Enter what you owe, compare the snowball and avalanche payoff methods side by side, and see how much extra payments actually save you — in both time and interest.
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Pay minimums on everything, then throw every extra dollar at your smallest balance first. Each payoff frees up that payment for the next debt — a fast string of early wins that keeps motivation high.
Same idea, but you target your highest-interest-rate debt first instead of your smallest balance. It's mathematically optimal — you'll almost always pay less total interest, just with fewer early wins.
Every extra dollar goes straight to principal, which shrinks the interest charged next month too — so a small consistent extra payment saves far more than its face value over the life of the debt.
It runs a real month-by-month amortization for both strategies using your actual balances, rates, and minimums — not a rough estimate — so the payoff date and interest total are the real numbers.
Most planners suggest a small starter emergency fund (around one month of expenses) before aggressively paying extra on debt, so an unexpected bill doesn't force you back onto a credit card. After that, extra dollars toward debt usually beat a savings account, since credit card APRs are far higher than any savings rate.
Yes, almost always — avalanche pays less total interest because it targets your most expensive debt first. Snowball wins on behavior: paying off a small balance completely in month two or three keeps most people motivated enough to stick with the plan through payoff, which is worth more than the interest difference for many people.
It can, if the new loan's interest rate is meaningfully lower than your current average rate and you don't run the paid-off cards back up. It turns several payments into one and often shortens the payoff timeline — but it isn't automatically better, so compare the new rate and term against what this calculator shows for your current path first.
Anything with a balance, an interest rate, and a required minimum payment — credit cards, car loans, personal loans, medical debt, or store cards. Mortgages usually aren't included in a payoff sprint like this since their rates are typically much lower than other debt.
More than its face value, because every extra dollar reduces the principal that next month's interest is calculated on. A consistent $100–200/month extra payment commonly cuts a multi-year payoff down by a year or more — run your own numbers above to see the exact effect on your balances.