Keep, consolidate, and transfer routes through balance, rate, and payoff checkpointsLive current inputs
Finance & Money
Debt Consolidation Scenario Comparison Calculator
Compare keeping current debts, taking a fixed consolidation loan, and using a promotional balance transfer on cost, payoff time, and risk.
Lowest projected financing-cost path—
Keep-debt interest cost—
Loan interest and fee cost—
Transfer interest and fee cost—
Keep-debt payoff—
Loan payoff—
Transfer payoff—
Balance at promotion expiry—
Three-route debt race
Keep, consolidate, and transfer routes through balance, rate, and payoff checkpoints
Three lanes race under the same monthly payment. The transfer lane changes color at promotional expiry, while fee-loaded starting gates remain visible.
Live decision table
Route checkpoints and decision consequences
Compare balances and accumulated financing cost before and after promotional expiry.
| Checkpoint | Keep balance | Loan balance | Transfer balance | Transfer rate | Leading route |
|---|
Cash-flow schedule
Annual and monthly cash-flow schedule
How to compare
Hold the payment budget constant across all routes
- Use the same starting debt.
- Include every opening fee.
- Enter the actual promotional duration.
- Use the post-promotion APR from the disclosure.
Route method
Promotional pricing must be modeled as a rate transition
A zero-rate transfer can still be expensive when the fee is high or the balance survives past promotion. The route race shows the exact expiry checkpoint.
The fixed loan offers rate certainty but may not be cheapest under every payment budget.
Calculation method
Run three monthly payoff simulations under one payment budget
Each route begins with the same underlying balance, adds its own fee, applies the route-specific monthly rate, and subtracts the same payment budget. The transfer path explicitly changes rate after the promotional window.
Detailed calculation process and general formulas
B_(m)=max(B_(m-1)(1+r_m)+Fee_m-P,0)r_keep = APR_keep/12r_loan = APR_loan/12r_transfer,m = APR_promo/12 for m≤k; APR_post/12 otherwiseCost = ΣInterest + FeesSymbols, meanings, and units
- B_m
- end-of-month route balancecurrency
- r_m
- monthly rate applicable in month mdecimal/month
- P
- common monthly payment budgetcurrency/month
- k
- promotional-rate durationmonths
- Fee_m
- route fee, generally at openingcurrency
- Cost
- total interest plus route feecurrency
The live worked example substitutes current inputs in formula order and reconciles the headline result with the visual and decision table.
Approval risk
Test terms you may actually receive
- Check transfer limits.
- Confirm approved loan amount.
- Avoid new card purchases.
- Verify minimum and late-payment rules.
Decision use
Choose by payoff execution, not advertised APR
The cheapest path assumes every payment arrives on time and no new balance is added. If execution risk is high, a fixed automated loan may be more practical than a theoretically cheaper transfer.
A route that fails to amortize under the payment budget is not feasible.
Route anatomy
Why the three payoff paths diverge
Fees, rate transitions, and payoff speed remain separately visible.
Winning route
—Lowest projected interest-plus-fee cost.
Transfer expiry balance
—Debt still exposed when the promotion ends.
Fixed-loan cost
—Loan interest plus origination fee.
Keep-debt duration
—Months under the current blended rate.
Decision takeaway: Prefer the route you can execute through payoff; promotional APR matters only with a credible expiry plan.
Practical applications
Decisions this calculator is designed to support
Balance transfer versus personal loan
A borrower can pay enough to reduce most, but not all, debt during an 18-month promotion.
What the result clarifies: The expiry balance quantifies exposure to the post-promotion rate.
Keep-and-avalanche alternative
A borrower compares external offers with simply maintaining a disciplined payment budget.
What the result clarifies: The common payment isolates financing structure from payment effort.
Worked example
Current-input substitution and reconciliation
Important note
Real credit cards can use daily compounding, changing minimums, multiple APR buckets, and retroactive terms. Loan approval, transfer limits, and credit-score effects are outside this model.
Debt Consolidation Scenario Comparison Calculator FAQ
Why use one payment budget?
It prevents a route from appearing cheaper only because it receives more cash.
Is the transfer fee financed?
Yes, it is added to the opening transfer balance.
What if payment is too low?
A route may not pay off within the simulation cap and is reported as not amortizing.
Does zero APR mean zero cost?
No. Transfer fees and any balance remaining after promotion create cost.