📈 The Rate Finder

Goal: Find the annual interest rate.
RATE reverse-engineers the percentage based on the loan amount, payment size, and duration.

0.0%
Annual Interest Rate
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NPER (Months)
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PMT (Monthly)
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PV (Loan)
Ready...

💻 Formula Structure

=RATE(nper, pmt, pv, [fv], [type], [guess])
  • 1. Nper: Total months (Years * 12).
  • 2. Pmt: Monthly payment (Negative!).
  • 3. Pv: Loan amount (Positive).
-- Find interest rate
=RATE( 60, -400, 20000 ) * 12
Annual Rate:
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⚠️ Common Pitfalls

🚫 Monthly vs Annual
The function returns the rate per period. If you use monthly periods, you get a monthly rate (e.g., 0.5%). You MUST multiply by 12 to get the Annual Percentage Rate (APR).
🚫 #NUM! Error
If Excel cannot find a result within 20 iterations, it returns #NUM!. This often happens if you forget to make the Payment (PMT) negative and the Loan (PV) positive.