Debt Payoff Calculator (Avalanche vs. Snowball)
Enter your debts and monthly budget to compare avalanche and snowball payoff strategies. See total interest paid, payoff date, and which method saves you more.
Your Debts
Total minimum payments: $480/mo
How to Enter Your Debts
List every debt separately: credit cards, personal loans, car finance, student loans, buy-now-pay-later balances, and anything else you make regular payments on. For each debt you need three numbers: the current balance (what you owe today, not the original amount), the APR (annual percentage rate, found on your statement), and the minimum monthly payment. If a minimum is calculated as a percentage of balance (common for credit cards), enter the current minimum payment amount shown on your latest statement.
Setting Your Monthly Budget
The monthly budget is the total amount you can put toward all debt payments every month. It must be at least the sum of all minimum payments — the calculator flags this if your budget is too low. To accelerate payoff, set it higher than the minimum total. Even an extra £50 to £100 above the combined minimums can shave months or years off your payoff timeline and save hundreds in interest.
Reading the Results
The two strategy cards show total interest paid and months to debt freedom under each approach. The avalanche (highest rate first) almost always saves more interest. The snowball (smallest balance first) sometimes finishes faster because clearing small debts earlier frees up more cash sooner. When the cards show the same order — because your highest-rate debt also happens to be your smallest balance — both strategies are identical.
Why the Difference Can Be Small
Many people expect the avalanche to save dramatically more. In practice, the saving is often a few hundred pounds rather than thousands, unless you have large credit card balances with very high rates alongside large low-rate loans. The bigger lever is always the monthly budget: increasing your payment by £100 a month does more than optimising the payoff order.
After You Finish
When a debt is fully paid, redirect its monthly payment to the next one immediately — do not let it disappear into general spending. This rolling payment approach is the mechanical core of both strategies and is why they work: each eliminated debt increases the money going to the next one, creating a growing payment that clears balances progressively faster.