Debt repayment calculator
List what you owe and this works out how long it takes to clear, which debt to clear first, and what an extra payment each month would change. It compares the two well-known methods so you can see the difference rather than take it on trust. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.
What you owe
Your plan
Your result
Debt free in
—
There is more that can be done than this page can work out.
The sums do not balance on payments alone, and that is a well-trodden situation with real options behind it: reduced payment arrangements, Breathing Space, debt relief orders and others. Advisers set these up every day. It costs nothing, and they will not judge you.
If this is weighing on you heavily, Samaritans are there at any hour on 116 123. It is free, and you do not have to be in crisis to ring them.
Clearing the balance
The solid line is your plan. The dashed line is paying only the minimums.
The two methods
Highest rate first, often called the avalanche, puts the extra money towards the most expensive debt while paying minimums on the rest. It costs the least in interest, and mathematically it always wins.
Smallest balance first, the snowball, clears the smallest debt first regardless of rate. It costs slightly more, but it clears an entire debt sooner, and the evidence suggests people are more likely to stick with it because early progress is visible.
The right answer depends on which you will actually keep doing. Try both above: if the difference in interest is small, take the one that feels sustainable. If it is large, the cheaper method is worth the patience.
How this is worked out
Each month interest is added to every balance, minimum payments are made on everything, and whatever is left goes at the target debt. When a debt clears, its payment is not spent elsewhere; it joins the pot attacking the next one. That rolling effect is what makes the last few debts disappear far quicker than the first.
each month, for every debt:
balance = balance + (balance × rate ÷ 100 ÷ 12)
pay minimums on all debts
put everything left over into the target debt
when a debt clears, its payment moves to the next
Before you rely on this
- Minimum payments usually shrink. Credit cards typically charge a percentage of the balance, so the minimum falls as the balance does. This calculator holds it steady, which is closer to what happens if you keep paying the same amount, and is the sensible thing to do anyway.
- Rates can change. Promotional 0% periods end, and the rate afterwards is often high. Enter the rate you will be paying, not today's promotional one, if the deal expires soon.
- Balance transfers may beat both methods. Moving expensive debt to a 0% card can save more than any repayment order, though transfer fees and your credit file both matter.
- Priority debts come first. Rent, mortgage, council tax, energy and court fines carry consequences other debts do not, including losing your home. Clear those before optimising interest on anything else.
If the numbers do not work
Sometimes the honest answer is that no repayment order fixes it. If the minimum payments alone are more than you can manage, that is a situation to get help with, not a sum to try harder at. It is far more common than people realise, and the advisers who deal with it every day are not surprised by anything.
There are options this calculator cannot model at all, including reduced payment arrangements, Breathing Space, debt relief orders and other formal solutions. Which of them suit you depends on your circumstances, and a free adviser can talk them through without any obligation. The services listed below are all free and confidential.
It also helps to know that being in debt is not a judgement on you. Illness, redundancy, relationship breakdown and rising bills put people here far more often than overspending does.