What it costs, before you sign
Financial products are hard to compare because each one quotes its cost in a different unit — a percentage here, a flat fee there, a factor rate somewhere else. These publications take the numbers from the regulator's and the provider's own pages, show the arithmetic, and stop at what the documents actually say.
The publications
Before You Roll Over
What a retirement account costs, and what it forbids. The four things you can do with an old 401(k), the 60-day and 20%-withholding mechanics, the prohibited-transaction rules for a self-directed IRA, and what a 1% annual charge costs over 25 years. Figures come from the IRS and the Department of Labor.
Before You Sign
What business finance actually costs. Which rules reach your borrowing, what a personal guarantee does to limited liability, how a factor rate compares with an interest rate, and which US states require a written cost disclosure. Figures come from the FCA, the British Business Bank, the SBA and state statutes.
Student Loan Refinance Cost
First check which federal repayment and forgiveness benefits a private refinance would remove. Then compare your current path with written offers by total repayment, fees, fixed or variable APR, term and eligibility.
Check federal protections Compare total repayment Explore lender terms
Personal Loan Cost Calculator
Enter an amount, APR, term and origination fee to see the monthly payment, amount received, amount financed and total repayment. Compare the same scenario across published lender ranges.
Home Equity Cost Calculator
Compare a HELOC, fixed home equity loan and home equity investment using the same home value, cash amount, appreciation rate and expected sale year. Results show payments, payoff at sale, upfront fees, total cost and annualized cost from published provider terms.
Card Processing Fees
Calculate total credit card processing fees, net proceeds, effective rate and annual cost. Compare published processor plans using the same monthly sales and average transaction size; monthly fees and hardware are included where providers publish them.
Open calculator · Compare processor plans · Calculation method
How the sites work
Official sources only
Every figure is quoted from the regulator's, the tax authority's or the provider's own page, with the date it was checked. Where a number could not be confirmed on such a page, the page says so instead of estimating.
The arithmetic is shown
Where a cost is calculated, the inputs and the working are on the page, and the calculators run in your browser. Nothing you type into them is sent anywhere.
Conclusions are conditional
Each guide ends with what follows if your situation matches, and a list of what to put to the provider in writing. If the answer is not in writing, it is not an answer.
What this is not
Read this before you go further
None of these publications is a lender, a broker, an adviser or a regulated advice service. We cannot see your accounts and we do not know your circumstances, so nothing here is a recommendation to take a particular product.
Check our numbers against the sources we cite — all of which are the regulator's or the provider's own pages.
Nobody here has held any of the products described. Everything is drawn from published documents, not from experience.