Debt Snowball Calculator

After all minimum payments are covered, the calculator applies your extra monthly budget to the debt with the smallest remaining balance. When that account reaches zero, its old minimum payment rolls into the next smallest balance.

This creates a sequence of payoffs that can feel faster at the beginning, even when another account has a higher APR. The plan is educational only and is not financial advice.

A plan that looks cheaper on paper can fail if it is too hard to follow for many months. Snowball gives the first target a lower dollar hurdle, which can help you see progress before the largest balances move much.

The tradeoff is that high APR debt may wait longer. If a card at 24.9% remains unpaid while a lower-rate small balance is targeted, the calculator can show whether that motivation tradeoff has a meaningful interest cost.

In the mixed debt example, the $1,200 card at 21.9% is smaller than the $4,200 card at 24.9%, the $9,800 student loan at 5.5%, and the $7,200 auto loan at 7.9%.

With minimums of $125, $45, $110, and $210 plus $150 extra, snowball targets the $1,200 card first. The current engine estimates $3,535.44 of snowball interest versus $3,486.34 for avalanche, so the tradeoff is a $49.10 modeled cost under these exact assumptions.

In the credit-card-heavy example, Card B has a $1,800 balance at 19.9%, Card A has a $3,500 balance at 22.9%, and the personal loan has a $6,500 balance at 12.5%.

Snowball would usually focus Card B before Card A, even though Card A has the higher APR. This is the core snowball tradeoff: earlier account closure versus the possibility of paying more interest.

Keep the extra payment realistic. A snowball plan depends on consistency, so a budget that breaks after two months is less useful than a smaller amount you can repeat.

Also check whether any lender applies payments in a special order, charges fees, changes minimum payments, or limits prepayment. The calculator stays 100% browser-local and does not upload or store your plan.