Debt Snowball Calculator

How this result is built

Compare the avalanche and snowball methods on up to three debts with a fixed total payment.

Both methods pay the minimum on every debt and throw every freed dollar at one target. Avalanche aims at the highest rate. Snowball aims at the smallest balance. The total payment stays constant when a debt disappears, which is the point of the method.

What the opening example is for

Avalanche usually pays less interest. Snowball usually finishes the first account sooner. If the interest gap is small and the finished account keeps you going, the snowball can still be the plan you will follow. The numbers are here so that choice is informed.

The walkthrough below uses the numbers already sitting in Debt Snowball Calculator. Press Calculate and the headline should match this page. Then put your own figures in. The math does not run until you press the button, and Clear hides the result.

What each field is doing

The “Debt 1 balance” line on Debt Snowball Calculator starts at $1,800.00. A round example is useful for learning the page. It is a poor substitute for the number on your own paperwork, so replace it and run the form again.

Debt Snowball Calculator treats “Debt 1 rate” as its own entry, and the form opens with 22%. The other fields stay put while you change this one. That is the clean way to see what this line is doing inside the result.

Before you replace it, “Debt 1 minimum” reads $50.00 on Debt Snowball Calculator. If the label is a rate, type the annual figure the contract uses. If it is money, type the amount that will actually move, not a rounded hope.

Look at “Debt 2 balance” first if you are checking Debt Snowball Calculator: the filled value is $6,400.00. Leave that figure only when it matches the statement, the quote, or the plan you are testing. Press Calculate after the edit so the chart and the schedule move with it.

The “Debt 2 rate” line on Debt Snowball Calculator starts at 14%. A round example is useful for learning the page. It is a poor substitute for the number on your own paperwork, so replace it and run the form again.

The remaining fields

Debt Snowball Calculator treats “Debt 2 minimum” as its own entry, and the form opens with $140.00. The other fields stay put while you change this one. That is the clean way to see what this line is doing inside the result.

Before you replace it, “Debt 3 balance” reads $3,200.00 on Debt Snowball Calculator. If the label is a rate, type the annual figure the contract uses. If it is money, type the amount that will actually move, not a rounded hope.

Look at “Debt 3 rate” first if you are checking Debt Snowball Calculator: the filled value is 9%. Leave that figure only when it matches the statement, the quote, or the plan you are testing. Press Calculate after the edit so the chart and the schedule move with it.

The “Debt 3 minimum” line on Debt Snowball Calculator starts at $90.00. A round example is useful for learning the page. It is a poor substitute for the number on your own paperwork, so replace it and run the form again.

The opening result, line by line

Press Calculate on the opening form and Avalanche interest is $4,275.64. That is the number the rest of this section is talking about.

Avalanche payoff is 4 years 8 months when you run the opening figures on Debt Snowball Calculator. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

On this opening pass, snowball interest is $4,275.64. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

Debt Snowball Calculator reports that snowball payoff is 4 years 8 months. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

How those lines were produced

Interest saved by avalanche is $0.00 when you run the opening figures on Debt Snowball Calculator. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

Avalanche puts extra money on the highest rate. Snowball puts it on the smallest balance. Minimums are paid on every debt.

A second pass changes only “Debt 1 balance”, from $1,800.00 to $1,980.00. Avalanche interest moves from $4,275.64 to $4,579.94. Nothing else on the form was edited, so the gap between those two results is the effect of that one field on Debt Snowball Calculator. If the gap is tiny, this page is not very sensitive to that entry. If the gap is large, get that entry from a document before you plan around the result.

What this page will not claim

Debt Snowball Calculator applies the balance, the rate, and the payment you type. A lender’s payoff letter can include a fee or a daily interest convention this form does not see. Use the letter when you are sending the final check.

Debt Snowball Calculator stops at its own formula. When the next question is different, open Debt Payoff Calculator (One balance, one payment, a clear end date.); Debt Consolidation Calculator (A lower payment can still cost more interest.); Credit Card Payoff Calculator (Months and interest from the payment you can send.). Do not add those results to this one as if they were the same kind of dollar.

Check the result before you use it

Start on Debt Snowball Calculator by reading the labels, not the headline. The opening labels are Debt 1 balance ($1,800.00), Debt 1 rate (22%), Debt 1 minimum ($50.00), Debt 2 balance ($6,400.00), Debt 2 rate (14%), Debt 2 minimum ($140.00), Debt 3 balance ($3,200.00), Debt 3 rate (9%), Debt 3 minimum ($90.00). If a label is not the fact you have, the result cannot turn into that fact later. The illustration on the form lands on $4,275.64. When you press Calculate and see that same figure, the button and this explanation are using one formula.

Change one field at a time. Write down the headline, edit a single line, and press Calculate again. A large jump means that line carries the result. A line that does not move is a line the formula ignores, which is a reason to confirm you opened the right page. Debt Snowball Calculator is built for one job: Highest rate versus smallest balance. The description on the page says the same thing in a sentence: Compare the avalanche and snowball methods on up to three debts with a fixed total payment.

When the paperwork disagrees

Then hold the headline next to a source outside the site. That source might be a loan estimate, an account statement, a pay stub, or the public limit named in the methodology. A few cents of difference on a long schedule is ordinary rounding. A different rate, a fee you never typed, or a tax the form does not ask for is not rounding. Correct the input. Do not average the page with the paperwork.

When the outside source still disagrees, Debt Snowball Calculator has reached the edge of what it will claim. It will not phone a lender, pull a county record, or apply a credit you left blank. Send the calculator name, every input, and the result you expected through the contact page if you think the formula itself is wrong. Until that is settled, read $4,275.64 as the output of the fields above and nothing else.

FAQs