How the debt planner works
Most payoff calculators assume you already know how much extra you can pay. This debt planner starts from your budget instead. It subtracts your essential expenses and your current minimum payments from your take-home pay to find your monthly surplus — the money realistically available for debt. It then applies your minimum payments plus that surplus to your total balance and estimates your debt-free date and total interest.
A worked example
Say you take home $4,000 a month, spend $2,600 on essentials, and pay $450 in debt minimums on $18,000 of debt at 19.9% APR. That leaves a $950 surplus. Putting it all toward debt means a $1,400 total monthly payment — and a debt-free date just a couple of years out, instead of the decade-plus that minimum-only payments would take. Even directing half the surplus to debt dramatically beats paying minimums. Adjust the numbers above to find a plan you can stick to.
Turning the plan into action
- Automate the extra payment right after payday so it’s gone before you can spend it.
- Keep a starter emergency fund so a surprise bill doesn’t send you back to the cards.
- Review monthly. When a debt is cleared, roll its payment into the next one — the snowball effect.
- Trim one or two recurring costs to grow the surplus; small monthly cuts compound over a payoff.
Next steps
Once you know your surplus, use the debt eliminator to decide the order to attack each balance, or the credit card payoff planner for a single card. If high interest is the problem, the DMP calculator and our debt consolidation guide cover lower-rate options.