Two payoff methods. Same debts, same extra $200 a month. One of them saves $551.69.
I build finance calculators, and the snowball-vs-avalanche question is the one people ask me most — usually right after they've decided to get serious about debt and want to know which plan to commit to. So I ran the numbers instead of giving an opinion.
The setup
$15,000 of debt, and $200 a month extra on top of the minimums. Two strategies:
- Snowball: pay the smallest balance first, whatever its rate. Quick wins, momentum, one fewer bill as fast as possible.
- Avalanche: pay the highest interest rate first, whatever its balance. Mathematically cheapest, but the first win can take a while.
Same debts. Same money. Only the order changes.
What the numbers actually say
- Snowball: debt-free in 36 months, $5,030.52 total interest.
- Avalanche: debt-free in 35 months, $4,478.82 total interest.
Avalanche wins on paper: one month sooner, $551.69 less interest. That is real money — but it is not a huge gap, and that is the point most advice skips. For a lot of people, the method they will actually stick with for three years beats the method that is optimal for three months and then abandoned.
When to pick which
- Pick snowball if you have quit a payoff plan before, or if a small balance is close enough to kill in a month or two. The win is the point — it buys you the next year of motivation.
- Pick avalanche if you are steady with money and the rate gap between your debts is large. The bigger the rate spread, the bigger the savings, and the math only grows.
- Pick either and automate it. The best plan is the one that runs without a monthly willpower vote. Set the extra payment on payday, not at the end of the month when the money is already spent.
Try it with your own debts
I built a free debt payoff calculator that runs both methods side by side — up to 10 debts, your balances, rates and minimums — and shows the debt-free date and total interest for each. No sign-up, no upload, the maths runs in your browser.
Run your numbers before you choose. If avalanche only saves you $50 on your debts, take the snowball wins. If it saves you $2,000, take the avalanche and let the maths do the motivating.
Originally published at BestFinanceCalculator.
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