Debt payoff calculator
Avalanche against snowball, run on your real balances — what each order actually costs, so you can pick the one you will stick with.
Avalanche saves you
€228
Paying highest-rate first clears €11.450 in 1y 8m and costs €228 less in interest than snowball. Same money, different order.
1y 8m
to clear €11.450 of debt
Mathematically optimal. Every spare euro attacks the most expensive debt, so total interest is as low as it can go.
1y 8m
to clear €11.450 of debt
Psychologically easier. Accounts disappear sooner, which keeps people paying — worth more than a few euros of interest for most.
Debts are half of a net worth
Track balances alongside what you own and the payoff shows up as your number climbing — every card, loan and mortgage in one place.
Avalanche and snowball, precisely
Both strategies pay the contractual minimum on every debt and then throw every spare euro at exactly one of them. They differ only in which one.
Avalanche targets the highest interest rate. Because interest is what makes debt expensive, this always produces the lowest total interest — it is optimal by construction, not by luck.
Snowball targets the smallest balance. It costs more in interest, but it removes whole accounts from your life sooner, and there is decent evidence that people stick with it more reliably for exactly that reason.
The number at the top of this page is the price of that choice. When it is small — and with a realistic spread of balances it often is — snowball is a perfectly rational pick. When it is large, the maths deserves a hearing.
The rollover is what does the work
Neither strategy works without the rollover. When a debt clears, its minimum payment does not go back into your spending — it joins the attack on the next debt. The amount hitting your balances therefore grows every time something is paid off, which is why the curve on the chart steepens rather than running straight.
This is also why paying only minimums is such a trap. The payment never grows, while interest keeps compounding on what is left, and on a high-rate card the balance can genuinely outrun the payment forever. If this calculator tells you the debt never clears, that is what it has found — and it is worth speaking to a debt charity, which is free.
Before you start either one
Keep a small buffer first. Throwing every last euro at debt feels decisive until the car needs a repair and it goes straight back on the card. A modest starter cushion — see the emergency fund calculator — usually beats an extra month of overpayment.
Check for a cheaper rate before optimising the order. A balance transfer or consolidation loan changes the rate itself, which matters far more than the sequence. Rerun this with the new rate and the whole picture shifts.
Do not stop pension contributions that carry an employer match. A match is an immediate return that almost no interest rate beats.
Common questions
Both pay minimums on everything and put every spare euro at one target debt. Avalanche targets the highest interest rate, which always costs the least interest. Snowball targets the smallest balance, which clears individual debts sooner and gives you visible wins earlier.
Avalanche is mathematically optimal, and this calculator shows exactly what the difference is worth. If that gap is small — often it is — snowball can be the better choice, because the strategy you keep following beats the one you abandon.
Because a minimum payment is mostly interest on high-rate debt. The rollover is what breaks that: when one debt clears, its minimum joins the payment on the next, so the amount attacking your balances grows every time something is paid off.
That means the minimums do not cover the interest at these rates, and the balance grows no matter how long you wait. It is a real and common situation, not a calculator error — the fix is a bigger monthly payment or a lower rate through consolidation, and it is worth getting free advice from a debt charity.
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