lending platforms:

• a nominal interest rate of at most 6 % a month (the calculator's annual-rate field would show 72 %);
• an effective interest rate of at most 15 % a month, which includes processing, service, notarial, handling and verification fees but not late-payment penalties;
• penalties for late payment of at most 5 % a month on the scheduled amount due;
• a total cost cap of 100 % of the amount borrowed, covering all interest, fees, charges and penalties.

The SEC put the ceilings into force for the companies it supervises through SEC Memorandum Circular No. 3, series of 2022, effective 3 March 2022, and later recalibrated them in SEC Memorandum Circular No. 14, series of 2025. The figures above are the ones in the BSP circular. For lending and financing companies the SEC's current limits can differ, so read them on the SEC website before you compare. The BSP calls the ceilings a time-bound relief measure under periodic review, so check the current text on the BSP and SEC websites. A loan above ₱10,000 or longer than four months is outside the BSP circular.

Two lenders from our list, with the numbers they publish (checked Oct 25, 2026):

Whether the BSP ceilings apply depends on each loan's amount and term. Conditions, requirements and the lender's registration notes are on the cards of MoneyCat and Honey Loan; all lenders side by side are in online loans in the Philippines.

The Truth in Lending Act (Republic Act No. 3765, section 4) requires a creditor to give you a clear written statement before the transaction is completed. It must show the total amount financed, the finance charge in pesos and centavos, and the percentage that the finance charge bears to the amount financed, expressed as a simple annual rate on the outstanding unpaid balance.

Use it as a check: the finance charge in pesos should be close to the total interest plus fees that the calculator shows for the same amount, term and rate. If it is much higher, ask the lender what is included before you sign.