Debt Payoff Calculator — Avalanche vs. Snowball (2026)

It does not name a winner. Its 2019 blog post (now archived) describes the highest-interest-rate method as the way to eliminate your costliest debts first, which “can save you money in the long run”, and the snowball method, which targets the smallest debt, as quicker progress that may cost more over time because you are not going after the larger or costlier debts. It says to choose by what motivates you: saving the most money, or seeing progress quickly. This calculator runs both on your numbers so you can see what the choice costs.

It depends on how far apart your rates and balances are. For a $1,500 medical payment plan at 9.99%, a $7,000 credit card at 24.99% and a $4,000 personal loan at 15.99% with $250 a month on top of the minimums, the highest-rate-first order clears everything in 27 months and $2,970 of interest, and smallest-balance-first takes 29 months and $3,723: $754 more, because the smallest debt is also the cheapest one. When the smallest debt is also the highest-rate one, the two orders are identical. These are example debts, not averages.

Not to the dollar. The calculator charges each debt one twelfth of its APR on the balance each month. The CFPB says many card issuers instead calculate interest daily on the average daily balance, so the day you pay inside the month changes the interest, and a card can carry different rates for purchases and cash advances. Fees, a promotional 0% period and a variable rate are not modelled. Use your statement for the exact payoff and this tool to compare orders.

Within one card, generally yes: the CFPB says that when you pay more than the minimum, the issuer must generally apply the amount over the minimum first to the balance with the highest interest rate, and it is generally up to the issuer where the minimum portion goes. That is a rule about balances on the same card; choosing which card or loan receives your extra money is your decision, and it is what the avalanche and snowball methods are about.

Every credit card statement has to say so. Regulation Z requires a “Minimum Payment Warning” (if you make only the minimum payment each period you will pay more in interest and it will take you longer to pay off your balance), an estimate of how long minimum payments would take and what they would cost, and, when that estimate is more than three years, the monthly payment that would clear the balance in 36 months and what it would save (12 CFR 1026.7(b)(12)). Look at your latest statement. This calculator keeps each minimum payment the same every month, which is a simplification: a card's own minimum can change as the balance changes, so check the statement's estimate for the card itself.