Personal Loan Calculator Singapore

A personal loan is an upfront lump sum of money borrowed from a bank (or licensed moneylender), repaid over a specified period through monthly instalments. Most personal loans in Singapore are unsecured, meaning you don’t need to pledge any collaterals unlike a mortgage loan or car loan. You do, however, need to repay both the principal (original loan amount) plus any interest accrued on the loan during the tenure.

Interest on a personal loan is usually calculated as either:

• A flat rate (applied to the full loan amount throughout), or

• An Effective Interest Rate (EIR), which includes fees and reflects the true annual cost of the loan

For example, a personal loan (like Standard Chartered CashOne) might offer an interest rate of 1.60% p.a., but its EIR starts from 3.07% p.a.

A loan’s Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI) is your fixed monthly payment paid by the borrower to the bank or lender, including both your principal and interest.

A personal loan interest rate is the annual rate charged by the bank or lender for borrowing money. Banks in Singapore typically advertise promotional flat rates to attract prospective borrowers. However, these promo rates are often projected figures, and don’t reflect the actual cost of borrowing.

Instead, the Effective Interest Rate (EIR) reflects the true borrowing cost since it encompasses fees like processing charges, administrative fees, and the loan’s outstanding (reducing) balance.

A higher interest rate means higher monthly repayments; and while a longer tenure does theoretically mean lower monthly instalments, it increases your total paid interest over time. That’s why to weigh the costs and benefits, using a personal loan calculator like ours helps you experiment with different loan options and borrowing scenarios.

The total personal loan amount you can borrow depends not just on how much you request, but also how much a bank or licensed moneylender is willing to offer based on your financial profile and prevailing regulatory limits by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 

Key factors affecting this include:

• Your monthly income

• Your Balance-to-Income (BTI) ratio

• Your Debt-to-Income ratio, as seen in your Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR)

• Loan purpose

According to MAS, most borrowers can hold unsecured debt up to 12 times their monthly income where

BTI = Total unsecured interest-bearing balances / Monthly income.

Hence, if your existing unsecured debts (e.g. personal loans, credit cards) already exceed this 12x threshold, you generally won’t be eligible to apply for new unsecured loans. 

Do note however, there are some exemptions from the BTI rule:

• Unsecured loans for needs-based purposes (e.g. business, medical, or education)

• You earn ≥ $120,000 annual income

• You have net personal assets ≥ $2 million

If the BTI isn’t applicable to your case, your TDSR may be used instead. TDSR is the portion of your gross monthly income used to repay all debt obligations, inclusive of mortgages, car loans, personal loans, and others. 

In Singapore, the current TDSR is capped at 55%. 

If your monthly debt repayments exceed 55% of your monthly income, your chances of loan approval is significantly reduced. So even though TDSR mainly applies to secured loans (like mortgages or car loans), some banks or lenders may still refer to it to evaluate large personal loan applications, especially if it concerns your loan repayment ability.

You can use our MoneySmart personal loan calculator above to calculate your monthly repayment amount. Simply input your loan amount, loan tenure (in months or years), and interest rate (flat or EIR).

Our calculator will estimate your monthly instalment based on your figures provided.

A loan calculator uses your inputs (loan amount, tenure, and interest rate) to calculate your EMI (monthly repayment, inclusive of principal and interest), total interest payable, and total cost of loan. 

No, our MoneySmart personal loan calculator does not include any such processing fees or admin fees. Feel free to use our calculator to your advantage.

There are several ways to lower your monthly instalment:

• Extend loan tenure; which spreads out payments but increases total repayable interest

• Borrowing a smaller amount to reduce both principal and interest

• Refinance or consolidate existing debts (via a debt consolidation plan) for a lower interest rate

• Compare banks or lenders with lower EIR or minimal fees

If you’re deliberating between a personal loan and debt consolidation plan, check out our Personal Loan vs Debt Consolidation Guide to compare and contrast.