Debt Consolidation Calculator

How this result is built

Compare the interest of your current payment with a new consolidation loan and its fees.

Consolidation replaces several payments with one. The new payment is often lower because the term is longer, not only because the rate is better. This page shows both interest paths. If the new interest is higher, the quieter payment was expensive.

What the opening example is for

The current path assumes you keep paying the amount you typed until the balance is gone. If those payments were minimums that fall over time, the current interest would be even higher, and the comparison would look kinder to the new loan than it should.

The walkthrough below uses the numbers already sitting in Debt Consolidation Calculator. Press Calculate and the headline should match this page. Then put your own figures in. The math does not run until you press the button, and Clear hides the result.

What each field is doing

The “Total balances” line on Debt Consolidation Calculator starts at $14,000.00. The other fields stay put while you change this one. That is the clean way to see what this line is doing inside the result.

Debt Consolidation Calculator treats “Current average rate” as its own entry, and the form opens with 19%. If the label is a rate, type the annual figure the contract uses. If it is money, type the amount that will actually move, not a rounded hope.

Before you replace it, “Current total payment” reads $450.00 on Debt Consolidation Calculator. Leave that figure only when it matches the statement, the quote, or the plan you are testing. Press Calculate after the edit so the chart and the schedule move with it.

The remaining fields

Look at “New loan rate” first if you are checking Debt Consolidation Calculator: the filled value is 11%. A round example is useful for learning the page. It is a poor substitute for the number on your own paperwork, so replace it and run the form again.

The “New term” line on Debt Consolidation Calculator starts at 4. The other fields stay put while you change this one. That is the clean way to see what this line is doing inside the result.

Debt Consolidation Calculator treats “Fees added to the new loan” as its own entry, and the form opens with $300.00. If the label is a rate, type the annual figure the contract uses. If it is money, type the amount that will actually move, not a rounded hope.

The opening result, line by line

Press Calculate on the opening form and New payment is $369.59. That is the number the rest of this section is talking about.

Current payment is $450.00 when you run the opening figures on Debt Consolidation Calculator. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

On this opening pass, interest if you keep paying is $5,434.82. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

How those lines were produced

Debt Consolidation Calculator reports that interest on the new loan is $3,440.36. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

A lower payment from a longer term can cost more interest. Compare the interest lines, not only the payment.

A second pass changes only “Total balances”, from $14,000.00 to $15,400.00. New payment moves from $369.59 to $405.77. Nothing else on the form was edited, so the gap between those two results is the effect of that one field on Debt Consolidation Calculator. If the gap is tiny, this page is not very sensitive to that entry. If the gap is large, get that entry from a document before you plan around the result.

What this page will not claim

Debt Consolidation Calculator applies the balance, the rate, and the payment you type. A lender’s payoff letter can include a fee or a daily interest convention this form does not see. Use the letter when you are sending the final check.

Debt Consolidation Calculator stops at its own formula. When the next question is different, open Personal Loan Calculator (Note amount, fee, payment, and APR.); Debt Payoff Calculator (One balance, one payment, a clear end date.); Balance Transfer Calculator (Fee, promotional months, then the later APR.). Do not add those results to this one as if they were the same kind of dollar.

Check the result before you use it

Start on Debt Consolidation Calculator by reading the labels, not the headline. The opening labels are Total balances ($14,000.00), Current average rate (19%), Current total payment ($450.00), New loan rate (11%), New term (4), Fees added to the new loan ($300.00). If a label is not the fact you have, the result cannot turn into that fact later. The illustration on the form lands on $369.59. When you press Calculate and see that same figure, the button and this explanation are using one formula.

Change one field at a time. Write down the headline, edit a single line, and press Calculate again. A large jump means that line carries the result. A line that does not move is a line the formula ignores, which is a reason to confirm you opened the right page. Debt Consolidation Calculator is built for one job: A lower payment can still cost more interest. The description on the page says the same thing in a sentence: Compare the interest of your current payment with a new consolidation loan and its fees.

When the paperwork disagrees

Then hold the headline next to a source outside the site. That source might be a loan estimate, an account statement, a pay stub, or the public limit named in the methodology. A few cents of difference on a long schedule is ordinary rounding. A different rate, a fee you never typed, or a tax the form does not ask for is not rounding. Correct the input. Do not average the page with the paperwork.

When the outside source still disagrees, Debt Consolidation Calculator has reached the edge of what it will claim. It will not phone a lender, pull a county record, or apply a credit you left blank. Send the calculator name, every input, and the result you expected through the contact page if you think the formula itself is wrong. Until that is settled, read $369.59 as the output of the fields above and nothing else.

FAQs