- Calculate
- To calculate the number of months to pay off your debt with an additional payment you enter select: "Calculate: Months to debt freedom". To calculate the additional payment required to meet a debt free goal that you enter select: "Calculate: Additional amount"
- Start payoff with
- Select the order you would like to pay off your debt.
- Current payment
- This is the total of your minimum monthly payments for all of your current loans and credit cards. This is your current total only. As your debt is paid off, the minimum monthly payment for credit cards can decrease.
- Months until you are debt free
- Number of months it will take to pay off all of your debt using the Snowball Debt Elimination method. The maximum repayment time your can enter is one that has no additional payment amount. In this scenario you pay your initial minimum payment amount until all of your debt is repaid. Even without any additional amount, this can be less than your current pay off using minimum payments that decrease over time (and don't snowball to the next loan when a loan is paid off).
- Additional payment
- This dollar amount is in addition to your monthly minimum payments that you will use to pay down your debt. The higher this amount, the faster your debt will be paid off. It is important that your additional payment is one that you can afford. For the snowball method to be effective you must be consistent in your payments. Should you choose an amount that is too high, you may become discouraged if you are unable to meet your payment goal.
- Use minimum payment
- If you checked the "use credit card minimum payments" box, your monthly payment is calculated as 4% of your current outstanding balance. With the "use credit card minimum payments" box checked, your monthly payment will decrease as your balance is paid down. This can greatly increase the length of time it takes to pay off your credit cards. Uncheck this box to enter your own monthly payment that will remain the same until your balance is paid in full.
(The tool calculates your minimum monthly payment as 4% of your current outstanding balance. While your actual minimum monthly payment may be slightly different, this is one of the most common methods used by credit card companies to calculate minimum payments.)
- Credit Card Balance
- Your total current balance for this credit card.
- Credit Card Interest rate
- The annual percentage rate you pay for this credit card. The rate you enter is used to calculate the interest on all future credit card payments. The length of time to pay off this credit card may be much greater than calculated if you enter a low promotional interest rate that is only good for a short period of time.
- Credit Card Payment
- This is your initial monthly payment. If you checked the "use credit card minimum payments" box, your monthly payment is calculated as 4% of your current outstanding balance. With the "use credit card minimum payments" box checked, your monthly payment will decrease as your balance is paid down. This can greatly increase the length of time it takes to pay off your credit cards. Uncheck this box to enter your own monthly payment that will remain the same until your balance is paid in full.
(The tool calculates your minimum monthly payment as 4% of your current outstanding balance. While your actual minimum monthly payment may be slightly different, this is one of the most common methods used by credit card companies to calculate minimum payments.)
- Loan balance
- Your total current balances for an installment loan.
- Loan interest rates
- The annual percentage rate you pay for this loan. Enter the current interest rate for this loan. This calculator assumes your rate will remain the same for the entire repayment period. The tool uses this to calculate the interest you will pay on this loan and the number of payments that are remaining.
- Loan payment
- This is your monthly payment. Enter the actual monthly payment for your loan. The tool uses this to determine your payment totals and to calculate the remaining payments.
