How to build the multi-card payoff plan
Use balances, minimums, and APRs from the same statement cycle so the card rows describe one consistent starting point.
- Set one monthly payoff budget
Enter the total amount available for all listed cards in a typical month, not an extra-payment amount on top of the minimums. It must be at least the sum of the cards' initial minimum payments. If the household cash-flow question is still unresolved, build a separate spending plan with the Living Expenses Calculator before treating a larger card budget as repeatable.
- Add every card you want in the plan
For each of 1 to 12 cards, enter a recognizable name, current balance, required minimum payment, and annual percentage rate. A number such as 18 means 18% APR. Do not add a closed or zero-balance account simply to reserve part of the budget; only active balances belong in the allocation run.
- Check balance buckets before combining them
One card row has one APR. If purchases, cash advances, transfers, or promotional balances on the same account carry different rates, a single row cannot reproduce that issuer's allocation rules. Use a clearly labeled approximation only when that limitation is acceptable, and do not invent separate minimum payments for balance buckets that the statement does not separate.
- Read the portfolio result, then each card
Start with the all-cards payoff duration, total principal, total interest, and total paid. Then inspect payoff order and the card-by-card plan for each balance's payoff month, modeled cost, and changes in its payment amount. The payment segments and combined balance path provide slower checkpoints for reconciling the result.
How the avalanche budget moves through one month
At the start of each modeled month, every active balance accrues interest at APR ÷ 12. The plan then pays each card's entered minimum, capped at the amount needed to clear that card. Only after all minimum allocations are covered does the remaining monthly budget go to the active card with the highest APR. That ordering prevents the avalanche payment from displacing a listed minimum on another card.
Rollover happens inside the same modeled month. Suppose $300 remains after all minimums and the highest-APR card needs only $180 to reach zero. The other $120 does not disappear or wait for next month; it immediately moves to the next-highest APR balance. In later months, the total budget stays unchanged, so the paid-off card's former minimum is also available to the remaining cards. This creates the visible step-ups in each card's payment segments.
Payments are capped at each card's balance plus that month's interest, and the ledger carries full precision until display. A high-APR card is the extra-payment target, but it is not guaranteed to be the first card paid off: another card can reach zero earlier because its balance is smaller or its entered minimum is larger. Payoff order is an outcome of the whole set of inputs, not just an APR ranking.
How to read the result and test a faster budget
Keep the first run as a baseline and change one declared input at a time.
- Read “all cards paid off in” together with total interest and total paid. A shorter timeline produced by a higher budget requires more cash in earlier months; the result does not decide whether that amount is affordable or leave enough for other obligations.
- Use the payoff-order list to see which card clears at each milestone, then inspect its payment segments. A segment records a period in which that card receives the same modeled monthly amount; a change usually reflects a prior card clearing and releasing budget.
- Try a higher total budget only after saving the original months and interest. Keep card balances, minimums, and APRs unchanged so the difference isolates the budget change. The comparison is a scenario, not a promise that future rates, fees, or statements will remain fixed.
- Rerun from current statements after a payment posts, an APR changes, a promotion ends, or a fee or transaction changes a balance. Do not edit an opening balance to anticipate money that has not reached the account; the next run should begin from confirmed account values.
Debt avalanche and debt snowball use different targets
Both methods cover the entered minimums first and roll freed money forward. They differ in which active card receives the extra budget.
Debt avalanche: highest APR first
This calculator uses the avalanche rule: after minimums, direct extra money to the highest-APR active balance. Under the model's fixed rates and no-new-charge assumptions, that is the interest-cost-focused order. Real fees, promotional expirations, and issuer allocation rules can change the account-level outcome.
Debt snowball: smallest balance first
A snowball instead sends extra money to the smallest active balance, regardless of APR. It emphasizes clearing an account sooner as a visible milestone. Depending on the mix of rates and balances, that priority can produce a different payoff order and modeled interest total from the avalanche.
The selected strategy is not interchangeable
The page calculates only the avalanche sequence; it does not display a snowball result or claim that one method fits every household. If you compare a snowball plan elsewhere, keep the same starting balances, APRs, minimums, monthly budget, timing, and fee assumptions so the strategy is the only changed variable.
Assumptions, statement checks, and limits of this avalanche estimate
The projection accepts 1 to 12 cards and assumes the total monthly budget, every entered minimum, and every APR remain fixed. It adds simplified monthly interest at APR ÷ 12 before allocating payments, adds no purchases, balance transfers, cash advances, annual or late fees, and assumes no missed payments or promotional expiration. The simulation stops if the cards are not cleared within 1,200 months rather than presenting an unbounded promise.
Actual issuers may use average daily balances, more than one APR on an account, changing minimum formulas, different due dates, fees, and contractual allocation rules. Covered U.S. statements also contain a minimum-payment warning and regulated repayment disclosures; CFPB Regulation Z and Appendix M1 prescribe assumptions that can differ from this multi-card scenario. Treat statements and account agreements as the account-specific evidence and use this output as a planning estimate.
The APR Calculator can compare entered fees in a separate installment-loan scenario, and the Personal Loan Calculator can model a consolidation quote. Neither reproduces revolving-card rules or proves that replacing these balances is cheaper. This page does not predict credit-score effects, settlement terms, tax consequences, collection rights, or provide individualized financial advice.