What interest rates apply to New Zealand personal loans?

Unsecured personal loans in New Zealand typically range from about 8% to 25% per year. Banks usually offer the lower rates to strong borrowers, while finance companies and bad-credit lenders charge toward the top of the range.

How is the monthly repayment calculated?

The tool uses the standard amortising loan formula, where the monthly payment is principal times the monthly rate, divided by one minus (one plus the monthly rate) to the power of minus the number of months. Early payments are mostly interest; later ones are mostly principal.

What is a CCCFA affordability assessment?

Under New Zealand's Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, lenders must check that a loan is affordable and suitable before lending. Since 2021 this has meant stricter income and expense verification, so your approved amount may differ from what a calculator suggests.

Should I add the establishment fee to the loan?

Many lenders add the establishment fee to the loan principal so you pay it off over the term, which means you pay interest on it too. Paying the fee upfront instead reduces the total interest you pay.

Does this tool store my numbers?

No. The whole calculation runs in your browser. None of the figures you enter are uploaded or saved anywhere.

New Zealand Personal Loan Calculator

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This New Zealand personal loan calculator shows the monthly repayment and full cost of an unsecured loan using the standard amortising formula, plus a year-by-year breakdown of interest and principal. Everything runs in your browser.

How it works

A personal loan is an amortising loan: each fixed monthly payment covers that month’s interest first, and the rest reduces the balance.

The monthly repayment is:

M = P × r / (1 − (1 + r)^−n)

where P is the amount financed (loan plus any added fee), r is the monthly rate (annual rate ÷ 12), and n is the number of months. The tool then walks through every month, charging interest on the remaining balance and applying the rest to principal, to build the amortisation schedule.

New Zealand’s typical unsecured personal loan rate sits between 8% and 25% per year, with banks at the lower end and finance companies higher. Lenders must also run a CCCFA affordability assessment before approving.

Example

A NZ$15,000 loan at 14% over 3 years (36 months) with a NZ$200 fee added gives a financed amount of NZ$15,200. The monthly repayment is about NZ$519, and you repay roughly NZ$18,700 in total, meaning around NZ$3,500 of interest over the life of the loan.

Notes

This is an estimate using a fixed rate. It does not model variable-rate changes, payment-protection insurance, default fees, early-repayment savings, or the CCCFA verification that may change your approved amount. Compare the total interest, not just the monthly payment, when choosing a lender.