How to use this calculator
- Enter each credit card's balance and APR from your latest statement. Add a row for each card, up to six.
- Enter each loan's balance, rate and monthly payment: a car loan, a personal loan, a private student loan. Add a row for each, up to four. Leave out your mortgage.
- Enter the most you can pay toward all of them each month, minimums included. The answer shows which order costs the least interest and when you'd be debt-free.
- Under More options, set the card minimum payment formula from your card agreement.
- To test an offer, choose a consolidation loan or a balance transfer under "Compare with" and enter its rate, term and fee.
The numbers already filled in are an example. Replace them with your own.
How it's calculated
Each month, every debt is charged a twelfth of its APR on its balance, rounded to the cent, and then gets its minimum payment. A card's minimum is the formula you set: by default 1% of the balance plus that month's interest, at least $35, so it falls as the balance falls. A loan's payment stays the same until the loan is paid off. Whatever is left of your monthly amount after the minimums is the extra, and the order decides where it goes:
- Highest rate first (the debt avalanche) puts all of it on the debt with the highest APR, then the next.
- Smallest balance first (the debt snowball) puts all of it on the smallest balance, then the next smallest.
- Extra split evenly gives each open debt an equal share.
You pay the same total every month, so when a debt is paid off its payment moves on to the next one. The orders are ranked by the interest they cost.
In notation, each month, with B a debt's balance at the start of the month:
- interest I = round(B × APR ÷ 12)
- card minimum = min(B + I, max(floor, round(B × percent) + I)), without the second + I if your formula leaves interest out
- you pay = min(everything owed, max(monthly amount, Σ minimums))
- extra = you pay − Σ minimums
An example
Two cards, $6,000 at 24.99% and $2,500 at 19.99%, and a $14,000 car loan at 7.54% with a $339 payment, paid down with $800 a month. This month's minimums add up to $590.60, so $209.40 is extra. Highest rate first clears the first card in month 19, the second in month 23 and the car loan in month 34, for $3,953 of interest. Smallest balance first clears the second card first, in month 10, and costs $4,141. Splitting the extra evenly costs $4,724. Paying only the minimums, each debt alone, would take 18 years 5 months and cost $15,908.
Your statement's minimum payment warning
Federal law (Regulation Z) requires each card statement to show how long paying only the minimum would take, the total you'd pay that way, and the monthly payment that would clear the balance in three years. The calculator figures them for each card the same way: the time in months when it's under two years, otherwise to the nearest year; the three-year payment as an equal monthly payment at the card's rate. For the first example card that is 18 years 5 months and $16,907 at the minimum, against $238.53 a month and $8,587 over three years, $8,320 less.
A consolidation loan or a balance transfer
The comparison pays the same amount each month with and without the new loan or card, under all three orders, and compares the cheapest of each. Fees count as a cost. A consolidation loan replaces the debts it pays off with one fixed payment; an origination fee taken out of what you receive means you borrow a little more than you owe. A balance transfer moves one card's balance, plus the fee, to a new card at an intro rate for the months you enter, then the rate after it.
In the example, a 11.9% loan for 24 months that pays off both cards costs $399.73 a month and saves $1,218. Moving the first card to 0% for 12 months, with a 5% fee ($300), saves $1,404. A loan can also cost more: at 11.99% for 36 months with a 5% fee, paying off the car loan too, it costs $1,767 more than paying the debts down highest rate first. Its APR with the fee is 15.59%.
Assumptions and limits
- Interest is figured monthly at the APR ÷ 12 on the balance after last month's payment, and rounded to the cent. Card issuers usually figure it daily on the average daily balance, so a statement's interest can differ by a little each month. Regulation Z lets an issuer's own payoff estimate make the same monthly assumption.
- Payments arrive on time on the last day of each month, and you add no new purchases or fees to any card.
- Each card carries one rate. A card with several balances at different rates, such as a cash advance or a promotion, is entered at its main rate or as separate cards.
