Free Tool · For Anyone Paying Off Debt
The Debt Payoff Calculator
Same debts, same monthly budget — the order you pay them in changes your debt-free date and what you hand over in interest. List your debts once and see the snowball, the avalanche, and minimums-only side by side.
Your debts, three ways out
Results update as you type. Interest is estimated month by month at each debt's APR.
How it works: every month, each debt charges interest at its APR ÷ 12. Your budget pays every minimum first; whatever is left goes to one target debt — the smallest balance (snowball) or the highest APR (avalanche). When a debt dies, its minimum rolls into the target too, because your total budget never changes. Minimums-only keeps the same total budget figure but never rolls anything extra anywhere — it is what happens with no plan at all.
Your debt-free date (avalanche)
—
| Strategy | Debt-free | Months | Total interest | Total paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snowball — smallest balance first | — | — | — | — |
| Avalanche — highest APR first | — | — | — | — |
| Minimums only — no plan | — | — | — | — |
Month-by-month schedule for the selected strategy
Private by design: everything runs right here in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, saved anywhere, or seen by anyone — close the tab and it's gone. This is an estimate, not financial advice: it assumes fixed APRs, no new charges, and minimums that stay where you entered them. Real card minimums usually shrink as the balance falls, which stretches real timelines out — if anything, treat these dates as the optimistic edge and let beating them be the win.
Straight Answers
Snowball or avalanche — honestly
The avalanche always wins on paper
Paying the highest APR first is mathematically the cheapest order — it can never cost more interest than the snowball, and sometimes it costs a lot less. If the two columns above show a small difference, that is real too: with similar APRs, the order barely matters and the budget matters enormously.
The snowball wins when it keeps you going
Killing a small debt completely — one less bill, one account at zero — is a real psychological payout, and payoff plans fail by quitting far more often than by ordering. If the snowball's interest cost over the avalanche is a price you can see and accept, it can be the right buy.
The minimums-only column is the one to fear
That column is not a strawman — it is the default. Minimum payments are designed to keep a balance alive for years. Any plan, in either order, beats it by a wide margin, and raising the monthly budget beats switching strategies almost every time.
What this calculator can't see
Balance-transfer offers, APR changes, fees, new charges, and minimums that float as a percentage of the balance. Enter the minimum you actually pay today and re-run the numbers whenever a rate changes.
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