Amount, rate and term in; monthly payment, total interest and a repayment schedule out.
A monthly payment reads like a made-up number until you can see the schedule behind it. A loan calculator worth sending opens on your customer's quote and shows that working: the formula, the first twelve payments and the interest inside each. The sample is a bakery equipment seller's, sent with an oven quote, and it says plainly that it isn't a loan offer.
Who it's for
Brokers, car dealers and equipment sellers whose customer is deciding how to pay. They've seen the price, they're weighing three years against five, and they'd rather do that at home with their accountant than across your desk.
It doesn't replace what the lender puts in writing: the agreement, the fee schedule and the final figures. If the rate isn't yours to quote, leave that box for the customer.
What a good one contains
- The quoted loan, already filled in. The sample starts at $30,000, a $36,800 oven less a $6,800 deposit, at the 7.9% the lender quoted. The customer's own payment is on screen before they touch anything: $606.86.
- Total interest beside the payment. A low monthly figure sells the long term. The total, $6,411.38, is what the customer is really comparing.
- The terms side by side. One table, four rows. Stretching from three years to six cuts the payment by $414.18 and adds $3,973 of interest.
- A chart of what's still owed. After payment 30 of 60 the balance is still 55% of the loan. Most people expect half.
- The first rows of the schedule. Twelve payments split into interest and principal, then the last one. An accountant will check row one by hand: $30,000 × 7.9% ÷ 12 is $197.50.
- The formula and its assumptions. Payment = P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n), with each letter explained. Then the fixed rate, the monthly interest and the rounding, in plain words.
- What the payment doesn't cover. Fees, sales tax, insurance and early-repayment charges are named, so nobody takes the result for the full cost.
Before you send it, type the lender's own quote into the page. If their payment is a few cents from yours, that's rounding, and the page should say how it rounds. If it's dollars away, they've added a fee to the balance or they count interest by the day, and your page should say it does neither.
Test the edges too. At a rate of 0 the payment should be the amount divided by the months, and an empty term should get a request for one. Nonsense from one odd input makes the customer doubt the sensible answers as well.
How to send it
With a password. It opens on one customer's quote: their price, their deposit and the rate offered to them. A password keeps that between you, them and whoever they ask for advice.
Every page you publish gets one link that opens in any browser. You choose who can open it: anyone with the link, anyone with the password, or only the people and company domains you name, who sign in with Google or Microsoft. Change the page later and the link stays the same.
