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Printed August 25, 2026 · https://trycleartally.com/debt-consolidation-calculator
Estimates for educational purposes only — not financial advice. See https://trycleartally.com/disclaimer.
Debt Consolidation Calculator
Your current debts
Proposed consolidation loan
Total balance: $18,000
In months (60 = 5 years).
Consolidating could save about $6,085 in interest
The fixed loan also clears your debt about 1 yr 5 mo sooner. Your monthly payment falls by $58.64.
Keep paying minimums
Total monthly payment
Debt-free in
Total interest
Consolidation loan
Monthly payment
Debt-free in
Total interest
The “keep paying” side assumes each debt stays at its current minimum until it's gone, with no redirecting freed-up payments — that's the snowball approach, which the debt payoff calculator covers. Consolidation figures assume a fixed-rate loan and don't include origination fees or balance-transfer costs; add those to the loan amount to see their effect. Estimate only, not financial advice.
Debt Consolidation Comparison
Interest saved by consolidating
$6,085
Baseline holds each minimum constant. Consolidation excludes fees. Estimate only, not financial advice.
Calculated using the standard formulas described at https://trycleartally.com/methodology — for educational estimates only, not a quote or financial advice. Verify with your lender or financial institution before making decisions.
Compare keeping your current debts against rolling them into one loan — see the monthly payment, total interest, and payoff time side by side.
Reviewed by the ClearTally editorial team · Last updated July 26, 2026 · Methodology & sources
Prefer to tackle your debts without a new loan? The debt payoff calculator compares the snowball and avalanche methods, and the credit card payoff calculator shows how long a single card takes at your current payment.
How it works
Debt consolidation replaces several balances — credit cards, a personal loan — with a single fixed-rate loan. The appeal is one payment instead of many, usually at a lower rate than credit cards charge, which can cut both your interest and the time to be debt-free. To see whether it actually helps, this calculator puts two paths next to each other: keep paying each debt's minimum, or move the balances to one loan.
The comparison hinges on the interest rate and the term. A lower rate is what saves you money; a longer term lowers the monthly payment but can quietly add interest back, so a loan that feels cheaper each month isn't always cheaper overall. The “keep paying” side assumes each minimum stays flat until that debt clears — worth knowing, because on a credit card a minimum that barely tops the interest can stretch payoff out for decades.
Example:three debts — $8,000 at 22.9%, $4,000 at 19.9%, and $6,000 at 12% — total $18,000 and cost $450 a month in minimums. Left alone, they take about 77 months to clear and run up roughly $11,570 in interest. Consolidate the $18,000 into a 5-year loan at 11% and the payment drops to about $391 a month, the interest falls to about $5,480, and you're debt-free in 60 months — saving around $6,090 and clearing it 17 months sooner.
Sources & further reading
FAQ
Usually only briefly. Applying for the new loan adds a hard inquiry and a new account, which can dip your score a few points short-term. But consolidation often helps over time: paying off credit cards drops your credit utilization — a major scoring factor — and one installment loan with on-time payments builds a steady history. The bigger risk to your score isn't the consolidation itself, it's running the cards back up after you've cleared them.
Only if the new loan's rate is meaningfully lower than what you're paying now, and you don't stretch the term so far that the lower rate is undone by more months of interest. Consolidating a 22% credit card into an 11% loan saves a lot; consolidating a 12% loan into a 13% one over a longer term costs more, even though the monthly payment looks smaller. Watch the total-interest figure, not just the monthly payment — and factor in any origination fee, which you can add to the loan amount here.
Consolidation is a new loan that replaces your debts; the snowball and avalanche methods keep your existing debts and just change the order you attack them, using a fixed monthly budget. Consolidation can lower your rate but requires qualifying for a loan; snowball and avalanche cost nothing to start and work with what you have. They're not mutually exclusive — some people consolidate high-rate cards and then use avalanche on whatever remains. Our debt payoff calculator compares the snowball and avalanche approaches.
The most common is an unsecured personal loan, which has a fixed rate and term and needs no collateral. A balance-transfer credit card with a 0% promotional period can be cheaper still if you clear the balance before the promo ends, though transfer fees apply. Homeowners sometimes use a home equity loan or HELOC for a lower rate, but that puts your house on the line for what was unsecured debt — a serious tradeoff. This calculator models a fixed-rate loan; enter the rate and term of whichever option you're considering.
If you can get a rate well below your current ones and you won't re-borrow, consolidating typically saves money and simplifies things. If your rates are already moderate, you can't qualify for a better rate, or the main problem is spending rather than structure, a payoff plan on your existing debts may serve you better without the application and fees. The honest test is the total-interest comparison plus your own discipline — a lower payment only helps if you don't treat the freed-up cards as available again.