Debt payoff planner: see your debt-free date

Avalanche vs snowball: which should you use?

Both methods have you pay the minimum on every debt and throw every extra dollar at one target. When that debt is gone, its old payment rolls onto the next one, so your payoff speeds up over time. The only difference is which debt you target first.

• Avalanche targets the highest interest rate first. It always costs the least in total interest, and it is usually the fastest on paper.
• Snowball targets the smallest balance first. You pay a little more interest, but you close accounts sooner, and those early wins keep many people going.

If the gap between the two in the planner is small, pick the one you are more likely to stick with. A plan you follow for three years beats a perfect plan you quit in month four.

What if the numbers look impossible?

If your debt-free date is many years away, or a minimum payment barely covers the interest, the planner is telling you something useful: the current setup is not working. That is when it is worth looking at options like a consolidation loan at a lower rate, a nonprofit debt management plan or, for larger balances you cannot repay, debt settlement. Each has real tradeoffs, and our guides explain them plainly.

Tips to finish faster

• Stop adding new charges to the cards you are paying off. Put them away or freeze them.
• Call your card issuers and ask for a lower rate or a hardship program. It works more often than people expect.
• Send windfalls, like tax refunds or bonuses, straight to your target debt.
• Re-run this planner every few months with updated balances to watch your date move closer.