Debt Payoff Calculator

Enter each debt's balance, interest rate (APR), and minimum payment, plus whatever extra you can put toward them each month, and the calculator builds a payoff plan: the month you'll be debt-free, the total interest you'll pay, when each individual debt is cleared, and a month-by-month schedule you can copy or download as CSV. It runs the same debts through every strategy at once, so you can see exactly what choosing one over another costs.

How the plans work

Every plan pays the same amount each month: all of your minimum payments added together, plus the extra. The minimums go to every debt first, and everything left over goes to one target debt. When that debt is paid off, its minimum doesn't disappear — it rolls into the payment on the next debt in line, which is why the payments seem to snowball as you go.

• Avalanche targets the highest interest rate first. It always pays the least total interest, because each extra dollar goes where it's costing you the most.
• Snowball targets the smallest balance first. It usually costs a little more interest, but you clear whole debts sooner, and the early wins are what keeps many people going.
• Custom targets the debts in the order you list them — use the arrows to move one up, say to clear a debt with a co-signer or a promotional rate that's about to expire.
• Minimums only pays each debt its minimum and nothing more, with no rollover. It's the baseline the interest savings are measured against.

The difference between snowball and avalanche is often smaller than people expect — a few dollars to a few hundred — and the comparison table shows exactly how much for your debts.

When the minimum doesn't cover the interest

If a debt's minimum payment is less than a month's interest on it, paying only the minimum means the balance grows forever. The calculator flags any debt like that. It may still be paid off in a plan, once other debts are cleared and their payments roll over to it — but if the total you're paying each month is less than the interest building up, it tells you that no plan finishes and how much more you'd need.

Example

Visa $4,200 at 24.99%, min $120
Car loan $9,800 at 6.9%, min $260
Store card $850 at 19.99%, min $35
Student loan $18,500 at 5.5%, min $200
$200 extra a month

Avalanche: debt-free in 3 yr 11 mo, $4,779.20 interest
Snowball: 3 yr 11 mo, $4,831.23 interest
Minimums only: 10 yr 1 mo, $10,549.08 interest

Both methods save more than $5,700 in interest and six years compared with minimum payments. The avalanche saves another $52 here; the snowball clears the store card in month 4 instead of month 17.

Limitations

• Minimum payments are fixed amounts. Credit card minimums are usually a percentage of the balance, so they shrink as you pay down — paying only the card's actual minimum takes even longer than shown here.
• Interest is charged monthly at APR ÷ 12. Cards that compound daily charge slightly more, and promotional 0% periods, late fees, and annual fees aren't modelled.
• It assumes no new spending on the debts and that every payment is made on time.
• It isn't financial advice. Debt consolidation, balance transfers, or hardship programs might beat either method for you.

What's the difference between the debt snowball and debt avalanche?

Both pay the minimum on every debt and put all extra money toward one target. The snowball targets the smallest balance first; the avalanche targets the highest interest rate first. The avalanche always costs the least interest, while the snowball pays off individual debts sooner, which many people find more motivating.

Is the snowball or avalanche method better?

Mathematically the avalanche wins: it never pays more interest than the snowball. In practice the gap is often small — when your smallest debt also has a high rate the two are identical — and behaviour matters more than the method. If quick wins will keep you going, the snowball's extra cost may be worth it. Compare both with your own numbers in the table above.

How long will it take to pay off my debt?

It depends on the total you pay each month relative to the balances and interest. Enter each debt with its minimum payment and the calculator simulates every month until the last debt is cleared, showing the debt-free date. Adding even $100 a month on top of the minimums often cuts years off the plan, because every extra dollar goes straight to principal.

What happens when one debt is paid off?

Its minimum payment rolls over to the next debt in your plan, so your total monthly payment stays the same while more of it goes to the target. That rollover is the 'snowball' — and it's why these plans finish far faster than paying only the minimums, even with no extra money at all.

Why does my credit card balance barely go down with minimum payments?

Most of a minimum payment goes to interest. At 24.99% APR, a $4,200 balance accrues about $87 of interest a month, so a $120 payment only takes $33 off the balance. If the minimum is less than the monthly interest the balance actually grows — the calculator flags debts where that happens.

How is credit card interest calculated each month?

Card issuers divide the APR by 365 for a daily rate and charge it on your average daily balance, compounding daily. This calculator uses the simpler APR ÷ 12 on the month's balance, which is within a few cents a month of the daily method for typical balances. Check your statement for the exact interest charged.

Should I pay off debt or save for an emergency fund first?

A common approach is a small starter emergency fund — often $1,000 or one month of expenses — before attacking debt, so an unexpected bill doesn't go back on a credit card. After that, high-interest debt is usually the better use of extra money, since paying off a 25% card is a guaranteed 25% return.