Quiet Zeros

Calculators / Home & loans

Debt Payoff Lab

Your actual loans, your actual plan: attack the highest rate, the smallest balance, or one loan you just want gone - add a little extra to any of them - and see exactly what each loan costs and when it dies. Nothing you type leaves this page.

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Card, auto, student loan - anything. Balance 0 skips a slot.

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A dedicated top-up for THIS loan, on top of any strategy money.

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Rolling is the classic method - constant outlay, fastest finish. Pocketing shows how your monthly payment shrinks as loans die.

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Tax refund, bonus - applied to the strategy's target in the month below.

Debt-free in

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Total interest, your plan

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Monthly outlay now

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Outlay after first payoff

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Best alternative saves

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Total debt over time - your plan vs. minimums only

What you actually pay each month

Strategy face-off, same budget

Each loan: interest paid and payoff date

How this is calculated

Every month, each loan accrues interest at its APR. Minimums are paid first, then each loan's dedicated extra, then the strategy money - avalanche aims it at the highest APR, snowball at the smallest balance, focus at the one loan you chose (falling back to avalanche once it's gone). Windfalls land on the strategy's current target. When a loan dies, its payment either rolls into the attack or returns to your pocket - your choice, and the outlay chart shows the difference.

Focus mode - the honest word about it

Paying minimums on everything except one loan is emotionally excellent and mathematically fine WHEN the focused loan carries the highest rate - then it IS avalanche. Focusing a low-rate loan (say, clearing a car note for cash-flow room) costs real interest; the face-off list prices that choice so you make it with open eyes.

Dedicated extras vs. strategy money

A dedicated extra sticks to its loan no matter what - useful for a loan with a co-signer to protect or a promotional rate expiring. Strategy money hunts wherever the strategy points. Most plans work best with everything in strategy money; the option exists because real life has exceptions.

Notes

Fixed APRs, no new charges, constant minimums. If the budget can't cover interest, the results say so. Payoff dates assume this month is month 1.

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