Numbers from this site's public API on a 5-card $50,000 portfolio at 15-25% APR. Open the calculator with your own balances and rates and the same numbers come out in real time.
The example portfolio
$50,000 is the size where the minimum payments alone cross $1,250 a month, and where a twelve-month deadline is the first one that most budgets can actually hold. This page uses five US credit cards — the same five-card shape as the $50K in 6 months and $50K in 2 years case studies, so the three pages can be read side by side. Card A carries $15,000 at 25% APR with a $375 minimum; Card B $11,000 at 22% with a $275 minimum; Card C $10,000 at 20% with a $250 minimum; Card D $8,500 at 17% with a $213 minimum; Card E $5,500 at 15% with a $137 minimum. The five minimums add up to $1,250 a month.
The rates run from 25% down to 15%, and the largest balance carries the highest rate. Weighted by balance, the portfolio's rate is 20.88% a year: $15,000 × 25%, $11,000 × 22%, $10,000 × 20%, $8,500 × 17% and $5,500 × 15% come to $10,440 of annual interest on a $50,000 balance. One twelfth of that is 1.74%, which on the opening balance is $870.00 for the first month.
To clear all five in twelve months, the snowball method needs $5,123 a month, which is $3,873 above the minimums. Avalanche needs less — $5,040 — because it goes straight at the 25% card. Every figure on this page is for the snowball plan unless it says otherwise.
A year of interest is worth more than a month of the plan
On a six-month deadline the interest is a fraction of a payment, and it is easy to treat it as the small print. A year changes that. Here one month of the plan is $5,123 and the whole year's interest is $6,072.03 — 1.19 times that payment. The largest single thing this plan buys, after the balance itself, costs more than any one payment you will make.
The reason is the shape of the interest, not the size of the rate. It arrives a month at a time and adds up: $870.00 in month 1, $558.40 at the halfway point, $86.60 in month 12. No single month is dramatic, and the total still lands above a payment. A twelve-month deadline is what makes a $5,123 payment affordable; it is also what gives the interest twelve months to accumulate.
| Amount | What it is | In months of payment |
|---|---|---|
| $870.00 | The first month's interest | 0.17 |
| $5,123 the plan | One month of the twelve-month schedule | 1.00 |
| $6,072.03 | The whole year's interest | 1.19 |
| $56,072.03 | The whole year out of your account | 10.94 |
The $5,123 is not twelve equal payments, because only part of it is fixed. The $3,873 of new money never moves. The $1,250 of minimums bundled inside the payment does: it is the sum of the minimums still owed on cards that carry a balance, so it falls as cards leave the list — $1,250 in months 1 and 2, then $1,113 twice, $900 twice, $650 three times and $375 for the last three months. The twelve payments therefore run $5,123, $5,123, $4,986, $4,986, $4,773, $4,773, $4,523, $4,523, $4,523, $4,248, $4,248 and $4,243.03, and they add to $56,072.03 — $5,403.97 below the $61,476 that twelve flat $5,123 payments would total.
By the last quarter of the year the payment has stopped moving at all: $4,248, $4,248, $4,243.03. The floor is down to Card A's $375 by then and there is nothing left to close, so the schedule runs flat to the finish.
What the plan costs, and what the method is worth
The twelve months cost $6,072.03 of interest, and the total that leaves your account is $56,072.03 — the $50,000 balance plus that interest. The interest is 12.14% of the balance you started with and 10.83% of everything you send.
Snowball is not the cheapest way to spend the year. Avalanche, run at the same $5,123 a month, is charged $5,041.39 — $1,030.64 less, which is 16.97% of the snowball interest bill. Avalanche can also clear the balance at its own lower threshold of $5,040, and at that smaller payment the same twelve months cost $5,134.27; the $5,041.39 above is the equal-payment figure, so the two numbers differ by the payment they are measured at, not by the method.
What the method changes is the order the cards leave in. Snowball clears Card E in month 2, Card D in month 4, Card C in month 6, Card B in month 9 and Card A in month 12. Avalanche clears Card A in month 4, Card B in month 7, Card C in month 9, Card D in month 11 and Card E in month 12. Both are debt-free at month 12, and the $1,030.64 is real money — but the order is not what sets the price here. The deadline is.
The same twelve months, on minimums only
Sending $1,250 a month clears this portfolio in 87 months — more than seven years — and costs $39,456.55 in interest, a total bill of $89,456.55. The twelve-month plan's $6,072.03 is a saving of $33,384.52.
The same-term comparison is the sharper one, because both plans spend the same twelve months. The minimums move $15,000 out of your account, of which $10,006.96 is interest and only $4,993.04 reaches principal, leaving $45,006.96 still owed. Twelve months of minimums therefore charge $3,934.93 more interest than the entire twelve-month plan — a full year of minimum payments costs more in interest than a working plan charges from start to finish, and $45,006.96 of the original $50,000 is still standing.
