Debt Consolidation Analyzer

This calculator runs two independent projections from the same Total Current Balance and compares their totals: a month-by-month simulation of your current debt at Average Current APR and Total Current Monthly Payment (lines 78-85), and a closed-form amortization of the same balance at Consolidated Loan APR over Consolidated Loan Term (lines 87-97). Before simulating anything, the engine checks whether your current payment even covers a month's interest (line 65): if Total Current Monthly Payment is at or below Total Current Balance times the monthly current rate, Current Total Cost returns the literal sentinel -1 instead of a real dollar figure, because the balance would never actually shrink. Running the numbers on a $30,000 balance at 19.5% APR puts that floor precisely at $487.50 a month; the displayed $900 default clears it comfortably, but a payment at or below $487.50 flips Current Total Cost to -1 while a payment just above it produces an ordinary-looking total cost.

Total Current Balance dominates Total Savings — a 10% nudge moves Total Savings by roughly 76%, well ahead of Total Current Monthly Payment (about 57%) and Average Current APR (about 57%) — because a bigger balance scales both the current-debt simulation and the consolidated amortization together, widening whatever gap already exists between them. Consolidated Loan APR and Consolidated Loan Term never move Current Total Cost at all, and Average Current APR and Total Current Monthly Payment never move Consolidated Total Cost — the two schedules are computed entirely independently before being compared. This calculator does not account for consolidation loan origination fees, a change in your credit score, or new debt accumulated after consolidating.