Debt Payoff Calculator

Two strategies, one monthly budget

Snowball and avalanche both work the same way mechanically: you pay the minimum on every debt, then throw every spare dollar at one target debt until it’s gone, then roll that payment into the next target. The only difference between them is which debt gets picked first. Snowball picks the smallest balance. Avalanche picks the highest interest rate. Same total monthly budget, same mechanism, different order — and that order changes both how fast you finish and how much you pay in interest along the way.

Key terms

Debt snowball

Pay minimums on everything, then throw every extra dollar at the smallest balance first, regardless of its interest rate. Once it’s paid off, roll that payment into the next-smallest balance.

Debt avalanche

Pay minimums on everything, then throw every extra dollar at the highest interest rate first, regardless of balance size. Minimizes total interest paid by construction.

Minimum payment

The smallest amount a lender requires each month to keep an account current. Under both strategies, every debt still gets its minimum paid every month — only the extra payment beyond the minimums gets targeted differently.

Example

Using this calculator’s own default debts — a $1,800 store card at 26.99%, a $6,200 credit card at 21.5%, and a $3,000 personal loan at 9.5%, with $200 a month extra — snowball pays everything off in 34 months and costs $2,997.81 in total interest. Avalanche finishes in 29 months and costs $2,548.31 — five months faster and $449.50 cheaper, purely from reordering which debt gets the extra payment first.

Why avalanche almost always costs less

Avalanche targets the debt bleeding you the most in interest first, so it minimizes total interest paid by mathematical construction — there’s no scenario where snowball beats it on total cost, only ties. The comparison above shows exactly how much more avalanche saves on your specific numbers. On debts with similar rates, the gap is small. On a mix of high-rate credit cards and a low-rate car loan or student loan, the gap can be substantial.

Why people still choose snowball anyway

Personal finance isn’t only a math problem. Snowball’s real advantage is behavioral: knocking out an entire debt — getting an account to zero and closing it out — produces a concrete win early, which for a lot of people is what keeps the plan alive past month three. If avalanche’s mathematically optimal path takes 18 months to close the first account and you know from experience that you lose motivation without visible progress, the “worse” math might still be the better real-world plan. That’s not you being bad at math. That’s you understanding your own follow-through.

What the payoff order table is actually showing you

The table above lists every debt you entered with two independent orderings — which one gets attacked first, second, third under each strategy, and roughly when each one hits zero. Look at cases where the orders diverge sharply: a debt that’s small but low-interest gets deprioritized fast under avalanche, while a debt that’s large but high-interest gets deprioritized under snowball. Those are the debts where your choice of strategy matters most.

The extra payment is the real lever

Regardless of which strategy you pick, the size of your extra monthly payment matters more than which debt it’s aimed at first. Doubling your extra payment typically cuts years off the payoff timeline; switching between snowball and avalanche on the same extra payment usually changes the timeline by a much smaller margin. If you’re deciding where to find more money in your budget versus which debt to target first, the first decision generally matters more.

A note on what this doesn’t model

This calculator assumes your extra payment amount stays constant every month and that you don’t add new debt while paying these off. It also doesn’t account for balance transfer offers, debt consolidation loans, or promotional 0% APR periods — all of which can change the math significantly if they’re available to you. If your minimums plus extra payment don’t cover the interest accruing on your balances, the calculator will warn you directly rather than showing a payoff date that will never actually happen.

This article is for educational purposes only and isn't legal, financial, or tax advice. See our Disclaimer for details.

Frequently asked questions

Snowball or avalanche — which saves more money?

Avalanche saves more money in essentially every case, since it targets the highest interest rate first by construction. The size of the savings depends on how much your debts' interest rates actually differ — a small gap between rates means a small savings gap; a wide gap, like a high-rate credit card next to a low-rate auto loan, means avalanche's advantage is larger.

Which method keeps people motivated longer?

Snowball is generally considered better for motivation, since it produces a fully paid-off account sooner, which many people find reinforces the habit better than a slower march toward the mathematically optimal outcome. Neither is universally right — if you know from experience you stick with visible wins, the 'worse' math may still be the better real plan for you specifically.

Should I pay minimums on everything and invest the rest instead?

It depends on the interest rate versus your realistic expected investment return. High-interest debt (credit cards in the high teens or 20s percent) is very hard to beat with investment returns after taxes and risk, so paying it down aggressively is usually the better bet. Low-rate debt (some mortgages, some auto loans) is a closer call, and investing instead can be reasonable for some people.

Does debt consolidation beat either method?

It can, if it genuinely lowers your blended interest rate or simplifies enough payments to reduce missed-payment risk — but it's a different tool, not a third payoff order. This calculator assumes your existing balances and rates stay as entered; if you're considering a consolidation loan or balance transfer, re-run the numbers with the new rate and balance to see if it actually helps.