Where the $3,873 comes from
This is the part that decides whether the plan happens, so it is worth stating plainly: you need $3,873 a month above the $1,250 you already pay — 3.1 times the minimums — and over the twelve months the new money alone is $46,476, which is 92.95% of the balance. At $25 an hour after tax that is roughly 36 extra hours a week, which is a part-time job on top of the one you already have.
Two things soften it. The floor narrows on its own, so the payment is under $4,500 from month 7 without you changing anything, and the last payment is $4,243.03. And the interest falls much faster than the balance does: $870.00 in month 1 against $86.60 in month 12, so the later payments are almost entirely principal.
Reproduce these numbers
Every figure on this page comes from this site's public API. Post the five balances, their rates, their minimums and extra: 3873 to /api/payoff and you get the same months, the same $6,072.03 and the same per-card breakdown. Two things that trip people up: APR goes in as a percentage (25, not 0.25), and extra is the amount above your total minimums, not your total payment — $3,873 here, which is what turns the $1,250 in minimums into $5,123 a month. Or just open the calculator and type your balances in — same engine, no payload.
If your target is a different size or a different deadline, the same analysis is in the $50K in 6 months, $50K in 2 years, $40K in 1 year, $40K in 6 months, $30K in 6 months, $20K in 6 months, $15K in 6 months, $10K in 6 months, $5K in 6 months, $5K in 1 year, $10K, $15K, $20K, $25K, $30K and $100K case studies, plus a 36-second walkthrough of the $25K case on YouTube. Shorter answers to the most common payoff questions live in the payoff questions hub.
Frequently asked
How much do I have to pay a month to clear $50,000 in twelve months?
On the five-card example here, $5,123 a month clears the $50,000 in twelve months on the snowball method, which is $3,873 above the $1,250 in minimums. Avalanche needs less — $5,040 — because it goes at the 25% card first.
How much interest do I pay on $50,000 over twelve months?
The snowball plan is charged $6,072.03 and the total that leaves your account is $56,072.03 — the $50,000 balance plus that interest. The interest is 12.14% of the balance you started with and 10.83% of everything you send. Run at the same $5,123 a month, avalanche is charged $5,041.39, which is $1,030.64 less — 16.97% of the snowball interest bill.
Is a year of interest really more than a month's payment?
Yes, on this portfolio. One month of the plan is $5,123 and the twelve months are charged $6,072.03 of interest, which is 1.19 times that payment. The first month's interest is only $870.00, so the interest builds over the year rather than arriving up front: it is $870.00 in month 1 and $86.60 in month 12, and the total still lands above a single payment.
Why is the payment $5,123 in month 1 and less later on?
Because only part of it is fixed. The $3,873 of new money never moves, but the $1,250 of minimums bundled inside the payment is the sum of the minimums still owed on cards that carry a balance, and it falls as cards leave the list — $1,250 in months 1 and 2, then $1,113 twice, $900 twice, $650 three times and $375 for the last three months. The twelve actual payments run $5,123, $5,123, $4,986, $4,986, $4,773, $4,773, $4,523, $4,523, $4,523, $4,248, $4,248 and $4,243.03, which adds to $56,072.03 — $5,403.97 below the $61,476 that twelve flat $5,123 payments would total.
Does snowball versus avalanche matter on $50,000 over twelve months?
It is worth $1,030.64 over the year, which is 16.97% of the snowball interest bill. Both figures are for the same $5,123 a month: snowball pays $6,072.03 and avalanche pays $5,041.39. Avalanche can also clear the balance at its own lower threshold of $5,040, and at that smaller payment the same twelve months cost $5,134.27 — a different payment, not a different answer. The payoff orders differ — snowball clears Card E, then Card D, then Card C, then Card B and finally Card A, while avalanche clears Card A first and finishes on Card E in month 12 — but both methods reach zero in month 12.
What if I only pay the minimums on $50,000?
The $1,250 in minimums clears the balance in 87 months — more than seven years — and costs $39,456.55 in interest, a total bill of $89,456.55. That is a saving of $33,384.52 against the twelve-month plan's $6,072.03. Over the same twelve months the minimums move $15,000 out of your account, pay $10,006.96 of interest and retire only $4,993.04 of principal, leaving $45,006.96 still owed — $3,934.93 more interest than the whole twelve-month plan charges from start to finish.
What is the blended interest rate on this portfolio?
20.88% a year, weighted by balance: $15,000 at 25%, $11,000 at 22%, $10,000 at 20%, $8,500 at 17% and $5,500 at 15% work out to $10,440 of annual interest on $50,000. One twelfth of that is 1.74%, which is $870.00 on the opening balance — and $870.00 divided by $50,000 is exactly 20.88% divided by twelve. By month 12, under the plan, the monthly interest is down to $86.60.
How much new money do I have to find each month for a twelve-month $50,000 payoff?
$3,873 a month above the $1,250 you are already paying — 3.1 times the minimums — which over the twelve months is $46,476 of new money, or 92.95% of the balance. At $25 an hour after tax that is roughly 36 extra hours a week, which is a part-time job on top of the one you already have.