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Snowball clears the smallest balance first, then rolls that payment into the next one. Because it ignores the rates it never costs less in interest than paying the highest rate first — sometimes a great deal more, sometimes nothing at all, when the smallest balance happens to be the dearest one anyway. It is also the plan more people see through to the end, and a finished snowball beats an abandoned avalanche every time. This puts the price of that choice on the screen in dollars and in months, so you decide with the number in front of you rather than a slogan.
Owing $19,700.00 · minimums $445.00 · interest this month $213.61
31 months
2 years, 7 months of payments
$3,225
Interest paid
$22,925
Paid altogether
$745
Every month but the last
An estimate, not advice, and not a quote from a lender. Interest compounds monthly at the rate you type. Minimums are treated as a fixed dollar amount: a real card minimum is usually the greater of about 3% of the balance and $10, so it falls as the balance does — which makes the minimums-only figure the optimistic one, often by years. The avalanche and snowball runs hold the total going out flat, so there a shrinking minimum changes only which debt the money lands on. All of it assumes nothing new goes on the cards, every payment lands, and no rate moves.
Head to head
Avalanche saves $132.25 over snowball here and finishes in the same month. That is a small number spread over 2 years, 7 months — small enough that the plan you will actually finish is worth more than the optimal one. Snowball is not the wrong answer.
Paying only the minimums — no extra, and nothing rolled over when a debt clears — takes 127 months and costs $10,647.11 in interest. This plan saves $7,421.72 and 96 months against it. That comparison, not the choice of order, is where the money is.
Avalanche and snowball run on identical balances, rates, minimums and extra — the only thing that changes between them is the order the money lands in. Minimums only changes two more things: no extra, and no roll.
This is arithmetic, not advice from a licensed advisor, and it cannot see your circumstances. Consolidation, a balance transfer, a lower rate or a conversation with a non-profit credit counsellor may all beat every line above — none of which a payoff calculator can tell you. Nothing you type here leaves the tab.
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The arithmetic runs in your browser, on your own device, and the answer updates with every keystroke. Nothing is sent anywhere — so there is no record of what you earn, what you owe, or what you are thinking of buying.
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