Avalanche, snowball, or a consolidation loan?
List what you owe and what you can pay each month. This shows when you'd be debt-free and what it costs paying the highest rate first, paying the smallest balance first, or rolling the cards into one loan on the same budget.
Debt payoff
No signup, nothing stored.
Avalanche saves you
$707
- Avalanche: highest rate first
- Snowball: smallest balance first
- Consolidation loan, same budget
Total owed, month by month
Avalanche Snowball Consolidation loan
The month each debt is gone
An estimate using monthly interest and fixed payments. It is not an offer of credit. The reasoning, a worked example and lenders' terms are in the guide: Paying off debt: avalanche, snowball, or a consolidation loan.
Six things behind the answer
-
The two orders, on the same money
Both methods pay every minimum every month and put everything extra on one target debt. When a debt is gone, its minimum rolls into the next target, so the monthly total never drops. The avalanche targets the highest interest rate first. The snowball targets the smallest balance first. The only difference is the order, so any gap in cost is the price of that order.
-
The avalanche always costs less, or the same
Paying the most expensive debt first minimizes interest with a fixed budget. How much it saves depends on how far apart your rates are. When the smallest balance also carries the highest rate, both orders are identical. When a small, cheap debt sits ahead of a large, expensive one, the snowball can cost hundreds or thousands more.
-
Why the snowball has a following anyway
In records from nearly 6,000 clients of a debt settlement firm, the number of accounts a person closed predicted finishing the program better than the dollars they had paid off, though the authors note the two are hard to separate (Gal and McShane, Journal of Marketing Research, 2012, summarized by Kellogg Insight). Economists Alexander Brown and Joanna Lahey found the same pull toward small wins in lab tasks, and concluded the method works best when rates are close together (Brown and Lahey). The calculator puts a price on that motivation.
-
Where the default rates come from
The defaults are a made-up household with real average rates where they exist: 22.36% is the Federal Reserve's average on credit card accounts charged interest in August 2026, and 7.47% its average on a 48-month new-car loan at commercial banks. The consolidation loan starts at 11.90%, the Fed's average on a 24-month personal loan at commercial banks that month (G.19 via FRED). That is an average for borrowers banks chose to lend to; online lenders quote up to about 36% APR to weaker credit. Put in your own numbers.
-
How the loan is modeled
Tick the debts you would move into the loan. An origination fee is taken out of the proceeds, so to clear $15,200 of debt with a 5% fee you borrow $16,000. The loan's payment is fixed by its rate and term. The consolidation figure keeps your monthly total the same: anything above the loan payment and the other minimums goes to the remaining debts, then to the loan. That assumes no prepayment penalty, so check. If the loan payment is more than your budget, the calculator says so.
-
What this leaves out
Interest here is monthly (balance times APR divided by 12); cards charge a daily rate on the average daily balance. Minimums are held at the dollar amounts you enter, though card minimums usually fall as the balance falls; holding them steady is part of the method. The calculator assumes no new charges. It can't tell you what rate a lender will offer you, which is the number that decides the consolidation question.
Questions people ask
Which is better, the debt avalanche or the debt snowball?
On cost, the avalanche (highest rate first) is never worse with the same monthly payment. In our example household, four debts totaling $18,300 with $830 a month, the avalanche costs $5,512 in interest over 29 months and the snowball $6,219 over 30 months. The snowball clears its second debt by month 10 instead of month 23, which some people need to keep going. If the method you'll stick with is the snowball, the extra cost is the price of finishing.
Is a debt consolidation loan a good idea?
It saves money when the loan's APR, fee included, is clearly below the rates on the debts it replaces and you don't run the cards back up. In the example, a loan at the Fed's 11.90% average with no fee costs $2,281 in interest; at 13.94% plus a 5% fee it costs $3,790 including the fee; at 19.99% plus an 8% fee it costs $6,257, more than the avalanche without any loan.
What counts as a minimum payment here?
Enter what each lender currently asks for. The calculator keeps that dollar amount fixed every month until the debt is paid, which is how the snowball and avalanche are usually taught; your lender's required minimum may fall as the balance falls.
Does the calculator store my debts?
No. It runs in your browser and nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
The Sunday money note
One number worth knowing and one decision explained, every Sunday. Free, and you can unsubscribe from any issue.
This calculator produces estimates from the inputs you provide. It is not an offer or a guarantee of credit, and actual interest depends on each lender's terms and balance method. It is educational and is not personalized financial advice.