Check my contract
Got a proposal or a contract? Enter what it shows and see the rate it really charges, how much of it is tax, fees and insurance, and how it compares with the rate announced.
What the contract shows
R$
R$
Announced rate (optional)
%
Costs the contract states (optional)
R$
R$
R$
The costs you entered explain the whole difference from the announced rate.
Where the difference comes from
| Cost | Amount | Points a month |
|---|---|---|
| IOF | R$ 289.87 | −0.27 |
| Fees at the start | R$ 150.00 | −0.14 |
| Insurance (whole term) | R$ 720.00 | −0.47 |
| Rate without these costs | 2.50% | |
- You receive R$ 9,850.00 and pay R$ 14,528.16 in total: R$ 4,678.16 more.
- Of those R$ 4,678.16 more, R$ 1,159.87 are costs the contract states and R$ 3,518.29 is interest.
See where this rate falls among the rates institutions reported
How checking a contract works
What the page does
A loan proposal usually announces an interest rate, but what you pay is something else: the tax, the fees and the insurance go into the installments and rarely appear in the advertisement. The page works the opposite way from a simulation. Instead of starting from the rate to reach the installment, it starts from what the contract shows, which is the amount that reached your account, the installment and how many there are, and finds the rate that closes that sum. It shows that rate a month and a year, how much of it comes from each cost the contract states, and how it compares with the announced rate.
What you enter
- The amount received, the monthly installment and the number of installments. The amount received is what actually reached your account, after any fees taken out of it. The installment is what is debited each month, insurance included when it comes with it.
- The announced rate, if there is one, with its basis. Effective monthly, effective yearly or nominal yearly: the page converts everything to a monthly rate before comparing, because 30% a year nominal and 2.5% a month are the same rate said two ways.
- The costs the contract states: the tax on credit (IOF), the fees charged at the start and the monthly insurance. Each one is optional. Anyone who does not know the tax can ask for an estimate, which uses the rule in force that day for an individual and is never applied on its own.
How the sum is done
The real rate is the one at which the installments, discounted month by month, are worth exactly what you received. It is the same sum the Simulation does for the total effective cost, read backwards, so the figure is the same one it would show for an identical contract. Everything the contract charges beyond the interest is inside the installments and outside the amount received, so it is already in this rate. To separate the costs, the page assumes the interest is charged on the amount received plus the tax and the fees, and that the insurance comes on top of the installment. It takes each cost out in order, tax, fees and insurance, and redoes the rate at each step. What is left is the rate of the loan itself, the one to compare with the announced rate. Rates do not simply add up, so each cost's share depends on the order in which it is taken out: it is an approximation, and the screen says so.
A worked example
A R$ 10,000.00 proposal announces 2.5% a month over 24 installments. The contract takes out a R$ 150.00 fee, finances the tax and charges R$ 30.00 of insurance a month. R$ 9,850.00 reaches the account, and the installment is R$ 605.34. You pay 24 installments, R$ 14,528.16 in total, R$ 4,678.16 more than you received. Of that, R$ 1,159.87 are the costs the contract states (R$ 289.87 of tax, the R$ 150.00 fee and R$ 720.00 of insurance over the term) and R$ 3,518.29 is interest.
| Step | Amount | Monthly rate after | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everything counted | — | 3.37% | — |
| Without the tax | R$ 289.87 | 3.10% | 0.27 |
| Without the fees | R$ 150.00 | 2.97% | 0.14 |
| Without the insurance | R$ 720.00 | 2.50% | 0.47 |
The real rate is 3.37% a month, or 48.93% a year, not the 2.5% announced. With the three costs taken out, the rate of the loan itself is 2.50%: it matches the announced one, and the costs explain the whole difference. If the R$ 150.00 fee had not been entered, the rate without costs would be 2.63%, and 0.13 points a month would remain unexplained. Without entering the tax, the page's estimate comes to a very close figure, R$ 289.87 in this case.
Mistakes to avoid
- Entering the amount contracted instead of the amount received. The sum starts from what reached the account: with the fee taken out, the amount contracted is larger.
- Forgetting the insurance in the installment, or entering it when it is not in the installment. Insurance goes in both places or in neither.
- Comparing different bases. A nominal yearly rate, an effective yearly rate and an effective monthly rate are only comparable once converted, and the page does that when you pick the right basis.
- Treating the result as the rate the contract claims to have. What counts is the signed contract and the lender's statement.
What the page does not cover
Contracts with installments that differ from one another, such as SAC, and contracts with a grace period are left out of this version, as is insurance charged as a percentage of the balance. The sum assumes the first installment falls due a month after the money is released; if the contract allows longer before the first one, the real rate is a little lower than the one shown. The estimated tax is for an individual and depends on the rule of the day. The page itself does not compare the rate with those of other institutions; the rate comparison page does.
Where to go next
The guide on the total effective cost explains what goes into that figure, and the glossary defines the terms used here. To see what a loan costs before taking it, use the simulation, and the methodology page describes how the calculations are done.