Numbers from this site's public API on a 5-card $60,000 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
$60,000 is the size where the minimum payments alone cross $1,500 a month. This page uses five US credit cards — the same five-card shape as the $60K in 6 months case study, so the two deadlines can be read side by side on one portfolio. Card A carries $18,000 at 25% APR with a $450 minimum; Card B $13,200 at 22% with a $330 minimum; Card C $12,000 at 20% with a $300 minimum; Card D $10,200 at 17% with a $255 minimum; Card E $6,600 at 15% with a $165 minimum. Every minimum is exactly 2.5% of its balance, and the five of them add up to $1,500 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: $18,000 × 25%, $13,200 × 22%, $12,000 × 20%, $10,200 × 17% and $6,600 × 15% come to $12,528.00 of annual interest on a $60,000 balance. One twelfth of that is 1.74%, which on the opening balance is $1,044.00 for the first month.
To clear all five in twelve months, the snowball method needs $6,148 a month, which is $4,648 above the minimums. Avalanche needs less — $6,048 — because it goes straight at the 25% card. Every figure on this page is for the snowball plan unless it says otherwise.
A payment smaller than every card
Look at the size of the payment against the size of the debt. The plan sends $6,148 in month 1. The five balances are $18,000, $13,200, $12,000, $10,200 and $6,600 — and $6,148 is smaller than all five. It covers 34.2% of the biggest card and 93.2% of the smallest, and even that smallest card, at $6,600, is $452 more than the payment. There is no month in the plan where one payment retires one card outright.
That is not a loophole and it is not a trick. It is what a longer deadline buys. On the same five cards a six-month plan needs $11,166 a month — $5,018 more than this one — and at that size a single payment is larger than the whole of a couple of the smaller balances. Give the payoff a year instead of six months and the monthly number falls below every card on the list, which is usually the difference between a plan that looks impressive and one that gets finished.
| Card | Balance | APR | Month 1 of the plan | Short by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card A | $18,000 | 25% | 34.2% of it | $11,852 |
| Card B | $13,200 | 22% | 46.6% of it | $7,052 |
| Card C | $12,000 | 20% | 51.2% of it | $5,852 |
| Card D | $10,200 | 17% | 60.3% of it | $4,052 |
| Card E | $6,600 | 15% | 93.2% of it | $452 |
The same year does have a price, and it shows up on the other side of the ledger: the $7,286.11 of interest is bigger than the smallest card is — by $686.11. Six months on this portfolio costs $3,920.79, so the extra half-year adds $3,365.32, which is 85.83% of the six-month interest bill. Buying a payment that fits your life is worth doing, but it is not free, and the number that prices it is the interest line, not the months.
What the twelve months cost
The twelve months cost $7,286.11 of interest, and the total that leaves your account is $67,286.11 — the $60,000 balance plus that interest. The interest is 12.14% of the balance you started with and 10.83% of everything you send.
The payment is $6,148 in month 1 and it steps down as cards leave: $6,148, $6,148, $5,983, $5,983, $5,728, $5,728, $5,428, $5,428, $5,428, $5,098, $5,098 and $5,088.11. Only part of that is fixed. The $4,648 of new money never moves; the $1,500 of minimums inside it does, because it is the sum of the minimums still owed on cards that carry a balance, and closing a card removes its minimum from that total — $1,500 in months 1 and 2, $1,335 in months 3 and 4, $1,080 in months 5 and 6, $780 in months 7 through 9, and $450 from month 10 on. The last payment is the only one that breaks the rule, and it breaks it downward: $450 plus $4,648 would be $5,098, but the balance runs out first, so month 12 pays $5,088.11 — $9.89 less than the pattern. The twelve payments add to $67,286.11, which is $6,489.89 less than twelve flat $6,148 payments would cost.
The interest inside the payment falls faster than the payment does: $1,044.00 in month 1, then $978.46, $907.20, $834.14, $753.47, $670.07, $584.08, $495.07, $404.42, $305.60, $205.76 and $103.84 in month 12. The principal barely notices: it runs $5,104.00, $5,169.54, $5,075.80, $5,148.86, $4,974.53, $5,057.93, $4,843.92, $4,932.93, $5,023.58, $4,792.40, $4,892.24 and $4,984.27, a spread of just $377.14 from best month to worst. The balance goes $54,896.00, $49,726.46, $44,650.66, $39,501.80, $34,527.27, $29,469.34, $24,625.42, $19,692.49, $14,668.91, $9,876.51, $4,984.27, zero. At the halfway mark — the end of month 6 — 49.12% of the balance is left, but 71.19% of the interest has already been paid, because interest is charged on a balance that is still large in the early months.
Snowball is not the cheapest way to spend those twelve months. Avalanche, run at the same $6,148 a month, is charged $6,049.28 — $1,236.83 less, which is 16.98% of the snowball interest bill. Avalanche can also clear the balance at its own lower threshold of $6,048, and at that smaller payment the same twelve months cost $6,161.18; the $6,049.28 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, while avalanche clears Card A in month 4, Card B in month 7, Card C in month 9, Card D in month 11 and finishes Card E in month 12.
