Debt payoff calculator: what an extra payment really buys

The useful question is not "when will I be debt free" in the abstract. It is "what does an extra $100 a month actually buy me" — in months, and in dollars of interest you never pay.

Reading the result honestly

This calculator uses one blended rate for everything, which is a simplification. In real life you hold several accounts at different rates, and the order you pay them in changes the outcome — highest rate first is always the cheapest order, and a triple-digit APR account comes before everything, including savings.

The do-nothing line is the important one

Most people have never seen what carrying the balance costs per year with nothing changing. That figure — not guilt — is usually what makes the extra payment happen.

Before you throw everything at it

Clearing a card while holding no cash is how the card gets used again next month. A small cushion first, then the debt, is usually the better real-world sequence — with the exception of payday-type debt, which outruns any emergency.

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