Debt payoff calculator

The debt payoff calculator estimates how long it could take to clear a set of debts and roughly how much interest you might pay along the way, based on the balances, APRs and minimum payments you enter. You can list up to 25 debts, pick a payoff order (debt avalanche, debt snowball, a custom order, or minimum payments only) and add an additional monthly payment on top of your minimums. The result is an estimated debt-free date, an estimated total interest figure, and a month-by-month plan that shows which debt receives the extra money and when each one is projected to reach zero.

It is built for anyone carrying more than one balance who wants to see the trade-offs before changing how they pay: credit cards, store cards, auto loans, personal loans, medical bills or any other debt with a fixed monthly payment. It works just as well with a single debt, where it becomes a simple "how long until this is gone" estimator. Every figure is an estimate based on the assumptions entered; your lender's statements will differ, and the sections below explain why and by roughly how much. If you are new to the two most common payoff orders, start with debt avalanche vs. debt snowball.

The headline is the estimated time until you are debt-free, shown as years and months together with the month it lands on. It counts from the plan start date, assumes the first payment is made one month later, and ends in the month the last remaining balance reaches zero. Under the headline you will see "Your monthly debt payment", which is the total you are committing each month: every minimum payment, every per-debt extra, and the additional monthly payment, added together. That total stays the same for the whole plan even as individual debts disappear.

The breakdown turns that plan into lifetime totals. Total payments is everything you would pay over the plan. Total interest is the part of that which goes to lenders rather than to your balances. Total principal is simply the sum of the balances you started with; when every debt is paid off, total payments minus total interest equals that starting amount. Two comparison lines, interest saved and time saved, measure your plan against a baseline in which you pay only the minimums with nothing extra. If the minimums alone would never clear the debts within the 50-year horizon, those two lines are replaced by a note saying so instead of a number.

Each debt also gets its own row: its position in the payoff order, the month and date it is projected to reach zero, the total you would pay on it, and the interest it would cost. For example, a single $5,000 balance at 18% APR with a $150 minimum is estimated to take 47 months (3 years 11 months) and roughly $1,984 of interest when paid at the minimum alone. Adding $200 per month under the avalanche order (any ordered strategy gives the same result for a single debt) turns that into approximately 17 months (1 year 5 months) and about $670 of interest, which the breakdown reports as roughly $1,314 saved and 2 years 6 months sooner. All of these are estimates; the minimum payments explainer covers why real minimums often behave differently from the fixed amounts assumed here.

This calculator is most useful when you already know what you owe and want to compare ways of paying it down. Typical questions it can help with:

• Is an extra amount worth it? See how adding, say, $200 per month changes the estimated payoff date and total interest compared with your current plan.
• Which order should the debts go in? Compare the debt avalanche (highest APR first), the debt snowball (smallest balance first) and your own custom order on the same set of debts, using the same monthly budget.
• Is one debt stuck? The calculator flags any debt whose minimum payment does not cover its estimated monthly interest, so you can see which balances would grow rather than shrink.
• When could I realistically be debt-free? A month-by-month timeline shows when each debt is projected to reach zero and how the freed-up payments roll forward.
• What does a one-off change do? Add a per-debt extra, change a minimum, or shift the start month and watch the estimate update.

It is a poorer fit for some situations. A mortgage is better modeled in the mortgage calculator, which handles taxes, insurance, PMI and a fixed amortization schedule. Consolidation loans, balance transfers with promotional rates, income-driven student loan plans and debt settlement are not modeled here; you can approximate them by editing balances and APRs, but the calculator will not tell you whether such a move makes sense. If you are behind on payments, receiving collection calls or considering bankruptcy, a nonprofit credit counselor or a qualified professional can look at your full situation, which no calculator can do. The estimates here are educational and are not a recommendation of any product or strategy.

Every number this calculator produces rests on the assumptions below. They keep the math simple and reproducible, but each one is a place where your real statements can differ.

