List your debts, set one monthly budget, and see your debt-free date — plus whether the snowball (smallest debt first) or avalanche (highest rate first) order clears them cheaper. Free, instant, and nothing is recorded.
| Snowball | Avalanche |
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Assumes steady APRs, interest compounding monthly, and fixed minimum payments (real card minimums shrink, which only makes minimum-only payoff slower). As each debt clears, its payment automatically rolls into the next target. This is an illustration, not financial advice — nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
Both methods work the same way: pay the minimum on everything, then aim every spare pound at one target debt. When the target dies, its payment rolls into the next target — that’s the ‘snowball effect’, and it’s why the last debts vanish surprisingly fast. The only difference is the order of execution:
Honest answer: the difference is often smaller than people expect — run your own numbers above — and the best method is the one you’ll still be following in month nine. If you’re a spreadsheet person, take the avalanche savings. If you need momentum, snowball and don’t look back.
Two more levers that beat both: pay less interest in the first place, and find more budget. If a chunk of your debt is on cards at 20%+ interest, see what a fixed payment does with the card payoff calculator, and read up on consolidating expensive debts before assuming it’s the answer. For budget, the bill-cutting checklist regularly frees £30+ a month — on this page’s example debts, that’s months off the payoff. If your debts feel unmanageable, StepChange and National Debtline offer free, judgement-free help.
Because your debt-free date is set almost entirely by how much you pay each month, not the order you pay it in. The order changes how much of that money is eaten by interest along the way — that’s the ‘total interest’ row — and occasionally shifts the finish by a month or two.
Include anything with a balance and a real interest rate: overdrafts (often 35%+ EAR — frequently your most expensive debt), cards, loans and interest-bearing BNPL. Leave out 0% deals while they’re genuinely 0% — just keep their minimums in your budget — and add them with the revert rate when the promotional window ends. Student loans work more like a tax and usually shouldn’t be in this list.
Then the ordering question isn’t the problem, and no calculator fixes it. Talk to StepChange or National Debtline — both free charities — before missing payments. They can negotiate with lenders, set up a debt management plan and stop the spiral. Missing payments without a plan damages your credit file and adds fees.
Sometimes — if the loan’s APR is genuinely lower than your weighted average and you close the old cards so the debt can’t regrow. Many people consolidate, feel richer, and refill the cards; then they have both. Read our guide to debt consolidation for the traps.
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See exactly what paying only the minimum costs you — and how much a fixed monthly payment saves.
