Debt consolidation
Debt Consolidation: Options, Costs and Alternatives
Debt consolidation means replacing several balances with one, ideally at a lower rate and with a fixed payoff date. It is arithmetic, not magic: it saves money only when the new cost of borrowing is genuinely lower than the weighted average of what you pay now.
These guides cover the main routes — a consolidation loan, a 0% balance transfer, a nonprofit debt management plan — and the difference between consolidation and the debt settlement industry that markets itself alongside it.
Data snapshot
- Year over year
- -0.22 pts
- 12-month range
- 20.94% – 21.39%
Average APR on interest-bearing credit card accounts, from the Federal Reserve's G.19 release. This is the benchmark any consolidation option has to beat to be worth doing.
Start here
Debt payoff and consolidation calculator
Avalanche (highest rate first)
3y 7m
- Total interest
- $4,828
- Total balance
- $35,700
Snowball (smallest balance first)
3y 7m
- Total interest
- $4,828
- Extra interest vs avalanche
- $0
What this result is based on
This tool uses only the figures you enter and standard arithmetic. No external dataset feeds the result, so there is nothing to cite beyond the formula shown on the page.
This debt payoff calculator turns a loan amount, an interest rate and a term into the numbers that actually decide affordability: the monthly payment, the total interest and the date the balance hits zero.
Every figure updates instantly, so you can test a shorter term or a slightly better rate before you ever speak to a lender.
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What people search for
Monthly US search volume for the questions this page answers, from our keyword research set.
| Search query | Monthly searches | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| national debt relief | 165,000 | 95 |
| debt consolidation loan | 135,000 | 88 |
| united states debt | 60,500 | 96 |
| debt consolidation loans | 49,500 | 82 |
| debtor in possession | 47,500 | 83 |
| personal loan for debt consolidation | 40,500 | 88 |
| personal loans for debt consolidation | 40,500 | 86 |
| national debt | 40,500 | 97 |
| national debt clock | 33,100 | 79 |
| us national debt | 33,100 | 97 |