Debt Payoff Calculator
Every debt you have — credit cards, an auto loan, the mortgage — in one debt avalanche plan: each debt gets its regular payment, and every spare dollar, including the payments freed when a debt dies, attacks the highest interest rate. Add extra payments per month, per year, or as a one-time lump sum, and see the month each debt dies and what the whole pile costs. For cards only, use the Credit Cards Payoff Calculator.
"Yes" keeps the combined monthly total constant: a finished debt's payment is redistributed to the remaining debts. "No" lets the total fall as debts are paid off.
| Debt name | Remaining balance | Monthly or min. payment | Interest rate |
|---|
$284,000 of debt — a $250,000 mortgage, a $25,000 auto loan and $9,000 of card balances — with payments of $2,529 plus $100 extra a month. The avalanche kills Credit card 1 in 31 months and Credit card 2 in 39, the auto loan in 48, and then turns the full $2,629 onto the mortgage, which dies in month 136 instead of month 180 on its own schedule. Total interest: about $72,853. The cards are 3% of the balance but were first in line — because at ~19% they were the most expensive dollars owed.
One Plan for Every Debt You Owe
Most households do not have "a debt" — they have a pile: a mortgage, a car loan, a couple of cards, maybe a student or personal loan, each with its own balance, payment and rate. Paying them in the wrong order is expensive in a quiet way: every month a high-rate balance survives, it costs its rate, while extra money aimed at a cheap loan saves only the cheap rate. This calculator stacks the whole pile into a single plan and answers the only questions that matter: what do I pay on each debt this month, when does each one die, and what does the pile cost in total?
The Avalanche, Applied to Everything
The plan is the debt avalanche, unchanged from the card-only version but applied across debt types. Every debt receives its contractual monthly or minimum payment. Everything else — the extra monthly amount, the yearly and one-time extras, and (with the fixed total switched on) every payment freed by a finished debt — flows to the highest interest rate still standing, regardless of whether that debt is a $3,000 card or a $300,000 loan. Rate, not balance and not debt type, sets the order, because rate is what a surviving balance charges you. When a debt is finished mid-month, the leftover moves to the next debt in the very same month.
Fixed Total: The Accelerator
The "fixed total" choice is the plan's engine. Switched on, your combined monthly outlay never falls: the $250 that used to feed a dead card joins the attack on the next debt, whose freed payment joins the next, until in the final stretch the entire amount lands on the last debt every month. Switched off, each debt keeps only its own payment and the monthly total shrinks as debts die — gentler on cash flow, but at the defaults the plan runs to month 178 instead of 136, and the pile costs about $16,081 more interest. Same debts, same starting payments; the rollover is worth more than most rate negotiations.
Before You Accelerate
Three cautions belong in any payoff plan. Prepayment penalties still exist on some loans — check before sending extra. Liquidity: extra principal is a one-way door, so keep a starter emergency fund before attacking even expensive debt, and a full one before attacking cheap debt. And opportunity cost: money against a 4% mortgage earns a guaranteed 4%; the market has historically offered more, but with risk and no guarantee — while money against a 19% card "earns" 19% guaranteed, which is why the avalanche almost always starts with the cards whatever the pile looks like. When the debts themselves become unpayable, the honest alternatives — a nonprofit debt management plan, settlement, or bankruptcy — exist on a spectrum of credit damage, and a counselor from a nonprofit agency is the right first call.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "fixed total monthly payment" mean?
On: the combined payment never drops and finished debts' payments roll forward. Off: each debt keeps only its own payment and the total shrinks as debts end. On is faster and cheaper; off frees cash sooner.
When do yearly and one-time extras land?
The yearly extra lands at the start of each plan year (months 1, 13, 25…); the one-time extra in the exact month you pick. Both aim at the highest-rate debt standing, like all extra money here.
Mortgage or cards first?
Cards — at ~19% versus ~4%, each card dollar costs about five times more per year. The avalanche reaches the mortgage last but still retires it years early via rollovers.
Is early payoff always wise?
Check penalties, keep an emergency fund, and weigh cheap debt against investing. High-rate consumer debt is the exception: clearing it is a guaranteed return equal to its APR.