Debt payoff calculator 2026
Paying off several debts faster means covering every minimum, then directing spare money at one balance at a time — highest rate first, or smallest balance first. Given each debt's balance, rate and minimum, plus an extra payment and a strategy, it works out the months to debt-free, total interest and total paid.
- Debt-free in34 months
- Total interest€2,068.99
- Total paid€14,068.99
| Debt-free in | Total interest | |
|---|---|---|
| Avalanche | 34 | €2,068.99 |
| Snowball | 34 | €2,068.99 |
Over time
Illustration only, not financial advice. Assumes a constant rate and regular intervals; real products vary. Verify with a professional.
How the payoff engine sequences your payments
Every debt in the list carries three numbers: its balance, its annual rate, and its minimum payment. The calculator turns the annual rate into a monthly rate by dividing it by twelve - a flat nominal rate, not a compounded monthly-equivalent rate - and applies it to each debt's balance at the start of every month, adding that interest to what is owed. The combined budget for the month is the sum of every debt's minimum payment plus your extra monthly amount, and it stays fixed for the whole payoff even after a debt is cleared. Minimums are paid first, capped at whatever is still owed. Whatever budget is left over is then thrown at a single target debt - the one with the highest rate under avalanche, or the smallest balance under snowball - and if that debt clears mid-month, the leftover cascades to the next target in the same month. All totals are rounded to the nearest cent.
A worked example: one balance, one extra payment
Enter one debt: balance EUR 5,000, rate 12%, minimum payment EUR 200 (remove the second sample row so only one debt remains), set the extra monthly payment to EUR 100, and pick either strategy - with a single debt the choice makes no difference. This gives a monthly rate of 1% and a combined monthly budget of EUR 300. Working through the schedule, the balance is cleared in 19 months, with total interest of EUR 497.28 and a total paid of EUR 5,497.28. Removing the extra EUR 100 and rerunning the same debt with only the EUR 200 minimum stretches the payoff to 29 months and raises total interest to EUR 782.44 - a difference of 10 months and EUR 285.16 that the extra payment alone accounts for.
What the model assumes about your debts
The tool assumes every debt keeps the exact annual rate you entered for its entire payoff, with no promotional period, no rate change and no missed or late payment. Interest accrues once a month on the current balance, on a fixed schedule with no grace period and no daily accrual. Each debt's minimum payment is the flat amount you typed, not a percentage of the shrinking balance the way many card issuers set it. The extra monthly amount you add is treated as constant every month until the debt is gone. No fees, no new purchases and no currency conversion are added to any balance. Up to five debts can be listed at once, and the schedule runs for at most fifty years (600 months); if the minimums alone cannot outpace the interest within that window, the calculator reports the debt as not payable rather than guessing further.
Where the payoff estimate stops matching a real card
Real debts rarely stay this tidy. Card issuers often set the minimum payment as a percentage of the current balance, so it falls as the balance falls rather than staying fixed, which changes the payoff order and the total interest a snowball or avalanche run would actually achieve. Rates on cards and some consumer loans are variable and can rise or fall over the payoff period; promotional 0% windows expire; a missed payment can trigger a penalty rate or a fee that this model never adds. New spending on an open credit line, one-off charges, and irregular extra payments will all shift the real schedule away from what is shown here. The calculator also does not know whether interest paid or any consolidation is taxed where you live - that depends on local rules it cannot see.
Reading the debt-free date as a comparison tool
Treat the debt-free date and the total interest as a comparison tool, not a forecast printed by your lender. It is built to answer relative questions well: how many months and how much interest does the avalanche order save over the snowball order for these exact debts, or what does an extra EUR 50 a month actually buy you in time and interest. Run the same debts twice, changing one variable - the strategy, the extra amount, a rate - and compare the two totals; that difference is meaningful even where the absolute month count would drift from a real statement. Do not read the month count as a guarantee: it only holds if every rate, minimum and extra payment stays exactly as entered for the whole period, which real finances rarely do.
FAQ
Why do avalanche and snowball show different total interest for the same debts?
Both strategies pay every minimum and then the same extra amount each month, so the total paid toward debt is identical - only the order changes. Avalanche sends the extra to whichever debt has the highest rate, so the balance accruing the most interest each month shrinks fastest. Snowball targets the smallest balance instead, which clears individual debts sooner but usually leaves a high-rate balance accruing interest for longer, raising the total interest shown.
What does the not payable message mean?
It appears when, over 600 months (fifty years), the combined minimum payments and extra amount never bring every balance to zero - usually because a minimum payment is close to or below the interest that debt accrues each month, so the balance barely moves or keeps growing. Raising the extra payment or a minimum, or lowering a rate, is what moves the schedule back under the 600-month ceiling in the model.
Does the extra monthly payment have to stay the same every month?
In the calculator, yes - it is one fixed number applied every month until every debt is cleared or the schedule ends. If your real extra payment varies month to month, you can approximate an average and rerun the calculator, or run it once with your typical extra and once with zero extra to see the range the true payoff time is likely to sit within.
Why doesn't the minimum payment field match what my card statement shows?
The calculator uses the flat euro amount you type as a fixed minimum every month. Many card issuers instead set the minimum as a percentage of the current balance, so their real minimum falls as the balance falls. If you enter today's statement minimum and leave it unchanged, the model will overstate the minimum required in later months, which tends to slightly shorten the estimated payoff compared with a real minimum that keeps shrinking.