- New loan balance
- The amount for your new consolidation loan. The default amount will be the total of all your debts. You can increase or decrease this amount if you need to change the total amount of the loan.
- New loan payment
- The monthly payment for your new consolidation loan.
- New loan interest rate
- The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) that you will pay on your new consolidation loan.
- New loan term
- The term, in months, for your new consolidation loan.
- 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, tool uses this to determine your payment totals and to calculate the remaining payments.
- Remaining loan payments
- This is the calculated number of payments remaining for this loan. It is based on your current balance, payment and interest rate.
- Net cash
- Total funds available after your debt has been paid off. This is the net amount of the loan pay off, it does not include any additional monthly payment savings.
- Percent to invest
- This is the percentage of your monthly payment savings you wish to invest. Any remaining payment savings is used to repay your loan. For example, if you have a monthly payment savings of $100 and choose to invest 75%, $75 would be invested and $25 would be an additional amount applied to your loan balance.
- Rate of return
- This is the annual rate of return you expect from your investment. The actual rate of return is largely dependent on the types of investments you select. The Standard & Poor's 500® (S&P 500®) for the 10 years ending December 31st 2023, had an annual compounded rate of return of 15.2%, including reinvestment of dividends. From January 1, 1970 to December 31st 2023, the average annual compounded rate of return for the S&P 500®, including reinvestment of dividends, was approximately 10.9% (source: www.spglobal.com). Since 1970, the highest 12-month return was 61% (June 1982 through June 1983). The lowest 12-month return was -43% (March 2008 to March 2009). Savings accounts at a financial institution may pay as little as 0.25% or less but carry significantly lower risk of loss of principal balances.
It is important to remember that these scenarios are hypothetical and that future rates of return can't be predicted with certainty and that investments that pay higher rates of return are generally subject to higher risk and volatility. The actual rate of return on investments can vary widely over time, especially for long-term investments. This includes the potential loss of principal on your investment. It is not possible to invest directly in an index and the compounded rate of return noted above does not reflect sales charges and other fees that investment funds and/or investment companies may charge.
