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Debt Consolidation Savings Calculator

U.S. only tools

Consolidating a credit card balance into one installment loan can cut both the rate and the interest that compounds against you each month. The saving is not automatic: a longer term or a smaller rate gap can leave the loan costing more in total, so it is worth seeing the number before you sign.

Debt Consolidation Savings Calculator - Danfio

https://danfio.com/tools/debt-consolidation-savings/ - printed from this page

Currency: USD ($) - display only, nothing was converted

$

The total balance you would roll into the new loan.

The rate the cards charge; the current plan pays the balance off at this rate.

What the cards take each month: commonly 1% to 2% of the balance plus interest, with a floor.

The rate the new loan actually quotes on your credit profile.

How long the new loan runs.

Results update as you type. Nothing leaves your device.

Currency symbol

Symbol only - nothing is converted and no exchange rate is used. Figures quoted in the explanation text stay as the sources publish them.

Money saved by consolidating

$8,419

$301.48 a month for 4 years clears $12,000 at 9.5%, where the cards would keep charging 22.5%.

Loan payment
$301.48
Cards total paid
$22,890
Loan total paid
$14,471
Interest saved
$8,419

The two ways to clear the balance

PathMonthly paymentTotal paidInterest
Keep the cards$465.00$22,890$10,890
Consolidation loan$301.48$14,471$2,471
Difference$164$8,419$8,419

The card column starts at the real minimum, which gets cheaper as the balance falls; the loan column is a fixed payment that ends on schedule. The difference row is the number this page is about.

Folding the balance into a loan at 9.5% saves $8,419.17 over keeping it on the cards at 22.5%, before any origination fee on the loan.

This calculator keeps it to one honest question: what would it cost to clear this balance paying the card minimums, and what would the same balance cost on a fixed loan at a quoted rate. The difference in total paid is the saving — and when the card minimum never clears the balance at all, the loan is simply the only plan that ends.

About this debt consolidation savings calculator

Consolidation only saves money when the new loan’s rate and term together beat what the cards already cost, and a longer term can quietly erase a lower rate. Enter one card balance and both paths are priced against each other: the minimum until the balance clears, and a fixed installment loan at a quoted APR.

Both plans are walked month by month, so the totals are printed work rather than a rule of thumb, and the loan side uses the same fixed-payment amortization as the rest of the site. Everything runs locally in your browser, which means the balance, APR and term you type stay on your own device.

An estimate, not financial advice; your lender's Loan Estimate overrides it. A smaller rate gap, a longer term, an origination fee or a minimum that already clears the balance can all flip which side wins, and none of them are in the arithmetic. Compare the quoted APR with the rate on the card before you sign anything.

How this debt consolidation savings calculator works

What one loan actually changes

A card minimum is usually 1% to 2% of the balance plus that month’s interest, and it shrinks as the balance falls. The interest is charged on the full outstanding balance at the card APR, which is why a 20%+ card can keep a balance alive for decades.

A consolidation loan replaces that with one fixed payment built from the quoted APR and a fixed term. The payment stays the same every month and the balance reaches zero at a known date, so the total paid is an exact, end-to-end number.

Why both paths here pay the same monthly amount

A comparison is only honest when both plans hand over the same total outlay. This page pays the loan’s fixed payment on both sides: the card side gets that same amount thrown at the balance every month, and the loan side follows its schedule.

Leaving the card side at its minimum and the loan at its fixed payment would stack a cheaper plan against a more expensive one and call the gap a saving. Keeping the outlay matched leaves only the rate and the term to produce the difference, which is the number this page exists to show.

When the cards never get paid off

If the minimum is too small to cover the interest, the balance grows every month no matter how long you pay. The page marks that path as one that never finishes, and the loan column becomes the only number on the page with an end date.

That situation shows up automatically: the calculation runs the card minimum on the declining balance the way issuers actually bill, and flags the case where the balance is still alive at the hard simulation limit.

What is not in the number

Origination and balance-transfer fees are industry-standard but lender-specific, so they are left out and called out instead of guessed. Late fees, penalty rates, variable-rate resets and the discipline question of not running the cards back up are also outside the math.

The rate a lender actually quotes depends on your credit profile, and it can be far from the banner rate on a mailer. Enter the number you have been quoted, not the one you hope for.

Where the saving comes from, and how big a fee it survives

The gap in total paid has two sources: the rate difference, and the fact that the loan payment is fixed while the card minimum falls as the balance shrinks. At the defaults - $12,000 at 22.5% on the cards against 9.5% over 48 months - the loan saves about $8,419, and most of that is the rate, because a payment that never shrinks retires principal faster in the later years. Close the gap to a couple of points and the same structure can cost more in total, which is the case the page turns red for.

