May 8
0

EMI Calculator

What is an EMI?

EMI stands for Equated Monthly Instalment which is a fixed amount of payment a borrower has to make to the lender at a specified date on monthly basis. EMIs consists of your principal loan amount and interest amount, payable every month.

How EMI Calculators Work?

To put it quite simply, an EMI calculator is a tool that will require you to enter the amount you want to borrow, the duration of the loan, the interest rates and the processing fee and it will do the rest. The basic formula that works behind an EMI calculator is:

E = P x r x (1+r)^n/((1+r)^n – 1)

Here:

  • E is the amount that you will have to pay every month; basically the EMI.
  • P is the amount that you want to borrow.
  • r is the rate of interest that is applicable but calculated on a monthly basis instead of the annual rate of interest. It is obtained by using the formula r = (annual interest/12) x 100.
  • n is the duration of the loan in terms of months. So if you select a term of 5 years, n will be 60.
  • Loan amount: Borrow only as much as you can repay. Depending on the loan EMI calculation, you can choose an appropriate loan amount to meet your financial needs. Maintain a low debt-to-income ratio so as to avoid defaulting on your loan.
  • Loan tenure: A short loan tenure means higher EMI payments and lower interest payment whereas a long loan tenure means lower EMI payments but higher interest payment. Calculate EMIs for different loan tenures using the online EMI calculator. Choose a suitable loan tenure so as to avoid a higher interest payment.
  • Loan EMI: A borrower with a high debt-to-income ratio has higher chances of defaulting on the loan. If you default on a secured loan like a car loan, the bank will repossess your car and put it up for auction in order to compensate for the outstanding dues. Which is why your loan EMI payments must not exceed more than 50% of your income.

Factors that can impact your EMI amount

When you are planning to take a loan for your financial needs, you need to calculate the amount that you will have to pay through equated monthly installments (EMIs) in order to match with your repayment capability. For this, you will need to factor in the loan amount and rate of interest (ROI) along with the term of your loan. However, your equated monthly installments (EMIs) can be impacted for a number of reasons. Mentioned below are the scenarios when a loan EMI can change:

  • When the interest rate on the loan changes When you are checking your monthly amount, the EMI calculator usually calculates the EMI that you have to pay using a fixed interest rate. If your loan contains a fixed interest rate then your EMI will not be affected throughout the entire loan tenure. However, in case you have opted for a scheme with floating rate of interest, your applicable ROI is subject to change depending on the ongoing repo rate announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In such a scenario, the EMI for your loan can also get impacted – negatively or positively. If you don’t want a change in your EMI amount, you can ask the lender to adjust the term of the loan instead of the EMI.
  • When the loan is partially repaid Most of the banks and non-banking financing companies offer the customers the benefit of making a lump sum prepayment towards their loans. Once you make a prepayment for a loan, the principal amount goes down. This, in turn, can reduce the outstanding debt that you will have to repay. Therefore, the EMI of your loan can see a decline. While you might need to pay additional charges in order to avail this facility or can be eligible to make a prepayment only after a certain amount of time, depending on the lender, many financing organizations also offer their customers the benefit of zero prepayment fee. Make sure to check the terms and conditions that your lender has regarding the prepayment facility.
  • When you choose a flexible EMI scheme If you avail a loan with a flexible EMI scheme, you will have the benefit of paying a monthly installment amount that suits your income. In a step-up EMI plan, the EMI amounts gradually increase as the term of the loan progresses to stay in pace with your increasing salary. This scheme better suits individuals who are at the beginning of their careers. On the other hand, in case a person chooses a step-down EMI plan, the amount of the EMI that he or she has to pay will decrease with time. This scheme is helpful for people who are close to their retirements.
  • When the term of the loan changes If a person manages to get his or her loan tenure extended or reduced, the EMI payable towards the loan will also increase or decrease accordingly in order to adjust to the new loan tenure. If you opt for a long tenure, you will have to pay more money towards interest in the long run. However, a shorter term of the loan will translate to less amount to be paid as interest. Therefore, a change in loan tenure should be done only with a thorough understanding of the aftereffects.

Features and Benefits of EMI Calculator

Now that we know its types and how the EMI calculator works, let’s take a look at some of the features and benefits that EMI calculators have to offer.

Convenience:

There can be no denying the ease with which the calculations can be made with this tool. It offers that convenience of calculations that can be done in mere seconds that help you compare the offerings of various banks and reach decisions without wasting much time.

Accuracy:

If you were to sit down with a pen and a paper, every time you vary the interest rates, tenures, amounts to borrow, you run the risk of making mistakes. When you add multiple banks to the mix the chances for errors can be disastrously high and that is where the accuracy of the calculator comes into play.

Speedy calculation:

With a pen and paper you could spend hours on end doing calculations and then be checking and re-checking them. With this tool you could do all sorts of calculations within seconds. Which means that you can explore all the options of tenures, amounts that can be borrowed and interest rates without having to worry about how long it will take.

Specific to each loan:

There is no denying that while at the base of it, most loans follow the same principles but there are certain nuances that separate one loan from another and these EMI calculators come adjusted for such nuances. This means that a home loan EMI calculator will give you precisely the kind of information need to decide on a home loan and so will a personal loan EMI calculator.

Graphic representation of amounts paid:

These calculators don’t just give you an idea of how much you will have to pay on a monthly basis, many of them also provide graphic representations in the form of pie diagrams. These diagrams will show you the total amount that you will pay by the time the loan is fully paid up. It will also show you that of the amount you pay, how much will be the principal, how much the interest and how much will be spent of the processing fee.

Amortisation tables:

Amortisation tables form an important part of any EMI calculator since it is the one table that will show you the future. What is does is to show you how the loan will progress over time and will also show you how much you will have paid back each year of the loan, in terms of the principal and the interest.

Get in Touch with an Expert