Finances are complicated, and it can be easy to get overwhelmed as bills stack up and inflation rises. How do you make ends meet in a world where your money doesn’t stretch as far as it used to? How do you manage your money when you weren’t taught how to juggle expenses or build good credit?

We’ve designed dependable, easy-to-use financial tools to help you build solid financial skills, understand your finances before making major purchasing decisions, and work toward financial independence.

Financial Calculators

Whether you’re building a budget or trying to figure out if you can afford a loan – our financial calculators are a good place to start. These tools ask you to provide specific information that they use to calculate potential outcomes of different choices.

Overall, a financial calculator is a great tool if you need to weigh the pros and cons of a specific choice. They help you model particular payments or tweak loan or savings options until you find a combination that works for you.

For example, if you are considering buying a car or other vehicle and need to figure out your monthly payment. You can enter the purchase price, sales tax rate, and loan information – term length, interest rate, etc. – and our auto loan calculator will tell you what you can expect your monthly payment to be.

This is an excellent choice if you can only afford to pay a certain amount per month – using a car payment calculator will help you figure out your maximum budget so that you are prepared when you shop for your next set of wheels.

But they’re helpful for far more than finding a car payment that fits your budget. You can use a financial calculator to model your retirement savings, build debt payoff goals, see if you’ll save on childcare by returning to work, find out if continuing to rent is financially feasible or if it would be better to purchase a home, or learn how much you can save using a Health Savings Plan over a traditional health insurance option.

Want to know how else our financial calculators can help? You can find a calculator to match your needs here.

Personal Finance Tool

Building a budget from scratch or setting and meeting a savings goal takes time – and knowing where to start can be overwhelming. If you struggle with figuring out how much you spend versus how much you earn or visualizing a savings goal, our personal finance tool might be a good place to start!

It’s built right into our mobile and online banking platforms, making it easy to track income and spending. Once you opt in, the tool will automatically place transactions into specific categories you can use to get a good idea of how much you spend. You can even recategorize transactions, and the tool will put all future debits from that retailer in the new category.

The personal finance tool can even automatically generate a proposed budget for you, taking your current spending habits into account – you can then tweak it as needed!

The Personal Finance tool can also help you keep track of when debts will be paid off – if you provide your interest rate and monthly payment amount – and help you track how much you’ll need to save to reach a specific savings goal. So, if you plan to go on vacation next year, Personal Finance can tell you how much you’ll need to save each paycheck to cover the costs.

Credit Score Monitor

A credit monitoring program is useful if you need to improve your credit. If you’re signed up for online or mobile banking with First Merchants Bank, you’ll get access to one automatically, thanks to SavvyMoney.

How do you use a credit score monitor? Ours is built into our mobile and online banking platforms, so you can check it by logging into your account! It will show your most recent credit score without dinging your credit and may also alert you to changes in your credit report.

SavvyMoney can give real-time feedback on how to improve your credit. You can learn how each monthly credit card payment or clearing a collections bill can raise your score – and how spending too much on a credit card can bring it down. This quick feedback and helpful tips allow you to adjust your habits as you work to grow your credit score.

If you plan on purchasing a home, a car, or taking out a major loan, using a credit score monitor as much as a year in advance to improve your credit can help put you on better footing when the time comes.

Other resources

Whether your next financial step is building a budget or handpicking investments, we have tools to help.

Practice money mindfulness or take online financial wellness classes with Financial Wellness powered by Enrich – or explore the library of tips, guides, and interviews with experts in our resource center.

And if you have a financial question, our attentive local bankers are always happy to help! Visit your local banking center to iron out budget details, discuss your goals, and answer questions. We’re always happy to listen and here to help you prosper.