Debt avalanche calculator
The avalanche method puts every spare dollar on the debt with the highest rate. Enter your debts and see what that saves against the snowball method, month by month.
Avalanche
$1,072.57 of interest, $12,012.57 paid in all
- Credit card month 12
- Store card month 14
- Car loan month 28
Snowball
$1,139.96 of interest, $12,079.96 paid in all
- Store card month 6
- Credit card month 14
- Car loan month 28
Avalanche saves $67.39 of interest, in the same number of months. Snowball clears its first debt in month 6, avalanche in month 12.
Month by month (28 months)
| Month | Paid | Interest | Owed after |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $440.00 | $90.19 | $10,590.19 |
| 2 | $440.00 | $85.92 | $10,236.11 |
| 3 | $440.00 | $81.60 | $9,877.71 |
| 4 | $440.00 | $77.21 | $9,514.92 |
| 5 | $440.00 | $72.75 | $9,147.67 |
| 6 | $440.00 | $68.22 | $8,775.89 |
| 7 | $440.00 | $63.63 | $8,399.52 |
| 8 | $440.00 | $58.95 | $8,018.47 |
| 9 | $440.00 | $54.23 | $7,632.70 |
| 10 | $440.00 | $49.39 | $7,242.09 |
| 11 | $440.00 | $44.52 | $6,846.61 |
| 12 | $440.00 | $39.54 | $6,446.15 |
| 13 | $440.00 | $36.13 | $6,042.28 |
| 14 | $440.00 | $32.82 | $5,635.10 |
| 15 | $440.00 | $30.05 | $5,225.15 |
| 16 | $440.00 | $27.87 | $4,813.02 |
| 17 | $440.00 | $25.67 | $4,398.69 |
| 18 | $440.00 | $23.46 | $3,982.15 |
| 19 | $440.00 | $21.24 | $3,563.39 |
| 20 | $440.00 | $19.00 | $3,142.39 |
| 21 | $440.00 | $16.76 | $2,719.15 |
| 22 | $440.00 | $14.50 | $2,293.65 |
| 23 | $440.00 | $12.23 | $1,865.88 |
| 24 | $440.00 | $9.95 | $1,435.83 |
| 25 | $440.00 | $7.66 | $1,003.49 |
| 26 | $440.00 | $5.35 | $568.84 |
| 27 | $440.00 | $3.03 | $131.87 |
| 28 | $132.57 | $0.70 | $0.00 |
Runs entirely in your browser on the debt engine of the Tavala app. Nothing you type is sent or kept.
How the avalanche works
List every debt with its balance, its rate and its minimum. Each month, pay every minimum. Put everything you can spare on top on the debt with the highest rate. When it is paid off, its minimum and the extra both move to the next highest rate. Nothing else changes: the same total leaves your account every month until the last debt is gone.
The calculator does exactly that, on the Tavala app's own debt engine, and runs snowball on the same debts beside it, so the difference you see is the method and nothing else.
Avalanche against snowball, on three debts
A store card of $900 at 12%, a credit card of $2,140 at 21.9% and a car loan of $7,900 at 6.4%, with minimums of $35, $65 and $190 and $150 a month on top.
| What | Avalanche | Snowball |
|---|---|---|
| Debt-free in | 2 years 4 months | 2 years 4 months |
| Interest | $1,072.57 | $1,139.96 |
| First debt cleared | Credit card, month 12 | Store card, month 6 |
| Second | Store card, month 14 | Credit card, month 14 |
| Last | Car loan, month 28 | Car loan, month 28 |
Avalanche saves $67.39 here and finishes in the same month: the car loan is the biggest debt and the last one either way. Snowball has the store card gone in month 6, 8 months before avalanche gets to it. That is the real trade between the two: a little interest for an early win.
A student loan in euros and a card in dollars
Avalanche is where currencies stop mattering and rates start. A €8,000 student loan at 4.5% with a €95 minimum, and a $2,140 credit card at 21.9% with a $65 minimum, planned in dollars at an example rate of 1 EUR = 1.08 USD, with $150 a month on top. Avalanche sends the extra to the card, because 21.9% beats 4.5%, and the card is gone in month 12; snowball sends it to the card too, because it is also the smaller balance, so here the two agree and cost the same. Both are debt-free in 3 years 2 months for $990.65 of interest.
If the loan were smaller than the card, say €1,500, the orders would split: snowball would clear the loan first, avalanche would stay on the card, and a gap in interest would open. The Tavala app plans debts in several currencies the same way, converting at today's rate; see multi-currency.
What it assumes
One rate per debt, interest of a twelfth of the yearly rate each month rounded to the cent, payments on time at the end of each month, and no new borrowing. The figures are arithmetic, not advice about what to pay.
Words this page uses
- Avalanche
- Every debt gets its minimum; every spare unit goes to the debt with the highest interest rate. When it is gone, the next highest.
- Snowball
- Every debt gets its minimum; every spare unit goes to the smallest balance. When it is gone, the next smallest.
- Interest saved
- What snowball would cost in interest minus what avalanche costs, on the same debts and the same monthly total.
- Rollover
- When a debt is paid off, its minimum keeps being paid, to the next debt in the order.
- APR
- The yearly interest rate. A twelfth of it is charged each month on what is owed.
Questions
- Does the avalanche method always save money?
- On the same debts and the same monthly total it saves interest or ties in nearly every case, because the extra always goes where the rate is highest. How much depends on how far apart the rates are: debts at similar rates save little, a high-rate card beside a cheap loan saves more.
- Then why does anyone use snowball?
- Because it closes a whole debt sooner, and a debt gone is a payment gone. On the three example debts snowball clears its first debt in month 6, avalanche in month 12. If an early win is what keeps you paying, it can be worth the difference in interest; the calculator shows that difference so the choice is yours.
- Which debt comes first if two have the same rate?
- The smaller balance, as in the Tavala app: between equal rates, the debt that can be cleared sooner goes first.
- Can I use it for debts in different currencies?
- Yes. Set each debt's currency and the rate to plan at. The rates that decide the avalanche order are the interest rates, not the exchange rate, so a dollar card at 21.9% goes before a euro loan at 4.5% whatever the euro does.
Track this plan in Tavala
The calculator plans once. The Tavala app keeps the plan: record each payment and the debt-free month moves with you, debts in any currency in one plan, with snowball or avalanche, offline and without a bank connection.
Go further
- Debt payoff calculatorAvalanche, snowball or your own order.
- Credit card payoff calculatorWhat the minimum payment really costs.
- Debt payoff in TavalaDebts in any currency, in one plan.
- Plan to pay off your debtsSee your debt-free date, the order your debts clear in and what extra payments save, using highest-rate-first or smallest-first.
- Track a loan or a credit lineAdd a loan, mortgage or credit card as a debt with its amount owed, monthly payment and rate, and watch it fall on the Money tab.
- How Tavala converts currencies and which rate it keepsEntries keep the rate of the day you saved them. Balances and net worth use today's rate. See where rates come from and what Estimated means.
Start with what you spent today.
There is no account to create and no card to enter. Pick your currency, add what you paid, and Home shows what is left.