List your debts and the extra amount you can pay each month. The calculator runs both payoff methods month by month and shows which one is debt-free sooner and costs less interest.
Track this in Budgetfold. Give each debt payment its own category, see it funded every month and watch the balances fall. Free plan covers this month’s budget, no card.
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Both methods pay the same total each month: every minimum payment plus your extra amount. The difference is where the extra goes.
The calculator simulates each month: it adds one month of interest to every balance (APR divided by 12), pays every minimum, then sends whatever is left of your monthly total to the target debt, spilling over to the next one when a debt hits zero. It counts the months until every balance is zero and adds up the interest.
Rates stay fixed, nothing new is charged to the cards, and the monthly total stays the same until the end. Real statements compound daily and minimum payments on cards usually shrink as the balance falls, so your lender’s numbers will differ by a little. Promotional 0% periods, fees and variable rates are not modeled. Use the result to choose an order, then follow your statements.
Avalanche always costs the same or less interest. Snowball pays off a first debt sooner, which many people find easier to stick with. When the rates are close, the gap is small and the plan you keep following matters more than the order. Read more in how the debt snowball works.
Snowball pays the smallest balance first; avalanche pays the highest interest rate first. Both pay every minimum and roll a paid-off debt’s payment into the next one. Avalanche costs the least interest; snowball gives the first paid-off debt sooner.
The avalanche method, or they tie. Paying the highest rate first means less of your money goes to interest. The calculator shows the exact difference for your debts.
The amount you can pay each month on top of all your minimum payments together. Even a small amount matters, because it grows every time a debt is paid off and its minimum rolls over.
Your total monthly payment is less than or equal to the interest added each month, so the balance cannot fall. Raise the extra payment until the total is clearly above the monthly interest.
Most people leave the mortgage out and plan for consumer debts: cards, personal loans, car loans and student loans. Adding a large low-rate mortgage pushes the debt-free date out by years and hides the comparison that matters.
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