The same twelve months, on minimums only
Sending $1,500 a month clears this portfolio in 87 months — more than seven years — and costs $47,341.20 in interest, a total bill of $107,341.20. The twelve-month plan's $7,286.11 is a saving of $40,055.09.
The same-term comparison is the sharper one, because both plans are spending the same twelve months. The minimums move $18,000 out of your account, of which $12,008.42 is interest and only $5,991.58 reaches principal, leaving $54,008.42 still owed. Twelve months of minimums therefore charge $4,722.31 more interest than the entire twelve-month plan — you can pay more interest in a single year than a working plan charges from start to finish, and the variable that decides which happens is the size of the payment. In month 1 the two paths are furthest apart in what they buy: the same $1,500 that retires $456.00 of principal on minimums retires $5,104.00 of it on the plan.
Where the $4,648 comes from
This is the part that decides whether the plan happens, so it is worth stating plainly: you need $4,648 a month above the $1,500 you already pay — 3.10 times the minimums — and over the twelve months the new money alone is $55,776, which is 92.96% of the balance. At $25 an hour after tax that is roughly 43 extra hours a week, which is a part-time job rather than a second one. The six-month version of the same payoff asks for $9,666 a month; a year asks for less than half of that per month, and it is the same balance.
Two things soften it further. The floor narrows on its own, so the payment drops to $5,983 by month 3 and $5,098 by month 10 without you changing anything. And the balance is down to $44,650.66 by month 3 and $24,625.42 by month 7, so the second half of the plan is carrying a pile less than half the size of the first — while the payment is only about 17% lower.
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: 4648 to /api/payoff and you get the same months, the same $7,286.11 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 — $4,648 here, which is what turns the $1,500 in minimums into $6,148 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 $60K in 6 months, $50K in 12 months, $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 $60,000 in twelve months?
On the five-card example here, $6,148 a month clears the $60,000 in twelve months on the snowball method, which is $4,648 above the $1,500 in minimums. Avalanche needs less — $6,048 — because it goes at the 25% card first.
How much interest do I pay on $60,000 over twelve months?
The snowball plan is charged $7,286.11 and the total that leaves your account is $67,286.11 — the $60,000 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 $6,148 a month, avalanche is charged $6,049.28, which is $1,236.83 less — 16.98% of the snowball interest bill.
Why is the twelve-month payment smaller than every card?
Because the deadline is twelve months rather than six, and nothing in the arithmetic requires one payment to retire one card. The plan's payment is $6,148 and the smallest balance is $6,600, so the month-1 payment falls $452 short of even the smallest card; it covers 34.2% of the $18,000 card and 93.2% of the $6,600 one. The balance is worked down month by month and after twelve of them it is gone. The same five cards on a six-month clock need $11,166 a month — $5,018 more — because the deadline is what sets the payment, not the size of any single card.
Why is the payment $6,148 in month 1 and less later on?
Because only part of it is fixed. The $4,648 of new money never moves, but the $1,500 of minimums bundled inside the payment is the sum of the minimums still owed on cards that carry a balance, and closing a card removes its minimum from that total — $1,500 in months 1 and 2, $1,335 in months 3 and 4, $1,080 in months 5 and 6, $780 in months 7 through 9, and $450 from month 10 on, with only Card A still open. The twelve actual payments run $6,148, $6,148, $5,983, $5,983, $5,728, $5,728, $5,428, $5,428, $5,428, $5,098, $5,098 and $5,088.11, which adds to $67,286.11 — $6,489.89 below the $73,776 that twelve flat $6,148 payments would total.
Does snowball versus avalanche matter on $60,000 over twelve months?
It is worth $1,236.83 over the twelve months, which is 16.98% of the snowball interest bill. Both figures are for the same $6,148 a month: snowball pays $7,286.11 and avalanche pays $6,049.28. Avalanche can also clear the balance at its own lower threshold of $6,048, and at that smaller payment the same twelve months cost $6,161.18 — 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, then Card B, then Card C, then Card D and finishes Card E in month 12 — but both methods reach zero in month 12.
What if I only pay the minimums on $60,000?
The $1,500 in minimums clears the balance in 87 months — more than seven years — and costs $47,341.20 in interest, a total bill of $107,341.20. That is a saving of $40,055.09 against the twelve-month plan's $7,286.11. Over the same twelve months the minimums move $18,000 out of your account, pay $12,008.42 of interest and retire only $5,991.58 of principal, leaving $54,008.42 still owed — $4,722.31 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: $18,000 at 25%, $13,200 at 22%, $12,000 at 20%, $10,200 at 17% and $6,600 at 15% work out to $12,528.00 of annual interest on $60,000. One twelfth of that is 1.74%, which is $1,044.00 on the opening balance — and $1,044.00 divided by $60,000 is exactly 20.88% divided by twelve. By month 12, under the plan, the monthly interest is down to $103.84.
How much new money do I have to find each month for a twelve-month $60,000 payoff?
$4,648 a month above the $1,500 you are already paying — 3.10 times the minimums — which over the twelve months is $55,776 of new money, 92.96% of the balance. At $25 an hour after tax that is roughly 43 extra hours a week, a part-time job rather than a second one. Spread over a year instead of six months, the extra each month is less than half of what the six-month version asks for, which is the real reason a twelve-month plan is the one people actually finish.