Student Loan Consolidation and Debt Payoff Calculator
The Student Loan Consolidation and Debt Payoff Calculator
applies two simple principles to paying off high-interest debt.
Consolidate your existing student loans
Use your extra cash every month to pay off your higher interest
debt sooner
We apply the amount of payment savings you choose to your
non-student loan debt with the highest rate. When that balance is
paid in full, the balance with the next highest rate will be paid
down. This continues until you have rolled through all of your
balances and your non-student loan debt is paid in full. Click the
"View Report" button for a detailed look at the results.
Definitions
Total monthly student loan payments
Total payments for all of your outstanding student loans. If
the current payment total is less than the payment for your new
consolidated loan, there will be no payment savings.
Total outstanding student loan debt
The total amount you owe on all of your student loan debt.
Interest rate for new consolidated loan
The annual interest rate for your new consolidated student
loan
Term of new loan
The term in years for your new consolidated student loan is
calculated as: 30 Years for debt of $60,000 or more, 25 years for
balances of $40,000 or more, 20 years for balances of $20,000 or
more, 15 years for balances of $10,000 or more. Any balance under
$10,000 has a term of 12 years.
New monthly student loan payment
This is your new calculated monthly payment for your
consolidated student loans.
Monthly savings
This is the difference between your current student loan
payments and your new consolidated loan payment. If the current
payment total is less than the payment for your new consolidated
loan, there will be no payment savings.
Additional payment
This dollar amount is in addition to your monthly minimum
payments that you will use to pay down your non-student loan debt,
such as credit card debt, auto loans and other loans. The higher
this amount, the faster your debt will be paid off. We default this
amount to be equal to your monthly payment savings from
consolidation of your student loan debt. It is important that your
additional payment is one that you can afford. For this reason, we
allow you to adjust this amount higher or lower than your actual
payment savings from consolidation. For this debt payoff strategy
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.
Credit cards
Enter up to four credit card accounts, one on each line.
Balance
Your current balance on your credit card.
Interest rates
The average annual percentage rate you pay. This interest rate
is calculated for each of the categories of debt you have including
credit cards, Auto Loans and other installment loans. For credit
cards the rate you enter is used to calculate the interest on all
future credit card payments. 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.
Auto loans
Click on the "details" button to input any auto loans you may
have into the details page. This details page is designed to let
you input your current balance, current monthly payment, and the
interest rate for each loan. It then calculates your number of
remaining payments. You can enter up to three installment
loans.
Other loans
Click on the "details" button to input any additional
installment loans you may have into the details page. This details
page is designed to let you input your current balance, current
monthly payment, and the interest rate for each loan. It then
calculates your number of remaining payments. You can enter up to
six installment loans.
Payment
This is your monthly payment. For credit cards, if you checked
the "use credit card minimum payments" box, your monthly payment is
calculated as 4% 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 4% 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.)
Payoff highest rate first
Leave this box checked to have the calculator payoff your
balance 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 balances starting with the lowest balance.
* Consolidation extends your repayment term and may increase the
total amount you will pay over the life of the loan.
Information and interactive calculators are made
available to you as self-help tools for your independent use and
are not intended to provide investment advice. We can not and do
not guarantee their applicability or accuracy in regards to your
individual circumstances. All examples are hypothetical and are for
illustrative purposes. We encourage you to seek personalized advice
from qualified professionals regarding all personal finance
issues.