Short-Term Fee Annualization Worksheet

Use this worksheet to put a one-time fee and a short term on the same simple annual scale. Enter the principal, the one-time fee, and the term in days exactly as stated in the scenario. The result is deliberately narrow: it adds the entered fee to principal and annualizes that fee. There is no monthly-fee input, payment schedule, or lender-product assumption.

Method

$\text{amount due}=\text{principal}+\text{entered fee}$

$\text{simple annualization}=\frac{\text{fee}}{\text{principal}}\times\frac{365}{\text{term days}}\times100$

The annualized percentage repeats the same fee-to-principal ratio across a 365-day year. It is not a Regulation Z actuarial APR or an APR disclosure. A large percentage can arise because a short-term fee is being projected over many equivalent terms; it does not mean that the entered loan actually remains outstanding for a year.

Example: estimating payday-loan cost

For $100 principal, a $15 fee, and 14 days:

• amount due is $100+$15= $115.00;
• the fee ratio is 15/100=0.15;
• 0.15×(365/14)×100=391.071428…%, displayed as 391.07%.

If the fee is zero, both the fee ratio and simple annualization are zero. Principal and term must be positive, while the fee may be zero.

Reading the result without overreaching

Use the amount due only as principal plus the single entered fee. The worksheet excludes compounding, renewals, rollovers, late charges, bank fees, payment timing, and statutory disclosure rules. A common mistake is to enter the total repayment as the fee, which counts principal twice. Another is to compare this simple annualization directly with a disclosed actuarial APR as though the methods were identical.

For an actual credit decision, compare the lender’s complete payment schedule and required disclosures, and check the law that applies to the transaction. This page makes no claim about legality, availability, suitability, jurisdiction, or any lender product.

For a separate installment-loan scenario, use the personal loan calculator.

Method and source boundary

Principal plus the entered fee and the fee-ratio annualization are transparent publisher arithmetic for this worksheet. Regulation Z Appendix J describes an actuarial method for APR computations; it is cited only to distinguish that framework from this worksheet’s simple annualization. Version: 2025 annual edition of 12 CFR Part 1026, Appendix J. Jurisdiction: United States federal consumer credit. Accessed 2026-07-09.