Knowing your loan's interest rate matters, as does learning how that rate is calculated. Interest is either simple or compound. Are Personal Loans a Good or Bad Idea? Taking out a personal loan can ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Doretha Clemons, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, has been a corporate IT executive and professor for 34 ...

Simple interest is the interest applied only to the original amount of money deposited or borrowed. Calculating simple interest requires knowing your principal amount, annual interest rate, and time ...

A simple interest loan calculates the interest based only on the principal you owe. It stands in contrast to a compound interest loan, which calculates interest based on principal and any outstanding ...