Debt Payoff Calculator
List your debts, add an extra monthly payment and compare the avalanche and snowball strategies to find your debt-free date.
Highest APR first — lowest total interest.
Debt-free date
November 2029
40 months at 510.00 per month
Total interest
2,937.80
Total paid
19,937.80
| Strategy | Months | Total interest |
|---|---|---|
| Avalanche (selected) | 40 | 2,937.80 |
| Snowball | 40 | 2,937.80 |
Payoff order
- 1. Credit cardSeptember 2028 · 1,358.22 interest
- 2. Car loanNovember 2029 · 1,579.57 interest
Estimates only — lenders compound daily and bill on cycles, so real figures vary slightly. Nothing you enter leaves your device.
How it works
- Add each debt with its name, current balance, APR and minimum monthly payment.
- Enter any extra amount you can pay each month and pick a strategy: avalanche (highest APR first) or snowball (smallest balance first).
- Read your projected debt-free date, total interest and the order your debts disappear — the comparison table shows what the other strategy would cost.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between the avalanche and snowball methods?
- Both methods pay every minimum each month and send all extra money to one target debt. Avalanche targets the highest APR first, which minimizes total interest and is mathematically optimal. Snowball targets the smallest balance first, which clears individual debts sooner and gives quicker wins that many people find easier to stick with.
- How does the calculator work out my payoff date?
- It simulates your debts month by month: each month every balance accrues interest at its APR divided by twelve, minimum payments are applied, and everything left over goes to the target debt for your chosen strategy. When a debt reaches zero, its freed-up minimum payment rolls into the next target automatically, which is why payoff accelerates near the end.
- How much difference does an extra monthly payment make?
- Usually far more than people expect, because every extra dollar goes straight to principal and stops compounding against you. On a typical credit card balance, even 50 extra per month can cut years off the payoff and save a large share of the interest. Change the extra payment field and watch the date and interest totals update instantly.
- Is my financial information private?
- Yes. The entire simulation runs in your browser using JavaScript — balances, rates and payments are never sent to a server, and there is no account or signup. You can enter your real numbers, close the tab, and nothing persists anywhere.
- Why does the calculator say my debts will never be paid off?
- If your combined monthly payment is smaller than the interest your balances generate, the total owed grows every month instead of shrinking. The calculator detects this and warns you rather than showing a misleading date. Raising the extra payment, negotiating a lower rate or consolidating at a cheaper APR are the usual ways out of that situation.
About this tool
This debt payoff calculator takes a list of your actual debts — credit cards, car loans, personal loans, anything with a balance, an APR and a minimum payment — plus whatever extra you can put toward them each month, and projects exactly when you will be debt-free. It reports the payoff date, the total interest you will pay, the total amount paid and the precise order in which each debt reaches zero.
Everything runs client-side in your browser. The simulation advances one month at a time: interest accrues on every open balance at its own APR, minimum payments are made, and the remaining budget goes to a single target debt chosen by your strategy. When a debt is cleared, its minimum payment is not pocketed — it rolls into the next target, so your total monthly payment stays constant and the snowball genuinely snowballs. Because nothing is uploaded, you can use real account figures without privacy concerns.
The core decision the tool helps with is avalanche versus snowball. Avalanche attacks the highest interest rate first and always produces the lowest total interest cost. Snowball attacks the smallest balance first and produces faster early wins — the first paid-off account often arrives months sooner. The built-in comparison shows both outcomes side by side for your exact numbers, so you can see in dollars what the motivational benefit of snowball actually costs. Often the gap is small enough that either choice is fine; sometimes avalanche saves thousands.
A few practical tips: use the APR from your latest statement rather than a remembered figure, since card rates change; treat windfalls like tax refunds as one-off extra payments by temporarily raising the extra field; and rerun the numbers after any balance transfer, because a lower APR can change which strategy wins. The results are estimates — real lenders compound daily and bill on cycles — but the month-level projection is accurate enough for planning.