APR, fee, and term: the three numbers behind the payment
A lender's page gives you an APR range, a fee range, and a choice of terms. The monthly payment comes from the APR and the term; the fee changes the amount you sign for, not the payment on the money you receive.
What the three numbers are
Every lender page on the provider list reduces to three published inputs. The APR is the yearly cost of credit, shown as a range because the lender prices each borrower separately. The origination fee is a percentage taken out of the proceeds, and the term is the number of monthly payments.
SoFi publishes 6.99% to 35.49% APR, an origination fee of 0% to 7%, and terms from 24 to 84 months (checked 2026-08-25). LightStream publishes 7.24% to 24.89% APR with no origination fee and terms from 24 months (checked 2026-08-25). Tesco Bank, in the United Kingdom, publishes a representative 6.4% APR, a maximum of 34.5%, and terms from 12 to 120 months (checked 2026-08-25). Three pages, three shapes, and the same arithmetic applies to each.
How does a range become a payment?
Because the payment formula needs one rate, not a range, I compute it twice: once at the floor and once at the ceiling. The reference loan on every page here is 10,000 in the local currency over 36 months. At LightStream's 7.24% floor that is a monthly payment of $309.87, and the total over the term follows from multiplying by the number of payments (checked 2026-08-25).
The same loan at the 24.89% ceiling costs $397.02 a month, so the total repayable is $14,293 (checked 2026-08-25). LightStream's own page carries the floor example, 36 payments of $309.87 on $10,000 at 7.24% APR, which is the check figure I use for the US formula (checked 2026-08-25). The calculator runs the same two computations for any amount and term.
The US convention divides the APR by 12 to get the monthly rate. The UK convention is different, and the representative APR article covers why. For this article, the point is that Tesco Bank's representative example reproduces exactly under the UK rule. £10,000 over 60 months at 6.4% APR gives £194.35 a month and £11,661 in total (checked 2026-08-25). When a lender's own example matches the formula, the other cells on that lender's page can be trusted to the same rule.
Where does the fee go?
The fee never appears in the payment column on this site. It appears in the column labeled "amount signed for." That is a deliberate choice, and it follows from how APR is defined in both markets. The APR already includes the origination fee. So the payment computed at the published APR on the amount you receive is the payment the lender's own example produces. Adding the fee to the payment a second time would count it twice.
What the fee does change is the size of the note, the loan amount you sign for. If you need $10,000 in hand and the lender deducts 7% from the proceeds, you sign for more than $10,000 (checked 2026-08-25).
On SoFi's page that is the worst-case row: 35.49% APR, a 7% fee, $455.14 a month, and $16,385 repayable (checked 2026-08-25). The note is $10,753, of which $753 is the fee (checked 2026-08-25). The best-case row on the same page has a 0% fee, so the note equals the $10,000 received, the payment is $308.73, and the total is $11,114 (checked 2026-08-25). SoFi also states that the fee is optional and is taken in exchange for a lower rate (checked 2026-08-25). Which of the two rows a given borrower lands on is not something any published page states. The headline APR article works through that gap.
| Lender | APR and fee (case) | Monthly | Total repayable | Signed for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoFi | 6.99%, 0% fee (best) | $308.73 | $11,114 | $10,000 |
| SoFi | 35.49%, 7% fee (worst) | $455.14 | $16,385 | $10,753 |
| LightStream | 7.24%, no fee (best) | $309.87 | $11,155 | $10,000 |
| LightStream | 24.89%, no fee (worst) | $397.02 | $14,293 | $10,000 |
| Tesco Bank | 6.4% representative, no fee stated | £305.22 | £10,988 | £10,000 |
| Tesco Bank | 34.5% maximum, no fee stated | £424.56 | £15,284 | £10,000 |
^ $10,000 or £10,000 over 36 months, computed from each lender's published range; data/computed_for_articles.json and lenders' rates pages (checked 2026-08-25). Tesco Bank's fee column is blank because its page does not state a fee either way.
Why the term is the number you choose
The APR and the fee are set by the lender after it looks at you. The term is the one input you pick from a menu, and it moves the payment and the total in opposite directions. LightStream's floor over 60 months instead of 36 gives $199.15 a month and $11,949 in total (checked 2026-08-25). The payment falls by about $111, and the total rises by about $794 (checked 2026-08-25). The term article compares 36 and 60 months across several lenders in one table.
Reading a lender page on this site
Each page under d/ shows the same six cells for the reference loan. They are the payment, the total, and the amount signed for, at the best case and at the worst case. The best case is the lowest published APR with the lowest published fee. The worst case is the highest of each, which is why SoFi's worst-case note is $10,753 while LightStream's is $10,000 (checked 2026-08-25). Tesco Bank's page shows the UK version, labeled "representative" rather than "from." The UK figure is the rate at least 51% of accepted applicants are expected to get, not the lowest rate on offer (checked 2026-08-25).
I left one thing off every page on purpose. There is no fee-adjusted APR presented as a headline, because the published APR in both markets already includes the fee. The site computes it for what a personal loan costs as a check, not as a ranking basis.
Where the answer changes
- If a lender publishes only a floor, there is no worst case to compute, and the page shows one row. PenFed Credit Union publishes 6.09% APR with autopay and no maximum, so its page shows a best case of $10,967 and nothing beside it (checked 2026-08-25). A separate gap is a missing fee: Upstart publishes 6.3% to 35.99% but no fee range, so its worst-case note stays at $10,000 even though a fee may exist (checked 2026-08-25).
- If the APR assumes autopay, the published floor is not the rate without it. LightStream states that rates without AutoPay are 0.50 percentage points higher (checked 2026-08-25).
- If you do not yet know which end of the range applies to you, do not decide yet. The gap between SoFi's best and worst rows is $5,271 in total repayable on the same $10,000 (checked 2026-08-25).
Who this article is not for
If you have an offer letter in hand with one APR, one fee, and one term already filled in, the range arithmetic here is behind you. What remains is multiplying your payment by your term and comparing that total to the amount you will receive.
Sources
- SoFi personal loans page, https://www.sofi.com/personal-loans/, checked 2026-08-25
- LightStream personal loans page, https://www.lightstream.com/personal-loans, checked 2026-08-25
- Tesco Bank loans page, https://www.tescobank.com/loans/, checked 2026-08-25
- Upstart personal loans page, https://www.upstart.com/personal-loans, checked 2026-08-25
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z §1026.22, https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/22/, checked 2026-08-25
- FCA Handbook CONC 3.5, https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/3/5.html, checked 2026-08-25
How this article was made. Written by Kaz, an independent publisher. All figures come from the companies' own published documentation or regulator publications; each figure carries the date it was last checked. I have not borrowed from these lenders, nothing here is a personal test result, and nothing here is financial advice. The arithmetic is shown so you can recalculate with your own numbers. Found an error? Use the contact form; corrections are logged on the Editorial policy page.
Related articles
- What a loan marketplace is paid for
- What the headline APR leaves out
- The term is the number you control
Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from providers' published pricing pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.