Loan & Debt Payoff Calculators
Tools for getting out of debt and pricing new borrowing: compare payoff strategies across all your balances, find a credit card’s true payoff timeline, and estimate a loan’s monthly payment and total interest.
Debt Payoff Calculator
Compare the debt snowball and avalanche methods across all your debts. See which clears your balances faster and which saves the most interest.
Credit Card Payoff Calculator
See how long it takes to pay off a credit card and the total interest you’ll pay, based on your balance, APR, and monthly payment.
Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator
Calculate your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio from your monthly debt payments and gross income — the number lenders use to approve a mortgage or loan.
Personal Loan Calculator
Estimate the monthly payment, total interest, and total cost of a personal loan from the loan amount, interest rate (APR), and term.
Student Loan Calculator
Free student loan calculator. Estimate your monthly payment, total interest, and payoff date — and see how much extra payments save you in interest and time.
Snowball versus avalanche: momentum or math
With more than one balance, the order you attack them in matters. The avalanche method targets the highest interest rate first, which saves the most money mathematically. The snowball method targets the smallest balance first, which clears accounts faster and delivers the early wins that keep people going. Both work; the best one is the one you will actually stick with.
The payoff calculator compares them on your real balances, so you can see the trade-off in dollars and months rather than in theory. Often the difference in total interest is smaller than expected — which is why the psychological pull of the snowball is a legitimate reason to choose it.
The credit card minimum is a trap
Minimum payments are designed to keep a balance alive, not to clear it. Paying only the minimum on a typical card can stretch the payoff across years and cost more in interest than the original purchases, because most of each payment goes to interest before it touches the balance.
The credit-card payoff calculator shows how long the minimum really takes — and how dramatically a fixed extra amount each month shortens it. Even a modest bump above the minimum can cut years off the timeline, which is usually the single most effective move available to someone carrying card debt.
Price the whole loan before you borrow
A loan offer leads with the monthly payment, but the figure that matters is the total interest you will pay over its life — a function of the amount, the APR, and the term. A longer term lowers the payment while quietly raising the total cost, the same trap that shows up in car and mortgage loans.
The personal-loan calculator turns an offer into the payment and the lifetime cost so you can compare lenders on equal terms, and the debt-to-income calculator shows how a new payment fits alongside your existing obligations — the same ratio lenders use to decide whether to approve you.
Guides & articles
Plain-English explainers to go with the calculators above — every figure tied to its source.
Debt Snowball vs. Avalanche: Which Pays Off Debt Faster?
Both methods use the same money and the same discipline — they just differ on which debt you attack first. One saves the most interest; the other keeps you motivated. Here’s how to choose.
How to Pay Off Credit Card Debt Fast
Americans carry $1.25 trillion in credit card debt at over 20% interest — and paying the minimum keeps you there for years. Here’s a concrete plan to get out faster.
Is Debt Consolidation Worth It?
Consolidation replaces several debts with one — ideally at a lower rate. That’s a real win in some cases and a trap in others. Here’s how to tell which one you’re in.