Debt Payoff Planner
Create a strategic plan to become debt-free faster using avalanche or snowball methods.
Debt Payoff Planner
Create a strategic plan to become debt-free faster
Total Debt
$17000.00
Min Payments
$500.00/mo
Debt Free Date
Jan 2028
Total Interest
$1598.23
Payoff Strategy
Extra Monthly Payment
Impact
Total Monthly Payment: $700.00
Debt Free in: 27 months
Highest Interest Priority
48 mo
Highest Interest Priority
38 mo
How the Debt Payoff Planner Works
The Debt Payoff Planner is a strategic tool designed to help you create a clear and effective plan to eliminate your debts. It allows you to use two of the most popular and proven debt reduction strategies: the Debt Avalanche and the Debt Snowball. By inputting your debts and committing to an extra monthly payment, you can see a realistic timeline for becoming debt-free and understand the financial impact of your chosen strategy. All data is stored locally in your browser, ensuring your financial information remains private.
Here’s how it works:
- List Your Debts: Add all your debts, including the current balance, interest rate (APR), and minimum monthly payment.
- Commit to an Extra Payment: Decide on an additional amount you can afford to pay toward your debts each month. This is the "accelerant" for your payoff plan.
- Choose a Strategy:
- Debt Avalanche: This method focuses on paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first. It is the most mathematically optimal strategy and will save you the most money in interest over time.
- Debt Snowball: This method focuses on paying off the debt with the smallest balance first, regardless of the interest rate. This provides quick, psychological wins that build motivation.
- Follow the Plan: The tool will show you which debt to target first. You will make the minimum payment on all other debts, while directing all your extra payment (plus the minimum payment of the target debt) as a large, single payment to that one debt until it's gone. The payment then "snowballs" or "avalanches" to the next debt in line.
Tips for Success
1. Find Your Extra Payment Amount
The success of any payoff plan hinges on how much extra you can contribute. Scrutinize your budget to find areas where you can cut back temporarily, such as subscriptions, dining out, or entertainment. Even a small extra amount makes a big difference due to the power of compounding.
2. Automate Your Payments
Set up automatic payments for the minimums on all your non-target debts. Then, set up a separate, automated payment for your full "attack" payment (minimum + extra) to your primary target debt. This removes willpower from the equation and ensures you stay on track.
3. Stop Accumulating New Debt
A debt payoff plan cannot succeed if you are still adding to your debt. For the duration of your plan, commit to using a debit card or cash for expenses and avoid adding any new balances to your credit cards.