Paycheck Budget Calculator
An affordability check, not advice. Enter your take-home pay for one pay period, the bills due before the following payday, the cash you have now, and the loan you are considering. The calculator shows what is left the morning after the lender's debit, whether that fits, and the largest amount that would still leave $100 spare.
How the Paycheck Budget Calculator Works
A payday-style cash advance is repaid in one debit on your next pay date. So the only question that matters is what your account looks like the morning after that debit. The calculator builds that picture from five inputs: take-home pay for one pay period, the bills that have to clear before the following payday, cash you already have, the amount you are thinking of borrowing, and the fee.
The arithmetic: money left = cash on hand + take-home pay - bills - (amount + fee). The fit line reads that result three ways. $100 or more to spare is a yes. Between $0 and $100 is labeled tight, because one unplanned $60 turns it into a shortfall. Below zero is a no. The last line works backwards. Given your pay, bills and cash, what is the largest amount that still leaves $100 after repayment? At $15 per $100 every borrowed dollar costs $1.15 on payday, so the answer is (cash + pay - bills - 100) / 1.15, rounded down to the dollar.
Worked Example
Take-home pay $1,400. Bills due before the following payday $900. Cash on hand $150. Requested amount $300 at $15 per $100.
- Fee: 300 x 0.15 = $45. Due on payday: $345.
- Paycheck after the debit: 1,400 - 345 = $1,055.
- Add the cash on hand: 1,055 + 150 = $1,205.
- Subtract the bills: 1,205 - 900 = $305 left. It fits, with $305 to spare.
- Largest amount with a $100 cushion: 150 + 1,400 - 900 - 100 = $550 of room. 550 / 1.15 = $478.26, so $478.
Now change one number. Bills at $1,200 instead of $900: 150 + 1,400 - 1,200 - 345 = $5 to spare. The loan technically fits. It also leaves five dollars for two weeks, which is how a borrower ends up back at the same counter on day 15. The largest amount with a cushion drops to (150 + 1,400 - 1,200 - 100) / 1.15 = 250 / 1.15 = $217. The calculator's job is to put that $5 in front of you before the lender does.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a bill due before the next payday?
Anything that has to leave your account before the following paycheck lands: your share of rent or the mortgage if it falls in that window, utilities, phone, insurance, minimum card payments, a car payment, and a realistic figure for groceries and fuel. Leave out the emergency the loan is for; that is what the loan covers.
Should I enter gross pay or take-home pay?
Take-home. The lender debits your checking account, and what lands there is pay after taxes, health premiums and any retirement contribution. Gross pay is what state income caps are written against, which is a different question from whether the debit clears.
The result says no. What then?
Three routes, cheapest first. Ask the biller for a due-date change; utilities and many landlords have a process. Borrow only the amount on the last line, which is the largest that leaves a $100 cushion. Or move to a product with more than one payment, such as a payday alternative loan or an installment loan, so the paycheck absorbs a slice rather than the whole thing. None of that is advice; it is the order in which the arithmetic gets easier.
Why is the largest amount lower than my room after bills?
Because each borrowed dollar costs more than a dollar on payday. At $15 per $100 it costs $1.15, so $550 of room supports 550 / 1.15 = $478 of borrowing, not $550. At $20 per $100 the same room supports 550 / 1.20 = $458. The fee per $100 is the number to change if your state's cap is different.
Do lenders run this check themselves?
They verify income, and in states with an income cap they must keep the loan under it: Washington allows the lesser of $700 or 30% of gross monthly income, Illinois the lesser of $1,000 or 25%. That protects the lender's exposure. It does not know about your rent. The CFPB's 2017 rule required an ability-to-repay test for payday loans, and that part was rescinded in 2020, so today the only check on your other bills is the one you run yourself.
