Build and review a Debt Snowball plan
Compare payoff approaches using debt balances, interest rates, and payment assumptions.
Overview
Debt Snowball estimates how a payment plan could reduce the debts you include. It is a planning model, not a lender payoff quote or a payment service. Changing a strategy does not automatically change real scheduled payments or move money.
Set up the plan
- Open Debt Snowball and add debts or select existing Scheduled bills to include.
- Enter or confirm each debt's balance, balance date, and annual interest rate (APR). Enter zero explicitly for an interest-free debt rather than leaving APR unknown.
- Review minimum payments and due dates. For linked debts, payment amounts and dates follow the linked schedules.
- Choose a strategy and review the plan's monthly payment amount.
- Check saving and validation messages before relying on the resulting estimates.
Strategies include smallest balance first, highest interest first, listed order, minimum payments only, and custom priority. Additional-payment assumptions can be used to explore changes to the plan; they are not bank payments.
Keep estimates grounded
Review linked actual payments and confirm fresh lender balances when needed. Purchases, fees, and escrow are not inferred. The monthly payoff model starts next month, so it does not model the remaining current month's interest and payments as part of that monthly projection.
The plan's payment amount is not a category-budget reserve. Do not subtract it again from Cash Flow alongside payments already represented by schedules or ledger entries.
Troubleshooting
Not calculated can indicate incomplete setup. Check balance means the estimate needs review. A limited or unreliable estimate can prevent payoff projections until a fresh lender balance is confirmed. Check the debt's included state, balance, APR, and links rather than filling unknown values with guesses.
Removing a debt from the plan leaves real payments and schedules unchanged.