Your baseline before you consolidate
A consolidation loan only makes sense if it genuinely beats what you can already do with the debts you're carrying — which means you need a real baseline before comparing offers. This calculator gives you that baseline: enter your current cards and loans exactly as they are, run avalanche or snowball, and see the real payoff timeline and interest cost. On the three-debt example loaded above — a $2,500 card at 22.99%, a $4,000 card at 19.99%, and a $6,000 personal loan at 12.99%, totaling $12,500 — avalanche clears everything in 28 months at $2,522 in interest.
The number a consolidation loan needs to beat
That $12,500 in debts above carries a blended rate of about 17.23% — take each balance times its own APR, sum those, divide by the total balance. Any consolidation loan charging close to or above that blended rate is not actually saving you anything once you account for the time value of paying it down, and may cost more once origination fees are included. A consolidation loan only wins when its rate is meaningfully below your blended current rate.
What this calculator does not model
This page deliberately does not simulate a new single consolidated loan — that is a different kind of math (a standard installment loan with its own rate and term), best handled by the Personal Loan Calculator or Amortization Calculator. Model the actual offer there, then compare its total interest and payoff time directly against the numbers shown here for your current debts as-is. The comparison only means something if both sides are computed on equal footing.
Frequently asked questions
What does this calculator actually model — a consolidation loan?
No — it models your CURRENT debts as-is, run through snowball or avalanche, so you have a real baseline before deciding whether a consolidation loan is worth it. On a $2,500 card at 22.99%, a $4,000 card at 19.99%, and a $6,000 personal loan at 12.99% ($12,500 total, a 17.23% weighted-average rate), avalanche clears everything in 28 months at $2,522 in interest — the number a consolidation loan would need to beat.
When does consolidating actually save money?
Only when the new loan's rate is meaningfully below your current weighted-average rate AND you don't run the old cards back up afterward. A consolidation loan at a rate close to or above your blended current rate saves little or nothing — sometimes it costs more once fees are included.
How do I find my weighted-average interest rate?
Multiply each balance by its APR, sum those, then divide by your total balance. On the three-debt example above (a 22.99% card, a 19.99% card, and a 12.99% loan), that works out to about 17.23% — a single number worth comparing directly against any consolidation offer's APR.
Should I model the new consolidated loan here?
This calculator is built for multiple ongoing balances under snowball or avalanche, not a single new installment loan — for that, use the Amortization Calculator or Personal Loan Calculator to model the actual new loan's payment and total interest, then compare that number directly against what you see here.
Does consolidation hurt or help my credit score?
It can do either, and this calculator does not model credit scoring at all — a new loan is a hard inquiry and a new account (which can lower your average account age), but it can also reduce your card utilization if it pays off revolving balances. That trade-off is outside what a payoff calculator can tell you; it is worth discussing with a credit counselor if it is a deciding factor.