Debt Payoff Calculator

The debt snowball method is a simple, popular strategy for paying off multiple debts: you pay the minimum on everything, then throw every extra dollar you can at the debt with the smallest balance, regardless of its interest rate. Once that smallest debt is gone, its minimum payment gets added to your extra payment and rolled onto the next-smallest debt, creating a "snowball" that grows larger with each payoff.

This calculator simulates that process month by month across however many debts you add. It takes each debt's balance, interest rate, and minimum payment, sorts them from smallest to largest balance, then works through the numbers: charging interest, applying minimum payments, and directing your extra monthly payment toward whichever debt is currently at the front of the line. As each debt hits zero, the calculator records how many months it took and rolls its minimum payment into the pool of money attacking the next one.

The appeal of the snowball method isn't that it's mathematically optimal — a method that targets the highest interest rate first (often called the debt avalanche) will usually save you more in total interest. The snowball's advantage is psychological: knocking out a full debt, any debt, quickly gives you a visible win and one less bill to juggle, which tends to keep people motivated through a long payoff process.

If the numbers show your debts won't be paid off even after decades, it usually means your combined minimum payments aren't covering the interest that's accruing. In that case, the extra payment amount matters enormously — even a modest increase can be the difference between debts that shrink over time and debts that grow. Try adjusting the extra payment field to see how much of a difference an additional $50 or $100 a month actually makes to your payoff timeline.