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Debt Avalanche Calculator

Created by Tibor Pál, PhD candidate
Reviewed by Dominik Czernia, PhD and Jack Bowater
Based on research by
Cipra T. Financial and Insurance Formulas; 2006
Last updated: Jun 05, 2023


Use the debt avalanche calculator to check how much interest you could save if you apply the debt avalanche method to repay your total debt when you are struggling with more than one loan.

Besides, you can follow the avalanche effect on your debt's payment schedules and balances so you will know how to allocate your payments to minimize your interest charges by keeping fixed monthly payments. Also, you can compare your current debt repayment with the debt avalanche method.

Read further, where we'll also explain the difference between debt snowball vs. avalanche. If you want to learn about the snowball method, check our debt snowball calculator.

What is debt avalanche method?

The debt avalanche method is an accelerated debt payoff method which can be applied when multiple outstanding debt balances are waiting to be repaid, and your individual monthly payments are not fixed. It follows a rollover process, which means that when you repay one of the debts, the freed-up payment amount is allocated among the rest of the debts, keeping the total monthly payment constant.

The process always directs the released payment to the debt with the highest interest rate, ensuring the lowest possible finance charges and the fastest repayment of the total debt.

Debt snowball vs avalanche

When it comes to snowball vs. avalanche method, the main difference is that the snowball method prioritizes the debt elimination over a lower interest payment.

Therefore, while the avalanche method provides the lowest interest charges, the snowball method allows you to reduce the number of debts in the fastest way.

How to use the debt avalanche calculator?

Here's a short instruction on how to use this debt avalanche calculator:

  1. For the first step, you need to set the number of debts you have. Note that the maximum number of debts our debt avalanche calculator can compute is six, and you must have at least two debts to apply the debt avalanche method.

  2. Specify your debt balances with their associated interest rates and monthly payment amounts.

Debt avalanche effect

After these two simple steps, you will immediately see the avalanche effect on your debt. First you'll find the total amount of your debt, then you can learn how much interest you can save and how much faster you can pay off your debt with the debt avalanche method.

Summary

In the summary section, you can compare your current debt and your debt with the debt avalanche method.

  • APR: we show you the actual APR for both cases, which is the best way to compare debts from the perspective of the cost of borrowing (check our APR calculator to learn about this indicator).
  • Monthly payment: you can see the precise allocation of the monthly payment for each of your debts in the payment schedule table.
  • Payoff term: you can learn the remaining time in both scenarios.
  • Total payable and Total interest.

Balances

In the dynamic chart, you can follow the balances both with and without the debt avalanche method.

Payment schedules

You can check the payment schedules table of your original total debt without the avalanche effect and your debt with the avalanche acceleration. Also, you can learn when and with what amount you should pay off each of your debts to pay off your total debt in the most cost-effective and fastest way.

Tibor Pál, PhD candidate
How many debts do you have?
Four
Debt #1
Balance #1
$
Interest rate #1
%
Payment #1
$
Debt #2
Balance #2
$
Interest rate #2
%
Payment #2
$
Debt #3
Balance #3
$
Interest rate #3
%
Payment #3
$
Debt #4
Balance #4
$
Interest rate #4
%
Payment #4
$
Avalanche method effect
Total debt
13,000
$
If you turn to the avalanche repayment method, you can save $2,771.2 on interest, and you will pay off your debts 7 years and 9 months earlier than otherwise.
To do so, you need to keep the total monthly payment constant by reallocating the payment amount to the debt with the highest interest rate after paying off one of your debts.
Total current debtTotal debt with avalanche method
APR10.154%*10.36%
Monthly payment ($)varied580
Payoff term9 years and 11 months (119 months)2 years and 2 months (26 months)
Total payable ($)17,281.3914,510.19
Total interest ($)4,281.391,510.19
* For your current debt, without avalanche acceleration, the APR is estimated by the weighted average procedure.
Display
chart of balances
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