Debt Payoff Planner
See when you will be debt-free and how much interest each method costs.
Debt-free
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Total interest
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Saved vs. minimums only
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Total you will pay
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Payoff order
Every method, same budget
| Method | Debt-free | Time | Total interest |
|---|
Total balance
How this is calculated
The plan is simulated one month at a time, in cents:
- Each open debt is charged a month of interest: balance × APR ÷ 12.
- Every open debt receives its minimum payment.
- The rest of your monthly total goes to one debt at a time, in the method's order. When a debt is cleared, its minimum stays in the plan and joins the extra for the next debt.
The two methods
- Avalanche sends the extra to the highest interest rate first. It always costs the least interest.
- Snowball sends the extra to the smallest balance first. It clears whole debts sooner, which many people find easier to stick with.
- Minimums only pays each debt its own minimum and nothing more, for comparison.
Assumptions
Minimum payments are treated as fixed amounts. Many credit cards recalculate the minimum as a share of the balance, so it shrinks as you pay down; paying the fixed amount you enter here is faster than paying a shrinking minimum. Card issuers charge interest daily on the average daily balance, so real interest can differ slightly from the monthly estimate. No new purchases, fees or rate changes are assumed.