maratoolDebt snowball vs avalanche: which pays off faster?
Both use the same trick: when one debt dies, its payment rolls into the next. They only disagree on which debt dies first.
Snowball attacks the smallest balance first and banks on momentum; crossing a debt off the list early keeps people paying. Avalanche attacks the highest APR first and banks on arithmetic; it always minimizes total interest. The argument between them has filled forums for years, and the Debt Payoff Calculator replaces it with your actual numbers: list each debt, add whatever extra you can pay monthly, and read both plans side by side.
How it works
- Each row is one debt: name, balance, APR, and minimum payment.
- The extra budget is what you can pay beyond the minimums each month.
- Both simulations pay minimums on everything, aim balance plus extra at the focus debt, and roll freed-up payments forward until every balance is zero.
What the choice actually costs
Take a $2,000 store card at 10%, a $9,000 credit card at 26%, and a $12,000 car loan at 7%, with $250 extra a month. Both plans finish in 32 months. Snowball pays $4,666 in interest, avalanche $4,130. So the quick win of clearing the store card in a few months costs $536. Whether that price is worth it is a psychology question, not a math one; people who stick with a plan they can feel progress on beat people who quit an optimal plan.
When the plan says "never"
If a minimum payment doesn't cover a debt's monthly interest, that balance grows even while you pay. The calculator names the stuck debt instead of simulating forever. The fix is either a bigger extra budget or restructuring that one debt, and for a single card the Credit Card Interest Calculator shows the escape math in detail.