Step 2: Your Debt Situation

Have you ever wondered how long it would take to pay off a credit card by just paying the minimum amount? You no longer have to wonder after viewing this calculator. Our illustration shows that it takes 30 years to pay off a credit card debt of $5000.00 at an interest rate of 18.90%. Please study this illustration. You may create numerous scenarios for yourself by inputting other loans in addition to credit cards.

Use this calculator to find out how much you owe. This can be used as a good starting point for your debt management plan. Enter all of your credit cards and outstanding installment loans balances. Find out how much you owe and how long it will take to pay it all off.

Many times when a consumer consolidates credit card debt, they start using credit cards again. For those of you who cannot get a consolidation loan because of damaged credit, this plan will work perfect. This illustration shows you how to cut 30 years of payoff down to 5 years and 8 months just by paying $25.00 extra per month. The trick here is to pay a certain dollar amount in addition to minimum amount currently being paid, but work on your highest interest credit cards first. WORKS SUPER

The Credit Card Roll-down Calculator applies two simple principles to paying off your credit card debt.

• Payoff your highest interest rate first.
• When a card balance is paid in full, apply its monthly payment to the card with the next highest interest rate.

To see how this can be applied to your credit card debt, enter your credit card balances and an additional Roll-down amount. The calculator will then apply your additional monthly payment to the credit card with the higest rate. When that credit card is paid in full, the card with the next highest rate will be paid down. This continues until you have rolled through all of your credit cards and your debt is paid in full. Click the "View Report" button for a detailed look at the results.

Should you consolidate your debt? This calculator is designed to help determine whether debt consolidation is right for you. Enter your credit cards, auto loans and other installment loan balances by clicking on the "Enter Data" button for each category. Then change the consolidated loan amount, term or rate to create a loan that will work within your budget. Click the "View Report" button for detailed results.

You may recall that it takes 30 years to payoff $5000.00 credit card at an 18.9% interest rate. This next illustration shows that by consolidating your debt, that it takes only 6 years to pay it off at a rate of 11%. You can create your own loan consolidation scenario to fit your own budget. You may be able to reduce your own payment in addition to reducing the time it takes to pay it off.