Example Effective Annual Interest Rate Calculation: Suppose you have an investment account with a "Stated Rate" of 7% compounded monthly then the Effective Annual Interest Rate will be about 7.23%. Further, you want to know what your return will be in 5 years. Using the calculator, your periods are years, nominal rate is 7%, The effective interest rate is the interest rate on a loan or financial product restated from the nominal interest rate as an interest rate with annual compound interest payable in arrears. It is used to compare the annual interest between loans with different compounding terms (daily, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, or other). The Effective Annual Rate (EAR) is the interest rate that is adjusted for compounding over a given period. Simply put, the effective annual interest rate is the rate of interest that an investor can earn (or pay) in a year after taking into consideration compounding.