A date to aim for
A debt-free date turns a vague goal into a deadline. Add up every balance you want to clear, enter a weighted average interest rate (the rate on your biggest debts matters most) and the total you pay each month. The calculator treats it as one loan and counts the months until it reaches zero.
With $24,000 at 12% and $650 a month, you are debt-free in just under 4 years. The bars show what an extra $100, $250 or $500 a month would do, which often reveals that a side income or a single cut expense can pull the date in by a year or more.
For more precision
Treating several debts as one is a good estimate, but the order you pay them in changes the total interest. For a debt-by-debt plan, use the snowball vs avalanche calculator.
What an extra $100 or $200 does
Small increases to the monthly payment move the debt-free date a long way. With $24,000 of debt at an average 12% and payments of $650 a month, the balance is gone in 47 months, just under four years, with about $6,100 of interest. Paying $750 a month clears it in 39 months and cuts interest to about $5,070. At $850 a month it takes 34 months and about $4,340 of interest.
Those extra amounts often come from money that is already there: a raise, a tax refund, a cancelled subscription or a side income. Writing the new debt-free date somewhere you will see it, and updating it each time you pay extra, turns a long slog into a countdown. The snowball vs avalanche calculator shows which debt to target first.
Common questions
How much faster will I be debt-free if I pay $100 more a month?
On $24,000 at 12% with a $650 payment, an extra $100 a month brings the date forward by about eight months and saves around $1,000 in interest.
How do I find my debt-free date?
Add your balances, estimate an average rate and enter your total monthly payment. The calculator does the rest.
How do I calculate an average interest rate?
Multiply each balance by its rate, add those up, and divide by the total balance.
Should I invest or pay off debt first?
Pay off high-interest debt first. For low-rate debt, many people do both.
This calculator gives estimates for planning. Real returns, rates and prices change, so treat the result as a guide rather than a promise. Read how we build and check our calculators.