• Interest is charged once a month. Each month's interest is estimated as the balance at the start of the month multiplied by the APR and divided by 12, then rounded to the nearest cent. Real lenders usually work from daily balances, apply grace periods and compound in ways that differ slightly, so their interest charge will not match to the cent.
• Minimum payments are fixed dollar amounts. The minimum you enter is paid every month for the life of the plan. Many credit cards set the minimum as a percentage of the balance, so the real minimum shrinks as you pay down, which takes longer and costs more than shown. Entering today's minimum keeps the estimate honest about effort but optimistic about time.
• Your total monthly payment never drops. When one debt is paid off, the money you were sending to it (its minimum plus any extra) is redirected to the next debt in your order rather than leaving the plan. In the month a debt is finished, any part of its payment it no longer needs rolls to the next debt straight away.
• The additional monthly payment always goes to the current target. The target is the first unpaid debt in your chosen order. Per-debt extra payments are different: they stay with their own debt while it is open.
• The payoff order is decided once, up front. It is set from the balances and APRs you entered and never re-sorted. Debt avalanche pays the highest APR first, debt snowball the smallest balance first, and a custom order follows your list. Ties are broken by the other measure (smaller balance for avalanche, higher APR for snowball) and then by the order you entered the debts.
• Nothing about the debts changes. APRs, balances and minimums are held constant. New charges, fees, rate changes, promotional 0% periods ending, and missed payments are not modeled.
• "Minimum payments only" is the baseline. Interest saved and time saved compare your plan with paying just the minimums and nothing extra. If minimums alone would never clear the debts within 50 years, the calculator says so rather than showing a savings figure.
• Payments start one month after the start date and are always on time. The debt-free date is the month of the final payment under that timing.
• Projections stop at a maximum horizon. The default is 50 years; anything still owed at that point is shown as not paid off.
• Displayed figures are rounded. Everything is an estimate based on the assumptions entered, and rounded totals may not add up exactly to the rounded parts shown alongside them.

For more on how lenders actually compute interest, see how credit card interest works.

Start with the headline: the estimated time until you are debt-free, with the month it lands on. "Estimated" is doing real work here. The figure is the outcome of a simplified model applied to the numbers you typed; it is not a quote, a promise or a prediction of what your lender will report. Treat it as a comparison tool: two scenarios computed the same way can be compared fairly even though neither will match reality to the month.

The breakdown

Below the headline, the breakdown lists total payments, total interest and total principal, followed by interest saved and time saved against a minimum-payments-only baseline. Line items are shown to the cent while the headline is rounded to whole dollars, so the parts may not sum exactly to the totals; that is display rounding, not an error. Each debt also has a row showing its place in the payoff order, its projected payoff month and date, and the interest it would cost over the plan.

The payoff timeline

The payoff timeline chart stacks the remaining balance of every debt, month by month, from the start date to the debt-free month. The band for the current target debt narrows fastest, then vanishes as the freed-up payment moves to the next one, which is why the total curve bends downward more steeply as the plan progresses. If the plan does not finish within the horizon, the chart runs flat or upward to the edge and the results carry a warning instead of a payoff date.

The per-debt schedule

Expand the per-debt schedule to see each month for each debt: starting balance, interest, payment, principal and ending balance, with the target debt marked. The combined timeline sums those rows. Two things are worth checking here. A negative principal on a debt means that month's payment did not cover its interest, so the balance grew. A payment larger than usual in a debt's final month means freed-up money from an earlier payoff landed on it.

The scenario comparison

The comparison view runs two full plans and shows the differences. The "+$200/month" preset clones your current plan with $200 added to the additional monthly payment and keeps the strategy unchanged. On a single $5,000 balance at 18% APR with a $150 minimum under the avalanche order, the current plan is estimated at 47 months (3 years 11 months) and about $1,984 of interest; the +$200/month scenario is approximately 17 months (1 year 5 months) and about $670, so the delta table shows roughly $1,314 less interest and 2 years 6 months sooner. If your current plan uses "minimum payments only", the added $200 is ignored and the calculator shows a note, so switch to an ordered strategy before comparing. You can also build a scenario by hand: on three example debts totaling $22,500, minimums only ($665 per month) is estimated at 63 months and about $8,354 of interest, while $300 extra with the avalanche order is approximately 27 months and about $3,525. The strategy swap preset keeps everything the same and switches between debt avalanche and debt snowball. Often the orders coincide and the outputs are identical; when they differ, the delta table shows how much interest and how many months separate them. See debt avalanche vs. debt snowball for what those differences typically look like, or open the comparison with your own numbers.

