Q. Sometimes when I am looking at a car, boat or motorcycle I want to figure an approximate payment in my head. How do I do that? What is the formula for figuring payments?

A.A good rule of thumb at today's interest rates is to assume you'll pay $20 a month for every $1,000 you'll borrow with a five-year (60-month) loan. If you're considering a $10,000 bike, for example, and you're going to finance the entire thing over five years, expect your monthly payments to be about $200. (At 8% the exact payment would be $203.)

The easiest way to make such calculations is to use the "Simple loan calculator" you'll find on our "Auto Loans" page. You just enter the amount you want to borrow, how long you want to borrow it for, and several different interest rates. It will calculate your monthly payment.