Debt Payoff Planner
Build a clear plan to clear your debts the snowball or avalanche way. See your debt-free date and the interest you'll save, then track your progress month by month. Private — nothing leaves your device.
Your debts
| Debt | Balance | APR | Min / month | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | — | — |
Extra is added on top of every minimum and thrown at your current target debt. When a debt clears, its whole payment rolls onto the next.
Downloads your projected debt-free date and next debt-cleared date as calendar reminders (one day before each). Import into Google, Apple or Outlook.
Payoff order & clear dates
| # | Debt | Balance | APR | Clears | Interest paid |
|---|
Track your progress
Update your current balances over time. We'll show how much you've cleared against your original starting plan and whether you're on track.
Tip: edit each debt's balance in the table above as you pay it down, then come back here to see your progress.
How you compare illustrative
Benchmark figures are seeded from public averages and anonymised early trackers — illustrative only, not personalised advice. UK averages drawn from published Bank of England consumer-credit and The Money Charity figures.
Email me when I hit my milestones
We'll email you when each debt is cleared and on your projected debt-free date. Free, no spam.
We store your address only to send these milestone reminders. Not financial advice.
Get out of debt with a plan you'll actually stick to
Clearing debt is rarely about a clever trick — it's about having a clear order to pay things in, knowing the date it ends, and seeing yourself make progress. This planner does all three. You add each debt with its balance, APR and minimum payment, choose a method, and decide how much extra you can throw at it each month. The tool then simulates every month into the future and tells you the single thing that matters most: the month you'll be debt-free.
There are two well-known strategies, and this tool runs both. The debt snowball orders your debts from the smallest balance to the largest and attacks the smallest first. You get a win quickly, which is powerful for motivation. The debt avalanche orders by interest rate and attacks the highest APR first, which costs you the least interest overall. Whichever you pick, every debt still receives its minimum payment each month, and your extra payment is concentrated on one target debt at a time.
How the calculation works
Each month, the simulation does four things in order. First it adds a month of interest to every debt: interest = balance × APR ÷ 1200 (dividing the annual rate by 12 for the month and by 100 for the percentage). Then it pays each debt's minimum. Then it takes your extra payment — plus any freed-up payments from debts already cleared — and applies it all to the current target debt for your chosen method. Finally, if a debt hits zero, its payment "rolls" onto the next target, which is what makes both methods accelerate over time. This rolling snowball of freed-up cash is why the last few debts disappear so much faster than the first.
The planner tracks the total interest paid across the whole journey and the month each individual debt clears, then converts the number of months into a real calendar date so you have something concrete to aim at. It also compares the two methods side by side so you can see, in pounds, exactly what the avalanche saves you versus the simpler-feeling snowball.
A worked example
Suppose you have a £4,200 credit card at 22.9% APR with a £95 minimum, and a £1,100 store card at 27.5% APR with a £40 minimum, and you can add £120 extra each month. With the snowball, you'd clear the £1,100 store card first (smallest balance) even though it isn't the most expensive, then roll its £40 plus your £120 onto the credit card. With the avalanche, you'd attack the 27.5% store card first too — here both agree — but where balances and rates disagree, the avalanche always targets the costliest debt and saves more interest. The planner shows the exact difference for your own numbers.
When a debt "never pays off"
If a debt's minimum payment is lower than the interest it builds up each month, the balance grows no matter how long you wait — the minimum isn't even covering the interest. This is a real trap with high-APR cards on small minimum percentages. The planner detects this and warns you, then tells you the smallest extra payment that gets you moving in the right direction. Adding even a modest amount above the minimum can be the difference between a debt that shrinks and one that quietly grows for years.
Why tracking matters more than the method
Research into debt repayment consistently finds that the biggest predictor of success isn't which mathematical method you pick — it's whether you stay engaged. That's why this tool lets you save today's balances as a starting plan and then update them as you pay down, showing the percentage you've cleared and whether you're ahead of or behind schedule. Seeing "32% paid off" is a far stronger motivator than a spreadsheet you opened once. Add the calendar milestones and the optional email reminders for each debt cleared and your debt-free date, and you've built in the two things that keep people going: visible progress and a gentle reminder to come back.
Your privacy
There's no login and no account. Your debts live only in your browser's localStorage and are never uploaded. Clearing your browser data removes them, so treat this as a private planning space on the device you use most. The benchmark you see is illustrative and seeded from published UK averages — it never uses your figures.
FAQ
What is the difference between the debt snowball and debt avalanche?
The snowball method pays the smallest balance first to give you quick wins and motivation. The avalanche method pays the highest APR first to save the most interest. Both apply your minimum payments to every debt and then throw any extra at one target debt, rolling its payment onto the next when it clears.
Which method clears my debt fastest?
The avalanche method (highest APR first) almost always costs the least interest and is usually as fast or faster, because it kills the most expensive debt first. The snowball can be a few pounds dearer but clears small debts sooner, which many people find easier to stick to. This planner shows both so you can compare.
What does "this debt never pays off" mean?
If a debt's minimum monthly payment is smaller than the interest it accrues each month, the balance grows instead of shrinking and it can never be cleared by minimums alone. The planner warns you and tells you how much extra you need to add to start making progress.
How is the debt-free date calculated?
The planner simulates your debts month by month. Each month it adds interest (balance times APR divided by 1200), applies every minimum payment, then applies your extra payment to the current target debt for the chosen method. When a debt clears, its payment rolls into the next target. The debt-free date is the month the last balance reaches zero.
Is my data private?
Yes. Your debts are stored only in your browser using localStorage. Nothing is uploaded to any server. The benchmark figure is illustrative and seeded from public averages, not from your data.
Does the calendar reminder really work?
Yes. The "Add milestone reminders" button downloads a standard .ics file with your projected debt-free date and your next debt-cleared date, each with a reminder the day before. Import it into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook.