Hard money loan calculator
See the full cost of a short-term hard money loan: 100,000 at 12% a year for 12 months, with 2 points and 500 in fees, costs 14,500, or 14.5% of the loan. Points, interest and fees are shown separately. Free in your browser.
- Free
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- Your data stays on your device
Run — free
Worked example
- Principal amount
- 100,000
- Annual interest rate (%)
- 12
- Loan term (months)
- 12
- Loan-points cost
- 2,000
- Interest amount
- 12,000
- Total borrowing cost
- 14,500
- Effective cost (%)
- 14.5
Compute the total cost of a short-term hard money loan, its origination points, simple prorated interest, flat fees, and effective cost percent, from principal, annual rate, and term in months.
What a hard money loan really costs
A hard money loan is short-term financing, often a bridge loan for a fix-and-flip project expected to last somewhere between 6 and 18 months. Its cost has three parts. Points are an origination fee charged up front as a percentage of the loan. Interest is simple and interest-only: the principal times the annual rate times the months divided by twelve, with nothing amortized. Flat fees are added on top. With 100,000 borrowed at 12% for 12 months, 2 points and 500 in fees, that is 2,000 in points, 12,000 in interest and 14,500 in total.
Comparing quotes and avoiding slips
The effective cost percent sets the total cost against the amount borrowed, 14.5% in the example, so a quote with more points and a lower rate can be placed beside one with fewer points and a higher rate. Enter the annual rate, not a monthly one, because the months you enter already scale it to the term. Count the term in whole months, at least one. If a lender charges no points or no extra fees, leave those amounts empty and they count as zero. Every amount is rounded only once, at the end of the calculation.
What you can do with it
Fix-and-flip budgeting
Estimate the carrying cost of a bridge loan across a project's expected 6 to 18 month timeline.
FAQ
What are points on a hard money loan?
Points are the origination fee the lender charges up front, as a percentage of the loan. Two points on 100,000 come to 2,000, paid in addition to the interest.
How is the interest worked out?
As simple interest for the months you hold the loan: the principal times the annual rate times the months divided by twelve. Nothing is amortized; it is an interest-only figure, typical of bridge and fix-and-flip financing.
What does the effective cost percent show?
The total cost of the loan, meaning points, interest and fees, as a share of the amount borrowed. In the example 14,500 on 100,000 gives 14.5%, which makes quotes with different points and rates easy to compare.
Can I price a loan with no points or no fees?
Yes. Points and flat fees are optional and count as zero when left empty, so you can price a no-points quote or a lender with no fees. The term must be a whole number of months, at least one.
Related tools
For developers — API access
Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.
API endpoint
Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.
Call it from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/finance/hard-money-loan \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"principal":100000,"annual_rate":12,"months":12}'const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/finance/hard-money-loan", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"principal": 100000,
"annual_rate": 12,
"months": 12
})
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();import os, requests
res = requests.post(
"https://api.kit.forhosting.com/finance/hard-money-loan",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
json={
"principal": 100000,
"annual_rate": 12,
"months": 12
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/finance/hard-money-loan", false, stream_context_create([
"http" => [
"method" => "POST",
"header" => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
"content" => '{"principal":100000,"annual_rate":12,"months":12}',
],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"principal":100000,"annual_rate":12,"months":12}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/finance/hard-money-loan", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)Example request
{
"principal": 100000,
"annual_rate": 12,
"months": 12
}Example response
{
"task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
"type": "finance.hard_money_loan",
"status": "queued",
"_links": {
"result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
}
}The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.
Pricing
Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.
Errors
| HTTP | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
401 | unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 | insufficient_balance | Your balance doesn't cover the task price. |
404 | unknown_type | That task type doesn't exist. |
429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling. |
Technical notes
Four inputs, four derived costs
This calculator totals the cost of a short-term hard money loan from your inputs and returns four derived figures. Each figure is returned alongside the echoed inputs so the breakdown stays auditable end to end. The points_amount equals principal multiplied by points_percent divided by one hundred, the origination fee lenders charge up front. The interest equals principal times annual_rate-over-one-hundred times months-over-twelve, a simple non-amortizing, interest-only figure typical of bridge and fix-and-flip financing. The total_cost sums points_amount, interest, and any flat fees. Finally, effective_cost_percent expresses total_cost as a percentage of principal. With a $100,000 loan at 2 points, 12% annual, 12 months and $500 in fees, you get $2,000 in points, $12,000 in interest, $14,500 total, and 14.5% effective cost.
Required fields, defaults, and rounding
The optional decimals field defaults to two. Three fields are required: principal must be a finite number above zero, annual_rate must be a number of at least zero (a 0% loan is unusual but permitted), and months must be a whole integer of one or more, since a fractional or zero term returns a typed invalid_input error naming months. The points_percent and fees are optional and default to zero, so you can model a no-points quote or a fee-free lender simply by omitting them. Every currency output and the effective_cost_percent are rounded once with an explicit half-up rule on the raw value, never chained from an already-rounded field, so total_cost is the true sum of the raw points, interest, and fees rather than the sum of three rounded numbers.
Why the structure and effective cost matter
Because interest here is simple and prorated by months divided by twelve rather than amortized, the tool is built for the interest-only, balloon-at-maturity structure of hard money rather than for a conventional mortgage schedule. The effective_cost_percent is the single most useful output when comparing lenders: a low headline rate with high points can cost more than a high rate with none, and this figure collapses both into one comparable number. A common workflow sweeps months from 6 to 18 to see how carrying cost grows on a flip that runs long, or raises points_percent to price a riskier deal. It does not compute monthly payments, an APR under Regulation Z, or default interest.
Integration use cases
Compare lenders
Use effective_cost_percent to weigh a low rate with high points against a high rate with none.
Deal pipelines
Call the API to score many prospective loans at once with consistent, auditable math.
Technical questions
What does it compute?
points_amount, prorated interest, total_cost (points + interest + fees), and effective_cost_percent of principal.
How is interest calculated?
Simple interest: principal x annual_rate/100 x months/12, interest-only and not amortized, as hard money usually is.
Which fields are required?
principal, annual_rate, and an integer months of at least 1. points_percent and fees are optional and default to zero.
What is effective_cost_percent?
total_cost as a percentage of principal, so points-heavy and rate-heavy quotes become directly comparable.
Is it free?
Yes in the browser widget. The deterministic API is priced from $0.002 and billed only on success.