What's the difference between avalanche and snowball?

Avalanche sends every spare dollar at the highest-interest debt first — mathematically optimal, least total interest. Snowball attacks the smallest balance first — early wins that keep motivation alive. Both roll each cleared debt's minimum into the next target.

Which method should I pick?

The honest answer: the one you'll stick with. Avalanche saves more interest on paper, but the difference is often smaller than people expect — and a plan abandoned at month six saves nothing. If seeing accounts close keeps you going, snowball's 'inefficiency' is cheap motivation.

How much does an extra monthly payment help?

Dramatically more than intuition suggests, because minimum payments are designed to barely outpace interest. Even $100–$300 extra per month routinely cuts years off the payoff and thousands off total interest — the calculator shows your exact numbers versus minimums only.

Should my mortgage be in the payoff plan?

Usually not — a low-rate loan secured by an appreciating asset is typically paid on schedule while the sprint targets high-rate unsecured debt like credit cards. Include it only if being fully debt-free is the explicit goal.

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Debt Payoff Calculator

List your debts, add what extra you can throw at them, and see the debt-free date under both classic strategies — avalanche (highest rate first) and snowball (smallest balance first) — with the honest comparison between them.

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Worth knowing: credit-card APRs are variable — they drift with the Fed rate, so re-check yours. And the best method is the one you actually stick with: avalanche wins the spreadsheet, but a plan abandoned at month six saves nothing. Minimums here stay fixed as balances fall (how the roll works); card issuers' real minimums shrink with the balance, which stretches payoff even longer — one more reason minimums-only is a trap.

Why minimum payments are designed to keep you in debt

A credit-card minimum is typically ~2% of the balance — barely above the monthly interest charge. An $11,800 card at 25% takes over seven years to clear on a fixed $295 minimum, and costs more in interest than you originally borrowed. With the shrinking minimum card issuers actually use, it can outrun you for decades. The entire escape mechanism is the extra payment: every dollar above the minimums goes straight at principal, and this calculator shows what those dollars buy in years and interest.

The roll: why the plan accelerates

Both methods use the same engine — pay every debt its minimum, throw all the extra at one target debt, and when a debt clears, its freed-up minimum rolls into the attack budget. The plan speeds up as it goes: your last debt receives everything the earlier ones used to consume. That compounding of freed payments is why the debt-free date is usually closer than people fear.

Avalanche vs. snowball — the honest comparison

Avalanche (highest APR first) is mathematically optimal — every dollar goes where interest burns hottest. Snowball (smallest balance first) clears whole accounts sooner, and each closed account is a visible, motivating win. The comparison cards above show both on your actual numbers — the gap is often smaller than expected, in which case behavioral stickiness is worth more than the difference. Personal finance is more personal than finance.

Which debts belong in a payoff sprint at all?

Not all of them — and putting the wrong ones in makes the plan look hopeless for no reason.

The debts worth attacking hard are high-interest and unsecured: credit cards, payday loans, most buy-now-pay-later. They compound against you fast, often 20–30% APR, and buy nothing that grows in value. Clearing them is close to a guaranteed, tax-free return equal to the rate — nothing in the market reliably beats a guaranteed 25%.

A mortgage is a different animal. It's low-rate, secured by something that lasts, and its interest may even be tax-deductible. At 3–6%, extra dollars often do more invested than prepaying, which is why a mortgage usually sits out of an aggressive payoff sprint entirely. One mechanical note if you do include it: the number that matters is principal and interest, not the escrowed taxes and insurance bundled into the payment.

Student loans are their own case. Federal ones come with income-driven repayment and possible forgiveness (like PSLF) — paths that overpaying can waste. Private ones have fewer protections and often higher rates, and behave more like the debts above. The two deserve different treatment even though they share a name.

In between sit auto loans (moderate rates, secured by a depreciating asset), HELOCs (cheaper than unsecured debt, but the house is the collateral), and personal loans (mid-to-high, often used to consolidate card balances into one predictable payment).

The rule of thumb underneath all of it: the higher the rate, the more urgent. Low-rate secured debt can comfortably coexist with investing; high-rate unsecured debt almost always comes first. So the honest version of this calculator's plan is usually a shorter list than "everything you owe" — the expensive debts sprinted, the cheap ones paid on schedule without guilt.

Common questions

Should I save or pay off debt first?

A small emergency buffer first ($1,000–one month of expenses), then high-rate debt — a 25% APR is a guaranteed 25% return, which is higher than any return you can count on. Below ~6–7% APR the answer blurs and contributing to a retirement match (free money) clearly comes first.

What about balance transfers or consolidation?

A 0% balance-transfer card or lower-rate consolidation loan can genuinely help — it redirects interest dollars at principal. Two catches: transfer fees (typically 3–5%) and the habit problem — consolidating without changing spending often ends with the old cards full again plus a new loan.

Do medical debts and student loans belong in the sprint?

Check their special options first. Medical debt is often 0% and negotiable — ask for a payment plan or discount before rushing it. Student loans may qualify for forgiveness (PSLF) or income-driven repayment that aggressive prepayment would waste.

Why does adding $100/month change so much?

Because relative to the principal-reducing part of your payments, $100 is huge. On a big enough balance the arithmetic gets brutal: imagine minimums of $740 where $700 is interest — only $40 fights principal, so adding $100 more than triples your attacking force.

Track the payoff against your real balances

Tesserae's Debt module reads your actual account balances, keeps the countdown and per-debt progress current every month, and celebrates when you hit zero. Privacy-first: you enter your own numbers, and we never touch your bank login.

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