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 Roll-Down
Your Credit Card Debt
Calculator
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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 highest
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 |
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Definitions
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Payoff highest rate first
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Leave this box checked to have the calculator payoff your
credit card with the highest rate first. You can uncheck
this box to see the results of an alternate payment
method. The alternate method pays off your credit cards
starting with the lowest balance.
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Credit cards
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Enter up to 10 credit card accounts, one on each line.
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Balance
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Your current balance on your credit card.
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Interest rate
-
The annual percentage rate you pay on a credit card. The
rate you enter is used to calculate the interest on all
future payments for the credit card. The length of time to
pay off this credit card may be much greater than
calculated, if you enter a low promotional interest rate
that is only good for a short period of time.
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Payment
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This is your initial monthly payment. If you check the
"use credit card minimum payments" box, your monthly
payment is calculated as 2% of your current outstanding
balance. With the "use credit card minimum payments" box
checked, your monthly payment will decrease as your
balance is paid down. This can greatly increase the length
of time it takes to pay off your credit cards. Uncheck
this box to enter your own monthly payment that will
remain the same until your balance is paid in full.
(We calculate your minimum monthly payment as 2% of
your current outstanding balance. While your actual
minimum monthly payment may be slightly different, this is
one of the most common methods used by credit card
companies to calculate minimum payments.)
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Additional payment
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This dollar amount is in addition to your monthly minimum
payments that you will use to pay down your credit card
debt. The higher this amount, the faster your debt will be
paid off. It is important that your additional payment is
one that you can afford. For the Roll-down method to be
effective you must be consistent in your payments. Should
you choose an amount that is too high, you may become
discouraged if you are unable to meet your payment goal.
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