Business loans · calculator
Business loan calculator: the true cost after every fee
Enter a business loan offer, flat or effective, with its fees and any broker’s fee: the monthly payment, the cash you receive and the true cost a year, plus the same loan at each lender’s published rate.
A flat 5% a year over 3 years, on what you still owe
9.31% a year
Before any fee. Flat interest is charged on the whole loan for the whole term.
A 3% broker’s fee on $100,000 over 3 years at 6%
+2.06 points
$3,000 taken off the payout: 8.06% a year effective instead of 6.00%.
In short
Lenders quote business loan rates two ways: flat (on the whole loan for the whole term, also called simple) and effective (on what you still owe, the EIR). A flat 5% over 3 years is 9.31% effective, before fees; processing fees and a broker’s fee, taken off the payout, add to that. Enter your offer to see its true cost a year, and the same loan at the 6 rates 5 lenders publish.
Work out your loan’s true cost
Enter the offer as the lender gives it: the amount, the term, the rate and whether it is flat or effective, and each fee. You get the monthly payment, the cash you actually receive, and the effective rate after every fee, which is the one figure you can compare across lenders.
A lender that quotes an effective rate (EIR) may already count its fees in it: if so, enter the EIR as “on what you still owe” and leave the fee boxes blank. The presets are each lender’s lowest published rate and fees, read 3 Nov 2026; the rate you are offered may be higher.
The same loan at each lender’s published rate
Lenders publish a starting rate: the lowest they offer. Here is your amount and term at each one, with the fees each publishes, worked out the same way.
$100,000 over 3 years, at the lowest rate each lender publishes, with the fees it publishes. Lowest effective rate first.
| Lender and loan | Published rate a year | Each month | Interest | Fees | Effective rate a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DBS SME Working Capital LoanDBS gives 6% as the effective rate. Its processing fee isn’t published, so the real cost is higher than this by that fee. | 6% | $3,042 | $9,519 | Not published | 6.00% |
| OCBC SME Working Capital LoanOCBC gives this as the effective rate and says its facility fee (1.5%, at least $500) comes on top: the fee is counted here. | 6.75% | $3,076 | $10,747 | $1,500 | 7.77% |
| OCBC Business First LoanOCBC gives this as the effective rate and says its facility fee (2%, at least $500) comes on top: the fee is counted here. Only for businesses under 2 years old. | 7.75% | $3,122 | $12,396 | $2,000 | 9.13% |
| GXS Bank FlexiLoan Biz (credit line)Read as a flat rate: that is the only reading that gives GXS’s own EIR (ours 9.31% on its example of $10,000 over 24 months; GXS says 9.32%). | 4.99% | $3,194 | $14,970 | $0 | 9.29% |
| MariBank Mari Business Loan (Term Loan)Simple (flat) interest: charged on the whole sum for the whole term, even as you repay. | 4.5% | $3,153 | $13,500 | $1,500 | 9.45% |
| UOB BizMoneyUOB’s board rate plus its margin, worked out on what is still owed. UOB’s page doesn’t say how the interest is charged: ask before you sign. It moves when the board rate moves. | 10.88% | $3,268 | $17,655 | $3,500 | 13.23% |
This table follows the amount and term in the calculator. Rates and fees read from each lender’s page on 3 Nov 2026 (every lender’s rules). Left out: lenders that publish no rate, Standard Chartered (it publishes only a board rate that offers are measured against) and Funding Societies (a monthly rate, for up to 18 months).
Flat rates as effective rates
A flat rate charges interest on the whole loan for the whole term, even as you pay it back. On what you still owe, a flat 5% over 3 years is 9.31% a year: close to twice the flat rate, at every term from 1 to 5 years. Before fees:
| Flat rate a year | 1 year | 2 years | 3 years | 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3% flat | 5.49% | 5.66% | 5.68% | 5.64% |
| 4% flat | 7.30% | 7.50% | 7.51% | 7.42% |
| 5% flat | 9.10% | 9.32% | 9.31% | 9.15% |
| 6% flat | 10.90% | 11.13% | 11.08% | 10.85% |
| 7% flat | 12.68% | 12.91% | 12.83% | 12.50% |
| 8% flat | 14.45% | 14.68% | 14.55% | 14.13% |
Our check: GXS gives an EIR of 9.32% for its 4.99% flat rate on $10,000 over 24 months; the same sum here gives 9.31%.
