How to read your result
The monthly payment assumes you pay the drawn amount back in equal installments over the term you picked — same as a fixed installment loan. The total interest is everything you’d pay on top of the principal over that term, and total repaid is the two added together.
Three quick reality checks:
- A longer term lowers the monthly payment but raises total interest. A shorter term does the reverse. Slide the term and watch both numbers move.
- The APR you enter drives everything. Garbage in, garbage out — use the rate your lender actually quoted, not a number you hope to get.
- This is a clean, textbook amortization. A real line of credit rarely behaves this cleanly (next section).
Why a real line of credit differs
A business line of credit is revolving, not a one-shot loan, so the textbook math is a starting point, not a promise:
- Interest is charged only on what you draw. Leave $40,000 of a $100,000 line untouched and you don’t pay interest on it. The calculator assumes you’re repaying a specific drawn amount.
- Rates are often variable. Many lines are tied to a benchmark (like the prime rate) plus a margin, so your rate — and your payment — can move over the life of the line. A fixed-payment estimate won’t capture that. See factor rate vs. APR for how lenders quote cost, and how a merchant cash advance dresses up its cost differently.
- Draw fees and maintenance fees are common. Some lenders charge a flat fee every time you pull funds, plus monthly or annual maintenance fees. Those aren’t in the amortization math. We break the usual ones down in average rates and fees.
- Draw-period vs. repayment-period structures vary. Some lines let you pay interest-only while the line is open, then amortize the balance later. That’s why we show the interest-only read-out.
For the full mechanics of how draws, limits, and repayment actually work, read how a business line of credit works.
What you need to qualify for that limit
Bigger limits come with a higher bar. As a rough rule of thumb, lenders weigh revenue, time in business, and credit profile against the amount you want — a $25,000 line is a very different underwrite than a $250,000 one. We don’t promise a number here, and neither should any lender before they’ve seen your file.
Run the calculator at the limit you’re targeting, then check those two pages to see whether that limit is realistic for your business before you apply.
