Discount Interest Loans this question illustrates what is known as discount interest imagine you are discussing a loan with a somewhat unscrupulous lender. You want to borrow $20,000 for one year. The interest rate is 14 percent. You and the lender agree that the interest on the loan will be .14 X $20,000 = $2,800. So the lender deducts this interest amount from the loan up front and gives you $17,200. In this case, we say that the discount is $2,800. What’s wrong here?