- Every card uses the minimum formula you set under More options; your card agreement says which formula yours uses. Issuers may apply the percent after the month's interest and round the minimum to whole dollars, and some also have a "2% of the balance" alternative, so a statement's figures can differ by a little.
- Loan payments stay fixed until the loan is paid off. Paying more shortens the loan rather than lowering the payment, and no loan charges a prepayment penalty.
- A balance transfer's intro rate is a reduced rate, not deferred interest, on a new card with no other balance, and the intro period is counted from the transfer. Moving a balance needs a credit limit large enough to take it, which the calculator doesn't check.
- If a consolidation loan's fee comes out of what you receive, you borrow a little more than you owe; if it is added to the loan, the loan is what you owe plus the fee. Its rate is fixed and its monthly payments level.
- A consolidation loan or transfer is compared at the same monthly amount on both sides; when its minimums would be more than the amount you entered, both sides pay that higher amount.
- Rates don't change, apart from an intro period you enter. Variable card rates move with the prime rate.
- It does not model taxes, late or annual fees, penalty rates, credit limits, credit score effects, mortgages, home equity loans, student loan repayment plans or forgiveness, debt settlement or bankruptcy.
- The default card rates sit either side of the Federal Reserve's August 2026 average for card accounts charged interest (22.36%); the default car loan and loan rates are its averages for 60-month new-car loans and 24-month personal loans. The default transfer terms are the middle values in the CFPB's survey of credit card plans for the second half of 2025.
Input field details
What to enter in each box, where to find the number, and how this calculator treats it. When two calculators give different answers from the same numbers, it's usually because they handle one of these differently.
Cards and loans
Add a row for each credit card and each loan you want in the plan, up to six cards and four loans.
How this tool treats itA card’s minimum follows the formula under More options and falls as its balance falls. A loan keeps the same payment until it is paid off.
Allowed range0 to 6 cards, 0 to 4 loans
Card balance
What you owe on the card today, to the dollar.
Where to find itThe "New balance" on your latest statement, or the current balance in your card’s app.
How this tool treats itThe calculator assumes you put no new purchases on the card while you pay it off.
Allowed range$0 to $100,000
Card APR
The card’s purchase APR, to two decimals (24.99).
Where to find itThe "Interest charge calculation" box on your statement, which lists each rate on the card.
How this tool treats itInterest is charged each month at the APR ÷ 12 on the balance after last month’s payment, rounded to the cent. Card issuers usually charge interest daily on the average daily balance, so your statement can differ by a little.
Allowed range0% to 40%
Not includedA card with several balances at different rates, such as a cash advance or a promotion. Enter the main rate, or enter each balance as its own card.
Loan balance
What you owe on a car loan, student loan or personal loan today.
Where to find itYour latest loan statement ("principal balance"), or the lender’s app.
Allowed range$0 to $250,000
Not includedA mortgage or home equity loan, and federal student loan repayment plans or forgiveness.
Loan APR
The loan’s interest rate, to two decimals.
Where to find itYour loan statement or the loan agreement.
How this tool treats itCharged monthly at the rate ÷ 12, like the cards. A loan that charges interest by the day can differ by a few dollars a year.
Allowed range0% to 40%
Loan monthly payment
The fixed payment the lender bills each month.
Where to find itYour loan statement ("payment due"), without any extra you add yourself.
How this tool treats itThe payment stays the same until the loan is paid off. Paying more shortens the loan; it does not lower the payment. If the payment does not cover a month’s interest, the calculator says so.
Allowed range$1 to $25,000
What you can pay each month, in total
The most you can put toward all of these debts together each month, minimums included.
How this tool treats itEvery debt gets its minimum first. What is left over, the extra, goes where the order says: highest rate first puts it all on the debt with the highest APR, smallest balance first on the smallest balance (the debt snowball), and extra split evenly gives each open debt an equal share. When a debt is paid off, its payment stays in the plan and joins the extra, which is called rolling it over. If the minimums add up to more than this amount, the plans pay the minimums.
Allowed range$0 to $50,000
Compare with
Choose a consolidation loan or a balance transfer to see whether it would cost less than your best payoff order.
