Debt Snowball Calculator — Payoff Order, Months & Interest Saved

The debt snowball answers one specific question: when you owe several debts at once and have no plans to take out a new loan, which one do you attack first? This page is entirely about that attack order. You keep every existing card and loan exactly where it is — no consolidating, no balance transfer, no refinancing — and you simply decide the sequence in which to wipe them out and how to redirect each freed-up payment. The snowball's rule is to line your debts up from smallest balance to largest, pay the minimum on everything, and pour every spare dollar onto the smallest balance until it disappears. The day that account hits zero, you take its entire payment — minimum plus your extra — and roll it onto the next-smallest debt. The payment you're aiming grows bigger and bigger as each account falls, exactly like a snowball rolling downhill. That roll-the-payment-forward mechanic is the unique thing this calculator models, and it's what separates an ordering strategy from paying each debt in isolation.

The rolling logic in one line: when the target debt hits $0, its full payment is added to your extra pool and aimed at the new smallest balance, so your total monthly outlay never changes — it just gets concentrated on fewer and fewer debts, which makes them fall faster and faster.

Worked example of the order. Say you owe $500 at 24% APR (min $25), $2,000 at 18% APR (min $50), and $6,000 at 12% APR (min $120), with $300 extra each month. Snowball attacks the $500 first: $25 minimum + $300 extra = $325/month, so it's gone in about 2 months. That freed-up $25 now joins the pool, so the $2,000 card gets $50 + $300 + $25 = $375/month and clears in roughly 6 more months. Finally the $6,000 loan gets $120 + $375 = $495/month and finishes the job. All in, you're debt-free in about 20 months having paid roughly $940 in interest on $8,500 of debt — and you never opened a single new account.

The avalanche method is the ordering alternative this calculator also runs: same minimums, same rolling mechanic, but you target the highest APR first instead of the smallest balance. Avalanche always pays the least total interest because it kills your most expensive rate soonest; snowball usually wins the psychology because knocking out that first small balance fast gives you a visible win that keeps you going. Running both side by side is the whole point of this page — you see exactly how many extra dollars of interest the snowball costs you against how many months sooner it delivers your first cleared account, so you can pick the order you'll actually finish.

Where this calculator stops — and where to go instead. This page never combines your balances or invents a new loan; it works the debts you already have. If you'd rather replace several balances with one new lower-rate loan and compare the blended rate, that's the Debt Consolidation Calculator's job. If you only have one credit card and just want its payoff date and the minimum-payment trap spelled out, the Credit Card Payoff Calculator covers a single balance in depth. Use this snowball tool when you have multiple existing debts and the only decision left is the order you attack them.

This tool provides informational estimates only, not financial advice; your real payoff depends on your exact rates, fees, minimum-payment rules, and whether you keep adding new debt.