Debt payoff calculator
List your debts, add what you can pay on top of the minimums, and compare the two classic payoff orders: highest interest first (avalanche) or smallest balance first (snowball). You see when each makes you debt-free and what it costs in interest.
Your numbers never leave this page — the maths runs in your browser, and nothing is sent or stored anywhere.
Avalanche or snowball?
Both methods work the same way: pay the minimum on every debt, and send everything extra to one target debt until it is gone, then roll its payment into the next one. Avalanche targets the highest interest rate first — under the calculator's assumptions it costs the least in total interest. Snowball targets the smallest balance first — you usually clear a whole debt sooner, which many people find easier to stick to. The calculator shows both differences — what avalanche saves in interest, and how much sooner snowball clears your first debt — so you can choose with open eyes. There is no wrong choice here: a plan you actually follow beats a slightly cheaper plan you abandon.
How it is calculated
Each month, every debt grows by one twelfth of its yearly interest rate, then the payments are applied: the minimum to every debt, and the extra amount to the current target debt. When a debt is paid off, its minimum payment joins the extra amount, so your total monthly payment stays the same until everything is gone. The calculation assumes fixed rates and no new borrowing, and it ignores fees and early-repayment charges — check your loan contract for those before paying extra.
If the numbers never reach zero
When a debt's interest is bigger than its monthly payment, the balance grows instead of shrinking, and no payoff order can fix that. The calculator warns you when this happens. What changes it: paying more per month, or a lower rate. If the payments feel difficult to manage, consider contacting an independent debt-advice service — most European countries have public ones, and asking early is easier than asking late. You can also ask your lender what support is available.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find the interest rate? In your loan contract or the lender's app. Use the yearly borrowing rate (the interest itself) — that is what this calculator simulates. If you only know the APR, you can use it, but treat the result as a rough estimate: APR also contains fees, which do not grow with the balance the way interest does.
Should I save or pay off debt first? A common approach: keep a small emergency buffer first, then attack debts with a higher interest rate than your savings could realistically earn. This calculator is an illustration, not financial advice.
Do minimum payments change over time? On many credit cards the minimum is a percentage of the balance, so it shrinks as you pay down. This calculator keeps your payments constant — the faster, cheaper way — instead of letting them shrink with the balance.
The extra €100 has to come from somewhere: our subscription cost calculator and the 50/30/20 budget calculator are good places to look for it.
Everything on this page is calculated in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to a server, stored, or shared. The "copy link" button is the only thing that puts your numbers in the link, and only when you press it.
By Mihkel Vetemaa, Founder & CEO at Bilance · Checked
Find the extra euros faster
Bilance syncs your European bank accounts and categorises most transactions automatically — so you can see exactly where the extra payment could come from.
