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DDebtBloom

Debt Avalanche Calculator

Attack your highest interest rate first. The avalanche method pays the least total interest and gets you debt-free for the lowest cost.

Your debts

Add each balance, its APR, and the monthly minimum (or let us estimate it). Everything is calculated in your browser — your numbers never leave your device.

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Plan by

The single biggest lever on your payoff date.

Payoff strategy

Avalanche: highest APR first — least interest paid.

One-time extra payments

Throwing a tax refund or bonus at your debt? Add it here to see how much faster it gets you to $0.

Your payoff plan

Debt-free in
2 years, 6 months
Debt-free date
2028-12
Total interest paid
$4,094
Interest saved vs. minimums
$8,466
That's about 4 years, 9 months sooner and $8,466 less interest than paying only the minimums.

Snowball vs. avalanche, side by side

Same debts, same budget. Pick the one you'll actually stick with — tap a card to see its full schedule below.

Payoff order

  1. 1Store card— paid off in 6 months (2026-12)
  2. 2Visa— paid off in 1 year, 8 months (2028-02)
  3. 3Personal loan— paid off in 2 years, 6 months (2028-12)

What if you paid a little more?

+$50/mo

Save $361 and finish 2 months sooner.

+$100/mo

Save $659 and finish 4 months sooner.

+$250/mo

Save $1,312 and finish 9 months sooner.

Month-by-month schedule

Month-by-month payoff schedule: amount paid, interest, and remaining balance.
MonthPaidInterestRemaining balance
1$729.00$277.98$17,049
2$729.00$268.89$16,589
3$729.00$259.60$16,119
4$729.00$250.12$15,641
5$729.00$240.43$15,152
6$729.00$230.53$14,654
7$729.00$220.88$14,145
8$729.00$211.46$13,628
9$729.00$201.85$13,101
10$729.00$192.06$12,564
11$729.00$182.08$12,017
12$729.00$171.90$11,460

Totals: you'll pay $21,594 over the life of the plan, including $4,094 in interest. Estimates only — actual minimums and interest vary by lender. See our methodology.

What the debt avalanche method is

The debt avalanche orders debts from the highest APR to the lowest. You pay minimums on everything and send all extra money to the highest-rate debt first. It is the mathematically optimal strategy: the least interest paid and the earliest debt-free date for a given budget.

How much it saves

The higher and more varied your interest rates, the more avalanche beats snowball. Enter your real APRs above and compare the "total interest paid" against the snowball method. For high-rate credit cards (often 20–30% APR per the Federal Reserve), the difference can be hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Choosing between them

Pick avalanche if you're motivated by saving money and can stay disciplined; pick snowball if quick wins keep you going. See the full comparison.

Frequently asked questions

How does the debt avalanche method work?
Pay minimums on all debts, then put every extra dollar on the debt with the highest APR. When it is gone, roll that payment onto the next-highest APR debt.
Why does avalanche save the most money?
Interest compounds fastest on your highest-rate debt, so eliminating it first stops the most expensive interest from accruing. Mathematically it is always the cheapest payoff order.
What is the downside of avalanche?
If your highest-APR debt is also large, it can take a while to clear the first one — so the early motivation is weaker than the snowball method.