Debt Consolidation Calculator
Compare your current debts against a single consolidation loan side by side: monthly payment, months to debt-free, and total interest plus fees for each path.
A debt consolidation calculator compares two ways of paying the same debts: keeping each balance on its own rate and payment, or replacing them all with one loan for the combined amount. Consolidation changes three numbers at once — the monthly payment, the debt-free date, and the total of interest and fees — and they rarely move in the same direction. A consolidation loan can lower the payment while raising the total cost, or cut the total cost while barely moving the payment, depending on the rate, the term, and the origination fee. This tool puts the two paths side by side so all three numbers are visible at the same time.
The current path is modeled honestly: each debt is paid independently at the payment you enter, with no rollover between debts, and the tool warns if any entered payment does not even cover that debt's monthly interest — a balance that never pays off. The consolidation path finances the origination fee into the loan, the way most lenders actually charge it, so the amount borrowed is larger than the debts it pays off and the fee itself accrues interest.
How it's calculated
For the current path, each debt runs its own amortization:
Months to payoff = −ln(1 − r·B/P) ÷ ln(1 + r)
where B is the balance, P the monthly payment,
and r the monthly rate (APR ÷ 12). The path's months to
debt-free is the slowest debt; its interest is the sum across debts. For
the consolidation path, loan amount = total balances × (1 + fee%
÷ 100), the payment comes from the standard annuity formula over
the term you set, and total cost = loan interest + fee.
Full formulas are on our methodology page.
For the consolidation routes themselves — loans, balance transfers, and
home equity — the CFPB's explainer on
consolidating credit card debt
is the primary reference.
Worked example: three debts vs one 12% loan
Take the calculator's default debts: a $8,000 credit card at 22.99% paid at $250 a month, a $4,500 store card at 19.99% paid at $135, and a $6,000 personal loan at 11% paid at $200 — $18,500 of balances and $585 a month in payments. Kept as they are, the debts take 51 months to clear (the credit card is the slowest) and cost $7,678.60 in interest. Consolidating with a 12% APR loan and a 3% financed fee means borrowing $19,055. Here is what the term choice does, computed with the same engine as the tool above:
| Path | Monthly payment | Months to debt-free | Interest + fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep current debts | $585.00 | 51 | $7,678.60 |
| Consolidate, 36 mo | $632.90 | 36 | $4,284.35 |
| Consolidate, 48 mo | $501.79 | 48 | $5,585.98 |
| Consolidate, 60 mo | $423.87 | 60 | $6,932.08 |
The default 48-month loan beats the current path on every column — $83.21 less per month, debt-free 3 months sooner, $2,092.62 less in total cost — because 12% is far below the card rates carrying most of the balance. But read down the term column: the 36-month loan costs $47.90 a month more than the current path and saves $3,394.25 in total, while the 60-month loan buys the lowest payment at a price — $2,647.73 more than the 36-month version for the same debts at the same rate. The term, not the rate, is what trades the monthly payment against the total cost. Enter your own debts and quote above to see where your offer lands.
When should you use this calculator?
Use it when you have a real consolidation offer in hand — an APR, a term, and an origination fee from a prequalification or Loan Estimate — and want it reduced to the three numbers that describe it: payment, debt-free date, and total cost against what you already have. It is equally useful for comparing terms on the same offer, as the table shows, or two competing offers with different fee structures. If your plan is to keep the current debts and attack them in a chosen order instead, that is a different calculation — the snowball and avalanche calculators model rollover strategies this tool deliberately leaves out.
What this tool does not produce is a verdict. Whether consolidating makes sense depends on the rate you actually qualify for, whether the freed-up cards stay at zero, and what the payment change does to the rest of your budget — inputs no calculator has. It shows the arithmetic of the offer in front of you; the decision stays with you.
Assumptions and limitations
- Current-path payments are held fixed at the amounts you enter. Real card minimums decline with the balance, which stretches payoff further and increases interest — enter the payment you actually make, not the statement minimum, for a fair comparison.
- No rollover on the current path: when one debt is cleared, its payment is not redirected to the others. That is deliberate — redirected-payment strategies are the snowball and avalanche tools' job.
- The origination fee is financed into the loan. Paying it out of pocket instead lowers the amount borrowed and the total cost slightly.
- The consolidation loan is fixed-rate and fully amortizing. Balance-transfer cards with promotional 0% windows and rate step-ups are a different structure this tool does not model.
- Interest compounds monthly (APR ÷ 12); card issuers typically accrue daily, which lands within a few dollars for typical balances.
- Credit-score effects, new spending on the paid-off cards, and any prepayment penalties are outside the model.
This page is educational content about how consolidation math works. It is not financial advice, does not consider your personal circumstances, and does not recommend for or against consolidating. For decisions that matter, consult a qualified professional.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-09