See if consolidating your debts into one loan saves money — compare interest, monthly payment and debt-free date against keeping your current debts.
Pick a scenario, then edit your debts and the loan to match yours.
Most personal loans work this way: the fee comes out of the money you receive, so you have to borrow more than your balances to actually pay them off.
Monthly payment on a consolidation loan at 12% APR, before any origination fee.
| Amount | 36 mo | 60 mo | 84 mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | $166.07 | $111.22 | $88.26 |
| $10,000 | $332.14 | $222.44 | $176.53 |
| $15,000 | $498.21 | $333.67 | $264.79 |
| $20,000 | $664.29 | $444.89 | $353.05 |
| $25,000 | $830.36 | $556.11 | $441.32 |
| $30,000 | $996.43 | $667.33 | $529.58 |
| $40,000 | $1,328.57 | $889.78 | $706.11 |
| $50,000 | $1,660.72 | $1,112.22 | $882.64 |
Estimate only, not financial advice. Actual consolidation-loan rates depend on your credit. The "current debts" baseline assumes you keep paying today's amounts and do not roll a cleared debt's payment into the others; weigh fees and avoid running balances back up.
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Debt consolidation rolls several debts — credit cards, personal loans, payday loans — into one new loan with a single monthly payment, ideally at a lower rate. This calculator shows whether that actually saves you money: enter each current debt's balance, APR and monthly payment, then a loan's rate, term and origination fee, and it compares total interest, monthly payment and debt-free date the two ways. The honest part most lender calculators skip: a longer term can shrink your monthly payment while raising the total interest, and it can keep you in debt for years longer. We show the monthly change, the lifetime cost and the change in payoff time side by side, plus a clear worth-it verdict — neutrally, with no loan application or signup.
Debt consolidation means combining multiple debts into one loan, mainly to lower your interest rate, your monthly payment, or both. You take a new loan — often a personal loan — for the total of your balances, use it to pay them off, and are left with a single payment. It saves real money when your current debts carry high APRs. Take the example this page loads first: $25,000 across two cards at 22% and 24%, on which you pay $700 a month, moved to a 12% loan over 60 months with a 1% origination fee. The payment falls to $562, total interest falls from $17,254 to $8,450, and you save $8,550 after the fee. But consolidation is not automatically cheaper: the savings come from the lower rate, and stretching the balance over a longer term can increase total interest even as the payment drops. It also does not fix spending — running the cards back up while repaying the loan leaves you worse off.
Debt Consolidation Savings
See the savings from moving 20%+ credit-card debt to a lower-rate loan.
Check whether a card you're barely servicing would ever clear — and what a fixed term does to it.
Find a term that fits your budget, and see what it costs in interest and in extra months.
Test different rates, terms and origination fees before accepting a consolidation loan.
Look up the monthly payment on a $20,000, $30,000 or $50,000 consolidation loan at your rate.
Compare consolidation against a balance transfer or the snowball method before you commit.
Compares your real debts to a consolidation loan and gives a clear worth-it verdict, fee included.
Shows when a lower monthly payment quietly costs you more interest — and how many extra months of debt it buys.
Payoff time now, payoff time after consolidating, and the months you gain or lose — not just the interest.
When a payment cannot cover its own interest that debt never ends. We say which one, instead of blanking the result.
Fees are taken from the loan or added on top depending on the lender. Pick yours — at 10% the two differ by thousands.
Unlike bank and lender calculators, there's no application and no signup. Just the math.
Debt consolidation combines several debts into a single new loan, ideally at a lower interest rate, so you make one monthly payment instead of many. You borrow the total of your balances, pay off the old debts, and repay the new loan over a fixed term. The goal is a lower rate, a lower payment, or a guaranteed payoff date — and this calculator shows which of those you'd actually get.
It saves money when the loan's rate is low enough that you pay less total interest than on your current debts, even after the origination fee. Moving high-APR credit-card debt to a lower-rate personal loan often saves thousands. But if you stretch the balance over a much longer term, the total interest can rise even though the monthly payment falls. The verdict on this page separates those two outcomes rather than calling both a win.
At a 12% APR, a $50,000 consolidation loan costs about $1,661 a month over 36 months, $1,112 over 60 months, or $883 over 84 months — before any origination fee. The longer terms look affordable but cost far more interest: roughly $9,800 over 36 months versus about $24,100 over 84. The reference table on this page shows the payment for common loan sizes at whatever APR you enter.
The three realistic routes are a consolidation loan, a balance-transfer card, and an aggressive payoff plan on the cards you already have. At 22% APR, $40,000 in card debt accrues roughly $733 a month in interest alone, so any payment near the minimum barely moves the balance. A consolidation loan converts that into a fixed payment with a known end date; enter your balances above to see whether the rate you'd qualify for actually beats staying put.
Applying adds a hard inquiry and a new account, which can dip your score a few points at first. Over time consolidation often helps: paying off credit cards lowers your credit utilization, and on-time installment payments build history. Closing the paid-off cards can hurt by shrinking your available credit, so many people keep them open with a zero balance.
Usually, especially if the loan has a lower rate or a longer term than your current debts combined. But not always — a short term at a higher rate raises the payment, and this calculator will tell you so instead of assuming an improvement. The Monthly Change tile shows the direction and size either way.
Usually yes. A longer term reduces your monthly payment but means you carry the balance, and pay interest, for more months. A $35,000 consolidation at 13% over 84 months can cut the payment by more than $450 a month and still cost several thousand more in total than the debts it replaced, while keeping you in debt about three years longer.
It's an up-front charge for setting up the loan, commonly 1% to 8% of the amount borrowed and sometimes as much as 12%. Lenders handle it two ways: most take it out of the money they send you, so you must borrow more than your balances to actually clear them; others add it to the loan instead. On $25,000 with a 10% fee, that's the difference between borrowing $27,778 and $27,500 — this calculator lets you pick the one your offer uses.
Then that debt never gets paid off. If a $9,000 balance at 29% APR accrues $217.50 of interest a month and you pay $200, the balance grows every month forever, so there is no payoff date and no final interest figure to compare against. That's the strongest case for consolidating: a fixed-term loan replaces an open-ended balance with a guaranteed end date. This calculator flags exactly which debt is in that state.
A balance-transfer card offers 0% for a promotional period, then a high revert rate, and suits smaller balances you can clear fast. A consolidation loan has a fixed rate and a fixed term, works for larger balances, and gives a guaranteed payoff date with no rate cliff. Run your numbers through both calculators — the answer depends on your balance, your payment and how long the promo lasts.
Lenders typically offer their best personal-loan rates to scores around 670 and above, and the lowest rates to 740 and above. Lower scores may still qualify but at APRs high enough to erase the savings — which is exactly what this calculator helps you check. Enter the rate you were actually quoted rather than an advertised best-case rate.
It's worth it when it lowers your total interest, or meaningfully lowers your payment without costing much more overall, and you don't run the old balances back up. The CFPB's caution is worth repeating: taking on new debt to pay off old debt can just move the problem, and many people don't succeed unless they also reduce spending. Enter your debts and a realistic offer above; if the verdict says it saves and the payment fits your budget, it's worth applying.