How this tool treats itThe comparison uses the same monthly amount and the same three payoff orders with and without it, and counts any fee as a cost.
The loan pays off
Whether the new loan pays off only your credit cards, or every debt in the list.
How this tool treats itMoving a debt whose rate is below the loan’s raises what that part costs; the calculator flags it.
Loan APR
The interest rate in the loan offer.
Where to find itThe offer or the loan’s Truth in Lending disclosure. Enter the interest rate and the fee separately; the APR in the offer already includes the fee.
How this tool treats itFixed for the whole term, with a level monthly payment. The default is the Federal Reserve’s average rate on 24-month personal loans at banks.
Allowed range0% to 36%
Loan term
How many months the loan runs.
How this tool treats itThe payment is the level payment that clears the loan in this many months. Paying more than that in the plan pays it off sooner, with no prepayment penalty assumed.
Allowed range12 to 84 months
Origination fee
The lender’s upfront fee, as a percent.
Where to find itThe loan offer or its Truth in Lending disclosure.
How this tool treats itThe fee is a cost: it is added to what the loan costs you. The calculator also shows the loan’s APR with the fee, the rate at which the payments repay exactly what your debts needed, to the nearest 0.01%.
Allowed range0% to 12%
The fee is
Whether the lender takes the fee out of the money you receive, or adds it to what you owe.
How this tool treats itTaken out of what you receive: you borrow enough that what is left pays your debts. Added to the loan: you borrow what your debts total plus the fee.
Card to move
The card whose whole balance you would move to a new card.
How this tool treats itThe new card starts with that balance plus the fee and carries no other balance or new purchases. The calculator does not check the new card’s credit limit.
Transfer fee
The fee the new card charges, as a percent of the amount moved.
Where to find itThe offer’s terms, or the "Fees" table in the card agreement.
How this tool treats itThe fee is this percent or the minimum fee, whichever is more, and it is added to the new card’s balance.
Allowed range0% to 10%
Minimum fee
The smallest fee the card charges on a transfer, if it has one.
Allowed range$0 to $100
Intro APR
The promotional rate on the transferred balance, often 0%.
How this tool treats itA reduced rate: if a balance is left when it ends, interest starts on what is left. That is different from deferred interest, a store-card or medical-financing offer that charges all the interest back if any balance remains.
Allowed range0% to 20%
Not includedDeferred-interest promotions.
Intro period
How many months the intro rate lasts.
How this tool treats itUnder Regulation Z an intro rate on a credit card generally lasts at least six months.
Allowed range6 to 36 months
APR after the intro period
The rate the new card charges once the intro period ends.
Where to find itThe offer’s terms ("after that, … APR").
Allowed range0% to 40%
Card minimum payment formula
How your card figures its minimum payment: a percent of the balance, whether that month’s interest is added, and the smallest minimum.
Where to find itYour card agreement, under "Minimum payment due" or "How we calculate your minimum payment".
How this tool treats itOne formula for every card, applied to the balance at the start of each month, never more than the balance plus interest. Minimums only means each debt pays its own minimum every month and a paid-off debt’s payment is not reused, the assumption a statement’s minimum-payment warning uses. That warning shows the time to pay the card off at the minimum (in months under two years, otherwise to the nearest year), the total you would pay, and the monthly payment that clears the balance in three years.
Allowed range0.5% to 5% of the balance; at least $1 to $100
Questions
Which is better, the debt avalanche or the debt snowball?
Does paying a little extra on every debt cost more?
How long does it take to pay off a credit card at the minimum payment?
What does the minimum payment warning on my credit card statement mean?
Is a debt consolidation loan worth it?
Is a 0% balance transfer really free?
What is the difference between a 0% intro APR and deferred interest?
Should I pay off student loans early if they may be forgiven?
Version history
- October 8, 2026 (version 1.0.0): First version: three payoff orders with rollover, card minimums that fall with the balance, each card's statement warning, and a consolidation loan or balance transfer compared at the same monthly payment.