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Financial function
NPER
Returns the number of periods needed to pay off or reach an amount.
CommonDifficulty 1350 · AdvancedUsage rank #86 of 520
When to use it
How many periods it takes to pay off a loan or reach a savings target at a constant rate and payment.
The shape of it
- Syntax
=NPER(rate, pmt, pv, [fv], [type])
Worked examples
Loan term
=NPER(0.06/12,-1498.88,250000) → 360
The mortgage takes 360 months.
Savings time
=NPER(0.05/12,-500,0,50000) → 83.77
Months of 500 deposits to reach 50,000 at 5%.
Credit card payoff
=NPER(0.18/12,-200,5000) → 31.57
Months to clear a 5,000 card balance at 18% paying 200 a month.
Worth knowing
- Round up for whole periods.
- A payment below the interest never pays off and returns #NUM!.
- Divide by 12 for years.
Where it goes wrong
- #NUM! when the payment cannot cover the interest.
- Sign mismatch between pmt and pv returns nonsense or an error.
Related
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