How the debt snowball method works
The debt snowball method, popularized by financial personality Dave Ramsey, is a debt payoff strategy focused on psychology as much as math. You list your credit cards by balance, smallest to largest. You keep making the minimum payment on every card, but any extra money you can put toward debt goes entirely to the card with the smallest balance. Once that card hits zero, its minimum payment doesn't disappear — it gets added to the extra payment attacking the next-smallest card. Each payoff makes the next one faster, like a snowball gaining size and speed as it rolls.
How this calculator simulates it
Add each of your cards with its balance, APR, and minimum payment. Set an extra monthly payment amount — this is the money above and beyond all of your combined minimums that you can put toward debt. The calculator pays every card's minimum each month, directs your entire extra payment at the smallest remaining balance, and automatically redistributes a card's minimum payment to the extra pool the moment it's paid off, simulating the full snowball effect month by month until every card reaches zero.
A worked example
Consider three cards: a $1,200 store card at 26.99% APR with a $35 minimum, a $4,500 Visa at 21.99% APR with a $90 minimum, and a $2,800 Mastercard at 18.99% APR with a $65 minimum — a combined $8,500 in debt. With a $200 extra payment, the snowball method attacks the $1,200 store card first despite it not having the highest rate. Once it's cleared (in just a few months), its $35 minimum joins the extra pool attacking the Mastercard next, and so on, until every balance is at zero.
Snowball vs. avalanche: which should you use?
- Choose snowball if you've struggled to stay motivated with debt payoff before — the quick wins of eliminating whole cards early can keep you consistent.
- Choose avalanche if you're primarily optimizing for the lowest total interest paid — see the Debt Avalanche Calculator to compare.
- Try the Multiple Credit Card Payoff Calculator to toggle between both strategies with the same set of cards and see the difference side by side.
- If you only have one card, the standard Credit Card Payoff Calculator is simpler to use.