Compare two loan offers: payments, fees, and APR.
Enter each offer’s interest rate before fees, term, amount, and deducted origination fee. Compare cash received, monthly payments, total cost, and estimated APR. Different amounts or repayment periods serve different needs: a lower dollar cost alone does not identify a suitable offer.
Method updated September 16, 2026. Illustrative calculations, not an offer.
StraightSum · Educational estimate
Loan offer comparison
| Offer A | $2,000 · 34% rate · 24 mo · 0% fee |
| Offer B | $2,000 · 29% rate · 36 mo · 6% fee |
| Verdict | Offer B has the smaller monthly payment and costs $353.61 more. |
Generated
Estimate for educational use. Not an offer of credit and not financial advice. StraightSum is not a lender. Verify all figures against the lender's written Truth in Lending disclosure before signing.
Compare two offers
Enter the figures from each lender's written disclosure, not from their marketing page. Both offers stay in the address bar, so this comparison can be bookmarked, printed, or sent to someone else.
The cheaper-looking offer is the dearer one
Offer B has the smaller monthly payment and costs $353.61 more.
Offer B looks cheaper every month, which is exactly why it is presented that way. Over the full term it costs $1,137.28 against $783.67 — a difference of $353.61. If the smaller payment is the only one you can reliably make, take it knowingly; that is a legitimate reason. But it is a trade, not a saving.
| Offer Acosts less | Offer B | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly paymentSmaller is not the same as cheaper. | $115.98 | $83.81 |
| You receivePrincipal minus any fee taken at origination. | $2,000.00 | $1,880.00 |
| TermDifferent terms change both payment size and total cost. | 24 months | 36 months |
| Total repaid | $2,783.67 | $3,017.28 |
| Estimated APRIncludes the origination fee using the actual payment schedule. | 34.0% | 33.8% |
| Interest | $783.67 | $1,017.28 |
| Origination fee | $0.00 | $120.00 |
| Total cost of creditInterest plus fees. Compare cash received and payment affordability too. | $783.67 | $1,137.28 |
| Cost per $1 receivedNormalises for different loan amounts. | 39.2¢ | 60.5¢ |
Worth noticing
Educational estimate, not an offer. Both calculations use the standard amortization formula with the fee treated as deducted at origination — if a lender adds the fee to the balance instead, ask them to confirm the total of payments in writing. Compare this output against each lender's Truth in Lending disclosure before signing anything.
Three things move the total. Only one is advertised.
The term
Stretching a loan from 24 to 36 months cuts the monthly payment by roughly a third and adds twelve more months of interest. The payment is what you feel each month; the total is what you actually pay. A longer term trades the second for the first, and that trade is sometimes correct — but it should be a decision, not a side effect of choosing the friendlier-looking quote.
The fee
An origination fee is normally deducted before the money reaches you, while interest accrues on the full principal. Borrow $2,000 with a 6% fee and $120 never arrives, yet you repay as though it did. On a short term that can add ten percentage points or more to the real cost — invisibly, because the quoted rate does not change.
The presentation
Every lender leads with the monthly payment, and none of them is being dishonest in doing so — it is the figure most borrowers ask for. But it is also the figure most easily flattered. The total of payments and the disclosed APR are both required to appear in the written disclosure, which is where you should be reading.
Prepare the link in advance.
Both offers live in the URL, so a comparison can be built before a meeting and sent ahead of it. The format is ?a=amount,apr,term,fee&b=amount,apr,term,fee.
The print button produces a dated page carrying both sets of inputs and the verdict — useful as a handout, and still legible in a drawer six months later. No account, no data collection, nothing stored on our servers.
What the numbers do not cover
Two offers can be identical in cost and still differ in ways that matter more than a few dollars.
Prepayment terms
Where early repayment is free, it is often the cheapest decision available to you later. Some lenders charge for it. One line in the agreement.
Late and NSF fees
These decide what a bad month costs. A missed ACH debit that triggers both a lender fee and a bank fee makes the real risk higher than the APR suggests.
Credit reporting
If the lender reports to the bureaus, on-time payments can improve your file. If they only report defaults, you carry the downside without the upside.
Licensing
Verify both lenders through NMLS Consumer Access. A licensed lender exceeding your state's ceiling, or an unlicensed one at any rate, is a reason to walk away from an otherwise better number.
Questions about comparing offers
How do I tell which of two loan offers is cheaper?
Compare total cost of credit in dollars, and estimated APR with fees included. Never compare on the monthly payment: a longer term always makes that figure smaller while making the total larger, which is precisely why lenders lead with it. Two offers with identical monthly payments can differ by hundreds of dollars overall.
Why does a lower interest rate sometimes cost more?
Two reasons, and they often appear together. A longer term means more months of interest even at a lower rate, and an origination fee raises the real cost without touching the advertised one. The default example on this page shows it: $2,000.00 at 34% over 24 months with no fee costs $783.67, while the same amount at 29% over 36 months with a 6% fee costs $1,137.28 — $353.61 more, despite the lower rate and the smaller monthly payment.
What is estimated APR and why does it matter here?
The estimated APR folds fees into the cost of credit. If you borrow $2,000 with a 6% origination fee, you receive $1,880 but repay as though you received $2,000 — so your real rate is higher than the quoted one. The model assumes regular monthly payments and a fee deducted up front. Do not enter a disclosed APR that already includes the fee; compare cash received, total cost, and payment affordability too.
The two offers are for different amounts. Can I still compare them?
Yes, but read the cost-per-dollar row rather than the totals. A larger loan costing more in absolute terms may still be cheaper per dollar borrowed. Better still, set both amounts to what you actually need — an approved maximum is a ceiling, not a recommendation, and borrowing more than necessary is the most common avoidable expense in this whole exercise.
Can I send this comparison to someone else?
Yes. Both offers are stored in the address bar, so copying the URL captures the whole comparison. Financial counsellors can prepare a link in advance in the form ?a=2000,34,24,0&b=2000,29,36,6 — amount, APR, term, fee for each side — and send it to a client before a meeting. The print button produces a dated page with both sets of inputs on it.
What should I compare beyond the numbers?
Prepayment terms, because free early repayment can save a meaningful share of the interest. Late and returned-payment fees, because they decide what one difficult month costs. Whether the lender reports to the credit bureaus, since on-time payments can then help you. And licensing — verify both lenders through NMLS Consumer Access before choosing either.
Related tools
Calculators and guides on this site are educational estimates, not offers of credit and not financial, legal, tax, or credit advice. Actual terms depend on the lender, your state, verification, underwriting, and applicable law. StraightSum is not a lender, loan broker, or credit services organization. We do not make credit decisions, issue funds, set rates or fees, guarantee approval, or service loan accounts.