Income-Driven Repayment Calculator
For loans where your payment is a percentage of income, not a fixed schedule — US IDR plans, UK Plan 1/2/4/5, Australia's HECS-HELP, and similar income-contingent schemes.
Outcome
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- Total paid
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- Time to payoff / forgiveness
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Your balance may grow before it shrinks
In at least one year, your income-based payment doesn't cover the interest/indexation accruing that year — this is a normal feature of income-driven plans, not an error.
Year-by-year projection
| Year | Income | Payment | Interest | Balance |
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Why this needs its own calculator
A standard loan calculator computes a payment from your balance, rate, and term — the payment is whatever pays the loan off on schedule. Income-driven and income-contingent repayment works backward from that: your payment is calculated from your income, and how long it takes (or whether the balance is forgiven instead of fully repaid) is the output, not an input.
Read the full income-driven repayment guide for how the math works and why the balance can grow before it shrinks.
Reading your results
- Paid off early — your income (and payments) grew enough that the loan was fully repaid before the forgiveness term ended, like a standard loan.
- Amount forgiven — the balance remaining at the end of the forgiveness term, written off rather than carried forward.
- Balance may grow before it shrinks — appears whenever a year's payment doesn't cover that year's accrued interest/indexation. This is a normal, expected feature of these plans, not an error.
Frequently asked questions
- How is my payment calculated?
- As a percentage of your income above a threshold: payment = max(0, income − threshold) × rate%. If your income is at or below the threshold, you pay nothing that year.
- Why did my loan balance go up instead of down?
- This happens when your income-based payment is smaller than the interest or indexation accruing that year — the shortfall is added to your balance. See how income-driven repayment works for more detail. It's common early in a career and isn't a sign of an error.
- What happens to the balance if it's never fully paid off?
- Most income-driven and income-contingent schemes forgive or write off any remaining balance after a set number of years — this calculator shows that as the "forgiven" amount. Tax treatment of forgiven amounts varies by country and by current policy; confirm with the relevant authority before assuming a specific outcome.
- Does this work for Australia's HECS-HELP?
- Yes, as an approximation — HECS-HELP uses indexation rather than a conventional interest rate and doesn't have the UK's fixed automatic write-off, so the Australia preset uses a long default forgiveness horizon rather than assuming one. Check current Australian Taxation Office guidance for specifics.