Not every input matters equally. The figures below come from the calculator's own reference cases, so you can reproduce them by entering the same numbers; they are estimates based on those assumptions.

Additional monthly payment: the biggest lever. Money on top of the minimums shortens the plan and cuts interest, and the effect is largest when the balances are high relative to the minimums. A $5,000 balance at 18% APR with a $150 minimum is estimated at 47 months and about $1,984 of interest; adding $200 per month brings it to approximately 17 months and about $670, roughly $1,314 less interest and 2 years 6 months sooner. Across three debts totaling $22,500, adding $300 per month with the avalanche order moves the estimate from 63 months and about $8,354 of interest to 27 months and about $3,525.

APR: it sets the pace of interest. A higher APR means more of each payment is absorbed by interest, so the same budget clears the debt later and at greater cost. In the extreme, interest can exceed the minimum: a $10,000 balance at 24% APR with a $150 minimum accrues about $200 of interest in the first month, so the balance grows by roughly $50 a month and never pays off under minimums alone. Adding $100 per month is enough to clear it in approximately 82 months (6 years 10 months) for about $10,319 of interest. At 0% APR, a $3,000 balance with a $100 minimum takes exactly 30 months. Read more in what is APR?.

Balance: more than proportional. Raising a balance while keeping the APR and payment the same increases both time and interest by more than the same proportion, because a larger share of each fixed payment is absorbed by interest. Push it far enough and the payment no longer covers the interest at all. Balances also decide the snowball order, so a small change can reorder the plan.

Minimum payment: fixed here, so it behaves like an extra. Because the calculator holds the minimum constant, raising a minimum has the same effect as adding that amount to the debt's per-debt extra under the avalanche, snowball or custom order ("minimum payments only" ignores extras but not a higher minimum). A $5,000 balance at 18% with a $150 minimum plus a $50 per-debt extra, alongside a second $3,000 debt at 12% with a $90 minimum, is estimated at 35 months instead of 47 and about $695 less interest.

Payoff order: usually a modest difference on the same budget. With the same monthly budget, the avalanche order never costs more interest than the snowball order in this model and is generally the lowest-interest order, but the gap is often small. On three debts of $4,000 at 20%, $2,000 at 20% and $2,000 at 15%, avalanche and snowball both finish in 34 months, with snowball costing about $79 more in interest. A custom order that pays a low-APR loan first can cost more: on the $22,500 example, putting the 6.5% auto loan first instead of the 26.99% store card is estimated at about $1,676 more interest and 2 more months. See debt avalanche vs. debt snowball.

Start date and horizon: they move dates, not amounts. Changing the start month shifts every date by the same amount and leaves months and interest unchanged. The maximum horizon only matters when the plan or the baseline does not finish; then it decides where the projection stops.

The calculator is only as good as its inputs and the way you read them. These are the errors most likely to distort the estimate.

1. Entering a shrinking minimum as if it were fixed. Most card minimums are a percentage of the balance, so they fall as you pay down. The calculator keeps the minimum you enter constant, which makes a minimums-only plan look faster and cheaper than the lender's own schedule. Enter today's minimum, then read the minimums-only result as a floor on time, not a ceiling. The minimum payments explainer shows how large the gap can be.
2. Treating the additional monthly payment as your whole payment. The additional amount sits on top of every minimum and per-debt extra. If you can afford $500 a month in total and your minimums add up to $400, the additional payment is $100, not $500.
3. Adding extras while "minimum payments only" is selected. That strategy is the baseline and deliberately ignores per-debt extras and the additional monthly payment. The calculator shows a note when this happens; switch to avalanche, snowball or custom to have the extra money applied.
4. Entering a monthly or promotional rate as the APR. The APR field expects the annual rate, such as 22.99, not a monthly figure. A 0% promotional APR that expires in a few months is not modeled; entering it as the permanent rate hides all of the interest that arrives when the promotion ends. Variable APRs can also move over the life of the plan.
5. Forgetting new charges. The estimate assumes no further spending on any of the debts. Continuing to use a card while paying it down makes the real payoff later than any scenario shown.
6. Expecting a custom order to beat the avalanche on interest. With the same monthly budget, paying a lower-APR debt first generally costs more interest in this model, sometimes noticeably. That is fine if you value the order for another reason, but the comparison view will show the price.
7. Reading the debt-free date as a promise. It assumes every payment is made on time, one month after the start date, with nothing changing for years. Missed payments, fees and rate changes all push the date out.
8. Ignoring the "minimum below interest" warning. When a debt's minimum does not cover its monthly interest, that balance grows every month until extra money reaches it. A plan can still finish if the pool eventually targets it, but the warning is telling you which debt is the problem.
9. Assuming the model matches your statement to the cent. Grace periods, daily balance methods and billing-cycle timing mean real interest charges differ slightly. Use the calculator to compare plans, not to audit a bill; how credit card interest works explains the differences.

