Operating lease calculator

Monthly payment for an operating lease with a residual value at the end — margin plus a regional benchmark (EURIBOR, SOFR, SONIA, SARON, TONA, LPR…) or your own total rate, in your currency.

Standard

Defaults to your region. Switch to compare any other scale.

Currency

Asset price (total amount)

Down payment

% of priceAmount

Down payment (%)

Residual value

% of priceAmount

Residual value (%)

Lease term (years)

Decimals allowed: 2.5 or 2,5 = 30 monthly payments.

Interest rate

Margin + benchmark rateTotal annual rate

Benchmark rate

Auto values come from the official publisher and are cached for about 12 hours. Your contract may use a different tenor or fixing date — use the override below.

Margin (% per year)

Benchmark value — manual or override (%)

Required for manual benchmarks; for auto ones leave empty to use the value shown in the results. Negative values allowed.

Floor benchmark at 0%

YesNo

Schedule view

Result

$447.70

Monthly payment

60 × $447.70 + Residual value: $6,000.00

Benchmark rate usedSOFR: 3.89% (as of 2026-11-10) · Federal Reserve Bank of New York · built-in fallback
Annual interest rate used6.79%
Financed amount$27,000.00
Down payment$3,000.00
Residual value$6,000.00
Number of monthly payments60
Total of monthly payments$26,861.86
Total interest$5,861.86
Total cost$35,861.86
Effective annual rate (monthly compounding)7.005%
Step 1 · Financed amount (PV)$30,000.00 − 10% × $30,000.00 = $27,000.00
Step 2 · Residual value (FV)20% × $30,000.00 = $6,000.00
Step 3 · Annual ratemargin + max(0; SOFR) = 2.9% + max(0; 3.89%) = 2.9% + 3.89% = 6.79% · Floor benchmark at 0%: Yes
Step 4 · Monthly rate r and number of payments nr = 6.79% ÷ 12 = 0.0056583; n = 5 × 12 = 60
Step 5 · Monthly payment (PMT)(PV − FV/(1+r)^n) · r / (1 − (1+r)^−n) = (27,000 − 6,000 / 1.0056583^60) × 0.0056583 / (1 − 1.0056583^−60) = $447.70
Step 6 · Total interestn × PMT + FV − PV = 60 × 447.7 + 6,000 − 27,000 = $5,861.86

At the end: return, refinance or buy for $6,000.00

Figures are net of VAT and fees. VAT is usually charged on each operating-lease payment; the tax treatment depends on your country and contract.

Amortization schedule

Year	Payments	Interest	Principal	Balance at end
1	$5,372.37	$1,721.06	$3,651.31	$23,348.69
2	$5,372.37	$1,465.27	$3,907.10	$19,441.58
3	$5,372.37	$1,191.56	$4,180.81	$15,260.77
4	$5,372.37	$898.68	$4,473.69	$10,787.09
5	$5,372.37	$585.29	$4,787.09	$6,000.00
Residual value	$6,000.00	$0.00	$6,000.00	$0.00

About this tool

An operating lease lets you use an asset — most often a car or equipment — for a fixed term while paying off only part of its value. Because a residual value stays outstanding until the end, the monthly payment is lower than with a loan or a finance lease. At the end of the term you usually return the asset, refinance the residual or buy the asset for that amount.

The payment is an annuity with a balloon: interest is charged every month on the whole outstanding balance, including the amount due at the end. Floating-rate contracts usually add a fixed margin to a regional benchmark — EURIBOR in the euro area (including the Baltics), SOFR in the US, SONIA in the UK, SARON in Switzerland, TONA in Japan, the LPR in China, and so on. Pick yours from the list: values published by central banks or official administrators load automatically, licensed ones (such as WIBOR, STIBOR or BBSW) are entered manually with a link to the source, and the tenor or fixing date in your contract may differ, so every value can be overridden.

VAT is usually charged on each operating-lease payment, and fees or insurance come on top; the figures here are net, so check your contract for the tax treatment. If you want to own the asset at the end, compare with the finance lease calculator, a classic loan or a mortgage.

Formula

PV = price − down payment
FV = residual / buyout (% × price, or amount)
r = annual rate ÷ 12; n = round(years × 12)
PMT = (PV − FV/(1+r)^n) · r / (1 − (1+r)^−n)
r = 0 → PMT = (PV − FV) / n
annual rate = margin + max(0, benchmark) | total rate
total cost = down payment + n · PMT + FV

How it is calculated

Pick the currency, then enter the asset price and the down payment (as % or amount).
Enter the residual / buyout at the end (as % of price or amount) and the term in years — 2.5 or 2,5 both work.
Choose margin + benchmark (EURIBOR, SOFR, SONIA, SARON, TONA, LPR…): auto values come from official sources, manual ones link to the source; override if your contract fixes differently — or type the total annual rate.
Read the monthly payment, totals and the step-by-step formula; open the schedule for a yearly or monthly breakdown.

Questions

What happens at the end of an operating lease?

Usually you can return the asset (paying for excess mileage or damage if the contract says so), refinance the residual value with a new lease or loan, or buy the asset for the residual value. The calculator treats the residual as a lump sum due with the last payment, so the total cost shows what you pay if you buy it.

Is VAT included in the payments?

No. Results are net of VAT and fees. In an operating lease VAT is usually added to each monthly payment, but the rules and deductibility differ by country and by whether you lease privately or as a business, so check your contract or ask a tax adviser.

How is the monthly lease payment calculated?

It is an annuity with a balloon: PMT = (PV − FV/(1+r)^n) · r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), where PV is the price minus the down payment, FV is the amount due at the end, r is the annual rate divided by 12 and n the number of months. Payments are assumed at the end of each month; if the rate is 0%, PMT = (PV − FV)/n.

Which benchmark rates are supported, and where do the values come from?

Automatic, from the official publishers (cached for about 12 hours, with a built-in fallback): EURIBOR 3M (ECB, monthly average), SOFR (New York Fed), SONIA (Bank of England), SARON (Swiss National Bank), SWESTR (Riksbank), NOWA (Norges Bank), PRIBOR 3M (Czech National Bank), CORRA (Bank of Canada), the RBA cash rate, TONA (Bank of Japan) and China's LPR 1Y/5Y (CFETS). Manual, with a link to the official source because the data is licensed or has no free feed: STIBOR, NIBOR, CIBOR, WIBOR, WIRON, BUBOR, BBSW, TIBOR, COFIX, the RBI repo rate and Korea's CD 91-day rate (the last two start from a dated reference value). You can also pick a custom benchmark.

What does the 0% benchmark floor mean?

Benchmarks can be negative — EURIBOR was below zero from 2015 to 2022 and SARON is slightly negative again. Many Baltic and European lease contracts treat a negative benchmark as 0%, so the rate never falls below the margin. The option is on by default and works with every benchmark; switch it off if your contract passes negative rates through.

Why might my contract use a different benchmark value?

Contracts specify a tenor (overnight, 1, 3 or 6 months), a fixing date and how often the rate resets — for example 3M EURIBOR fixed two days before each quarter. Overnight rates such as SOFR, SONIA or SARON are often compounded in arrears or used as term versions. The calculator shows the latest published value; if your contract fixes differently, enter the value from your statement in the override field.