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Printed July 28, 2026 · https://trycleartally.com/debt-consolidation-calculator
Estimates for educational purposes only — not financial advice. See https://trycleartally.com/disclaimer.
Debt Consolidation Calculator
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
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
$450.00
Debt-free in
6 yr 5 mo
Total interest
$11,567
Consolidation loan
Monthly payment
$391.36
Debt-free in
5 yr
Total interest
$5,482
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.
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.