The calculator uses a small set of terms consistently across the inputs, the results and the schedule. Most of them are ordinary lending vocabulary; a few, such as "target debt" and "rollover", describe how the plan moves money between debts. The definitions below match the way the engine behaves, so if a term here differs from the way your lender uses it, the calculator's meaning is the one that applies to the numbers on this page. For a deeper treatment of the rate itself, see what is APR?.

APR (annual percentage rate)

The yearly interest rate on a debt, entered as a percentage such as 22.99. The calculator divides it by 12 to estimate each month's interest; it does not model daily periodic rates, fees or promotional periods.

Balance

The amount you currently owe on a debt, before this month's interest. Balances decide the debt snowball order and, together with APR, how much interest each month costs.

Minimum payment

The smallest amount a lender requires each month. The calculator treats it as a fixed dollar amount for the whole plan, even though many card minimums are a percentage of the balance and shrink over time.

Additional monthly payment

A single extra amount paid every month on top of all minimums and per-debt extras. It always goes to the current target debt.

Per-debt extra payment

An optional extra amount attached to one specific debt. It stays with that debt while the debt is open, then rolls forward with the minimum once the debt is paid off.

Debt avalanche

A payoff order that targets the highest APR first. Ties go to the smaller balance, then to the order the debts were entered. On the same monthly budget it never costs more interest than the debt snowball in this model and is generally the lowest-interest order.

Debt snowball

A payoff order that targets the smallest balance first. Ties go to the higher APR, then to the order the debts were entered. It usually produces the earliest first payoff, which some people find motivating.

Custom order

A payoff order you arrange yourself. Any debt you leave off the list is added at the end in the order it was entered.

Minimum payments only

A strategy that pays exactly the minimum on every debt with no extras. It is also the baseline that interest saved and time saved are measured against.

Target debt

The first unpaid debt in the payoff order. It receives the additional monthly payment and any money freed up by debts that are already paid off.

Monthly budget

Shown as 'Your monthly debt payment'. The sum of every minimum, every per-debt extra and the additional monthly payment; it stays constant for the whole plan.

Rollover

What happens to a paid-off debt's minimum and extra: they are redirected to the next target rather than leaving the plan. In the month a debt is finished, any unused part of its payment rolls forward immediately.

Pool

The money available for targeting in a given month: the additional monthly payment plus rolled-over amounts. It is handed to debts in payoff order until it runs out.

Payoff month

The month, counted from the start date, in which a debt's balance reaches zero. The debt-free month is the latest payoff month across all debts.

Interest saved and time saved

How much less interest and how many fewer months your plan is estimated to take compared with minimum payments only. Both are unavailable if the baseline would not finish within the horizon.

Horizon

The maximum number of months the projection runs, 50 years by default. A plan that has not finished by then is reported as not paid off.

Principal

The part of a payment that reduces the balance after that month's interest is covered. It can be negative when the payment is smaller than the interest.

The calculator simulates one month at a time. Every money value is held as whole cents, so the same inputs produce the same result on every device, and the rules below are the complete description of what happens each month. The site-wide methodology page covers the shared precision policy.

Variables

• b: a debt's balance at the start of the month, in cents.
• a: that debt's APR as entered, in percent (18 means 18%).
• m: the debt's minimum payment; e: its optional per-debt extra (0 if none). Together, m + e is the debt's allotment.
• A: the additional monthly payment applied to the current target.
• B: the monthly budget, A plus the allotments of every debt that had a balance at the start.
• H: the horizon in months (default 600).
• t: the month number, starting at 1; month t is dated t months after the start date.