An origination fee then decides how much of that survival is real. Three percent of $12,000 is $360, about four percent of an $8,419 saving, so the conclusion holds; on a small gap where the saving is a few hundred dollars, the same fee can flip the sign. Ask for the fee in dollars, add it to the loan total, and compare again - the page leaves it out because it is lender-specific, and leaves it visibly out rather than folding in a guess.

Worked examples

Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.

$12,000 balance at 22.5% on the cards, 9.5% loan over 48 months

Credit card balance: $12,000.00 · Current card APR: 22.5% · Card minimum payment: 2% · Consolidation loan APR: 9.5% · Consolidation loan term: 48 months

Money saved by consolidating

$8,419

$301.48 a month for 4 years clears $12,000 at 9.5%, where the cards would keep charging 22.5%.

Loan payment: $301.48 · Cards total paid: $22,890 · Loan total paid: $14,471 · Interest saved: $8,419

The loan’s fixed payment clears the balance years earlier than the card minimum, and the total paid is lower even though the loan runs on a schedule.

The same balance at a 10% rate gap

Credit card balance: $12,000.00 · Current card APR: 22.5% · Card minimum payment: 2% · Consolidation loan APR: 12% · Consolidation loan term: 60 months

Money saved by consolidating

$6,874

$266.93 a month for 5 years clears $12,000 at 12%, where the cards would keep charging 22.5%.

Loan payment: $266.93 · Cards total paid: $22,890 · Loan total paid: $16,016 · Interest saved: $6,874

A $2,000 balance, a 10-point rate gap and a 5-year term: the saving shrinks as the term stretches, which is exactly the trap the note section warns about.

A small balance on a low rate card

Credit card balance: $3,000.00 · Current card APR: 14% · Card minimum payment: 2.5% · Consolidation loan APR: 11% · Consolidation loan term: 36 months

Money saved by consolidating

$690

$98.22 a month for 3 years clears $3,000 at 11%, where the cards would keep charging 14%.

Loan payment: $98.22 · Cards total paid: $4,225 · Loan total paid: $3,536 · Interest saved: $690

When the gap is a few points and the balance is small, the loan can cost more in total than staying on the cards.

A $28,000 balance at 29.9% on the cards, 8.9% loan over 72 months

Credit card balance: $28,000.00 · Current card APR: 29.9% · Card minimum payment: 2% · Consolidation loan APR: 8.9% · Consolidation loan term: 72 months

Money saved by consolidating

$26,216

$503.33 a month for 6 years clears $28,000 at 8.9%, where the cards would keep charging 29.9%.

Loan payment: $503.33 · Cards total paid: $62,455 · Loan total paid: $36,240 · Interest saved: $26,216

The biggest rate gap on this page: the loan pays $503.33 a month for 6 years and saves $26,216 over the 19 years the same balance would have taken on minimum payments.

Frequently asked questions

Is consolidating credit card debt always cheaper?

No. A lower rate helps, but a longer term can erase it, and origination fees come out of the saving. This page shows both totals; when the loan total is higher, staying on the cards wins.

How much does a card minimum payment actually cost?

The minimum is normally 1% to 2% of the balance plus interest, and it is recalculated as the balance falls. At a 22% APR the interest alone can rival the principal portion, which is why a balance can take decades to clear on minimums.

Why do both plans here pay the same amount each month?

So the comparison measures the rate and the term, not one plan being paid more generously than the other. Both sides hand over the new loan’s payment; the only difference is what the money costs over the life of the plan.

Does the number include loan origination fees?

No — fees vary by lender and by state, so inventing one would mislead. Check the quoted fee and subtract it from the saving before you decide; a 5% fee on $12,000 is $600 that has to be recovered first.

What does "the cards never get paid off" mean?

When the minimum does not cover the interest, the balance grows every month and there is no payoff date at all. That is marked distinctly, because a loan with an end date is not a small win in that situation — it is the only win.

Does consolidating hurt my credit score?

A new loan brings a hard inquiry and a new account, and closing the cards lowers your available credit — all small, temporary effects. What usually dominates the score is utilization, which improves as the card balance drops to zero.

Assumptions and sources

  • The card side uses the standard issuer formula: a minimum of a percentage of the balance plus interest, recalculated monthly on the declining balance.
  • The loan side uses a standard fixed-rate amortization at the quoted APR and term.
  • Origination spot rates are normal at the quoted rate; fees, penalty rates and variable-rate resets are excluded and called out in the copy instead.
  • This is an estimate tool, not financial advice. The saving depends on the rates a lender actually offers you.

Last reviewed 2026-10-04. An estimate, not financial advice; your lender's Loan Estimate overrides it. Read the full disclaimer.

Where a figure on this page comes from an official agency — HUD, IRS, FICO or a state body — the site keeps a dated snapshot of the source page in its sources library, and a scheduled job re-checks that snapshot, so the number can be traced back to the document it came from.

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