What a broker’s fee does to the cost
A broker’s fee charged as a share of the loan is paid once, at the start, so it weighs most on a short loan. On a loan of $100,000 at 6% a year on what you still owe (the lowest effective rate DBS publishes), with no other fees:
| Broker’s fee | In dollars | Cash in hand | Effective rate, over 3 years | Over 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No broker | $0 | $100,000 | 6.00% | 6.00% |
| 1% | $1,000 | $99,000 | 6.68% | 7.89% |
| 2% | $2,000 | $98,000 | 7.36% | 9.80% |
| 3% | $3,000 | $97,000 | 8.06% | 11.74% |
| 5% | $5,000 | $95,000 | 9.48% | 15.72% |
| 8% | $8,000 | $92,000 | 11.69% | 21.91% |
| 10% | $10,000 | $90,000 | 13.22% | 26.20% |
The fee is counted as cash you don’t receive, as a lender’s processing fee is. If a broker says the lender pays it instead, get that in writing too (what to ask a broker).
- Business loan requirements and rates in Singapore, lender by lender
- The Enterprise Financing Scheme (EFS): every loan, who qualifies, which lenders
- Business loans in Singapore, when the bank says no
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a flat rate and an effective rate?
A flat rate (also called simple interest) is worked out on the whole loan for the whole term: 5% flat on $100,000 over 3 years is $15,000 of interest, however much you have paid back. An effective rate is charged only on what you still owe, so it falls as you repay. The same loan costs more than the flat rate suggests: a flat 5% over 3 years is about 9.3% effective. At every term from 1 to 5 years, the effective rate is close to twice the flat rate (see the table).
Why is the EIR higher than the rate in the advert?
Two reasons. The advertised rate may be flat, which is charged on money you have already paid back. And fees taken off the payout mean you receive less than you repay interest on. The effective rate (EIR) counts both, which is why it is the one to compare. If the lender gives an EIR, ask whether it already includes its fees.
Is the processing fee included in the EIR?
Not always. OCBC says its facility fee comes on top of its interest rate; UOB publishes a 2% facility fee and S$500 a year besides its rate; MariBank takes its 1.5% processing fee off the amount it pays out; DBS doesn’t publish its processing fee. The calculator counts a fee taken off the payout as cash you don’t receive, which raises the effective rate. On a short loan it raises it more, because the fee is spread over fewer months.
How much does a business loan broker charge?
There is no published scale: each broker sets its own fee. Get it in writing before you sign: the fee in dollars, when it is due, and whether it is still due if no lender says yes. A broker’s 3% on $100,000 is $3,000, which on a 3-year loan at 6% raises the effective rate by about 2 points (see the table). The Police say licensed moneylenders never ask for payment before a loan is paid out (what to ask a broker).
Does paying early save interest?
On interest charged on what you still owe, paying early cuts the interest still to come. On a flat-rate loan it depends on the lender’s terms. Some lenders charge for paying early and others say they don’t: each lender’s published terms are on the requirements page.
Is this the rate I will get?
No. The lenders’ figures are their lowest published rates; the rate you are offered depends on the business, its accounts and its credit record. Enter the offer you receive to see its true cost.
How we work it out
- Monthly payment: for a flat rate, the loan plus a year’s interest on the whole loan for each year of the term, split into equal months. For a rate on what you still owe, the standard equal-payment loan sum at the rate a year divided by 12.
- Effective rate: the monthly rate at which the payments, and any yearly fee, add up to the cash you receive today, times 12. This is how Singapore lenders give EIR. A processing fee, other start-up fees, the first yearly fee and a broker’s fee are taken off the cash you receive.
- Our checks: GXS gives an EIR of 9.32% for its 4.99% flat rate on its example loan, and our sum gives 9.31%; DBS says its 6% effective rate is about 3.2% flat on $100,000 over 5 years, and our sum gives 6.00%.
- Lenders’ rates and fees are read from each lender’s own page and checked for changes every day (update schedule). Everything is worked out in your browser: nothing you type is sent to us.
- No lender or broker pays us, the page has no affiliate links, and we don’t arrange loans. Not financial advice: see our disclaimer and corrections.
Changes to this page
New: a business loan calculator. Enter an offer, flat or effective, with its fees and any broker’s fee, and get the monthly payment, the cash you actually receive and the true cost a year after every fee; the same loan at each lender’s published rate, at your amount and term; flat rates as effective rates (a flat 5% over 3 years is 9.31%); and what a broker’s fee of 1% to 10% does to the cost. Work out the true cost