Debt Payoff Calculator
Enter each debt's balance, APR and minimum payment, plus any extra you can pay each month. The calculator pays every minimum and puts the rest of your budget on one target debt. When that debt is paid off, its payment moves to the next one. You get the months until you are debt-free, the total interest, the total paid and the month each debt is paid off, with one line on how the other order compares at the same budget.
If two debts tie, with the same balance in snowball order or the same APR in avalanche order, the one higher on the list goes first.
The minimums plus this amount make your monthly budget. It stays the same until every debt is paid off, so a paid-off debt's payment moves to the next one.
How to use the Debt Payoff Calculator
- Choose Snowball to pay off the smallest balance first, or Avalanche to pay off the highest APR first.
- Enter each debt's name, balance, APR and minimum monthly payment on its own row. Press Add a debt for another row, or Remove to drop one. An empty APR counts as 0%.
- Enter what you can pay each month on top of the minimums, or 0. An amount below 0 counts as 0, and the result says so.
- Press Calculate. The boxes show the months until you are debt-free, your monthly budget, the total interest and the total paid. Below them, the payoff order lists the month each debt is paid off, and the last line compares the other order at the same budget.
- If a message appears instead of a result, it says what to change: a balance, APR or minimum outside the allowed range, totals over 1 trillion, or a budget that does not clear the debts within 100 years.
How the plan is worked out
Monthly budget = all minimums + extra · · · Each month: interest = balance × APR ÷ 12, rounded to the cent. Every debt gets its minimum, and the rest of the budget goes to the target debt.
The budget stays the same every month until the last debt is paid off. When the target debt is paid off, its payment and whatever is left that month go on to the next debt in the order, in the same month. Snowball sorts the debts by starting balance, smallest first. Avalanche sorts them by APR, highest first. Debts with the same balance or the same APR keep the order of their rows. A minimum larger than what a debt owes pays only what it owes, and the rest goes to the target. Each month's interest is rounded half up to the cent. The amounts you type are used exactly as typed, and the totals are rounded half up to the cent.
Worked example
Say you owe $900 on a medical bill at 0% with a $50 minimum, $6,500 on a credit card at 22.99% with a $195 minimum and $11,000 on a car loan at 6.9% with a $280 minimum, and you add $150 a month. Your budget is $675.00 a month. In snowball order the medical bill is paid off in month 5 and the card in month 24, and you are debt-free in 32 months, after $3,072.89 in interest and $21,472.89 in total. In avalanche order the extra goes to the card first. The medical bill gets only its minimum and is paid off in month 18, the card in month 23. You are still debt-free in 32 months, but the interest comes to $2,910.54, so with these debts the snowball order costs $162.35 more.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the debt snowball and the debt avalanche?
Both pay every minimum and put the rest of the budget on one debt at a time. The snowball picks the smallest balance first. The avalanche picks the highest APR first. On the same budget the avalanche costs the same interest or less, apart from a few cents of rounding. The snowball can pay off its first debt sooner. The calculator works out both, and the line under the result gives the other order's months and interest.
What happens to a payment when a debt is paid off?
It stays in your budget. Whatever is left that month, and the full payment in every later month, goes to the next debt in the order. What you pay each month does not drop until the last debt is paid off.
Why does it say my debts are not paid off within 100 years?
The plan stops at 1,200 months. When it runs past that and your budget is not more than the first month's interest, the message also shows that interest, because the total you owe does not go down that month. A larger extra amount shortens the plan.
How is the interest worked out?
Each month every debt still open is charged its APR ÷ 12 on the balance, rounded half up to the cent, before that month's payments. A lender that charges interest daily or rounds another way will show figures on your statements that differ by a few cents or more.
Does it count new charges or a minimum that changes?
No. It assumes you add nothing to the debts, that each APR stays the same and that each minimum stays at the amount you enter. If a card's minimum falls as its balance falls, enter the amount you plan to keep paying.