Monthly interest

interest = round(b × a ÷ 1200)

Multiplying before dividing keeps the intermediate value nearly exact for balances in whole cents and rates with up to three decimals. Lenders typically use a daily periodic rate on an average daily balance, so their figure will differ slightly.

Allocation and cascade

alloc = min(m + e, b + interest)

pool = A + freed allotments + unused allotments

add = min(pool, owed − alloc), then pool −= add

principal = payment − interest; endBalance = owed − payment

Per-month steps

1. For every open debt, compute this month's interest and the amount owed.
2. Give each open debt its base allocation.
3. Build the pool from the additional monthly payment and any freed or unused allotments.
4. Cascade the pool through the debts in payoff order.
5. Record each debt's payment, interest, principal and ending balance, and mark which debt was the target.
6. Stop when every balance is zero (status "paid off"), when t reaches H (status "horizon reached"), or if a balance grows beyond the engine's numeric guard (status "diverged"). Debts that start at zero are skipped; if all of them do, the status is "no debt".

Payoff order

The order is fixed at month 1 from the original inputs. Avalanche sorts by APR descending, then balance ascending, then input order. Snowball sorts by balance ascending, then APR descending, then input order. Custom uses your list, appending any omitted debts in input order. Minimum payments only keeps input order and does no targeting.

Rounding policy and the final period

Rounding to cents happens at exactly two points: when your dollar inputs are converted to cents, and when each debt's monthly interest is computed. Payments, principal and balances are then plain integer arithmetic on cents, and totals are integer sums that are never re-rounded. Because a debt's payment is capped at what it owes, its last payment is whatever clears the balance to exactly zero (never more than the money available to it that month), so there is never a leftover fraction. For a $5,000 balance at 18% APR with a $150 minimum, month 1 charges $75.00 of interest (5,000 × 18 ÷ 1,200), leaves $4,925.00, and month 47 ends with a final payment of $83.61 for total interest of $1,983.61, displayed as approximately $1,984.

Totals, baseline and comparison

Total payments and total interest are the sums over every debt and month. Total principal is the sum of the starting balances, and when the plan finishes it equals total payments minus total interest. The engine always runs a second plan with the same debts under minimum payments only, with no extras, over the same horizon; interest saved and months saved are the differences. If that baseline does not finish within the horizon, both savings are reported as unavailable. Scenario comparisons run two full plans and subtract, never by adjusting one result. Headline figures are rounded to whole dollars for display only; schedule rows are shown to the cent.

This is a simplified model of a fixed set of debts paid on a fixed schedule. Results are estimates based on the assumptions entered, and the following things are outside what it models:

• How lenders actually compute interest. Daily periodic rates, average daily balances, grace periods, billing-cycle timing and compounding rules all mean your statement will differ from the monthly estimate here, usually by a small amount.
• Minimums that change. Percentage-based minimums, minimums that reset when a balance falls below a threshold, and lender-imposed changes are not modeled.
• Changing rates and terms. Variable APRs, promotional 0% periods that expire, penalty rates after a missed payment, and rate reductions you might negotiate are all treated as if they never happen.
• Fees and new activity. Annual fees, late fees, cash-advance charges, balance-transfer fees and any new purchases are excluded. So are missed or partial payments.
• Other ways to restructure debt. Consolidation loans, balance transfers, debt management plans, settlement offers, refinancing and forgiveness programs are not evaluated, and the calculator does not say whether any of them would help.
• Loan-specific features. Prepayment penalties, precomputed-interest auto loans, income-driven or deferment options on student loans, and tax consequences of forgiven debt are not considered.
• Your wider finances. The calculator does not know your income, savings, emergency needs or credit-score goals, and it does not adjust for inflation or the value of money paid sooner rather than later.
• A long horizon. Projections stop at 50 years by default; anything unpaid at that point is shown as not paid off rather than extended.

Because of these gaps, the calculator is best used to compare plans against each other rather than to predict a lender's exact numbers. If you are behind on payments, being contacted by collectors, weighing bankruptcy, or unsure whether a consolidation or settlement offer is legitimate, a nonprofit credit counselor, an attorney or another qualified professional can review your full situation. Nothing on this page is financial, legal or tax advice. For more on the strategies the calculator does model, read debt avalanche vs. debt snowball and how credit card interest works.