Debt consolidation loan calculator: what would one loan cost you?

Interest you’d save

Most of the gap comes from the rate. Lisa owes $15,500 on cards at 25.49%. Her loan runs 11.9%, so each dollar of balance costs her about half as much each year.

An origination fee eats into that gap. The CFPB notes that a fee like a 5% fee comes out of the loan before the money reaches you.

With that fee, Lisa borrows $16,316 so $15,500 reaches her cards. Her payment becomes $429.

Her interest plus fee come to $5,085, so she still saves about $6,653. Add the fee to your numbers before you say yes.

The rate you can expect

The 11.9% default is a bank average, not a quote. The 16 lender ranges we checked run from 5.96% to 35.99%.

Those ranges do not give a set number for each credit score. An offer near the top of that range can cost you more than your cards.

Enter your own offer in the loan rate box. Then look at the result row for one loan.

If it shows more interest and fees than the cards, the loan is not the answer. Current lender numbers are on our current rates page, and the specialist compares them with your cards on the call.

If a loan isn’t the answer

Three signs point away from new credit.

• The offered rate is not under your card rate.
• A lender has turned you down.
• You are already behind on your payments.

Being more than 60 days late lets the card company raise the rate on all balances.

In each of these cases, a nonprofit debt management plan often fits better than new credit. The FTC says such a plan can take 48 months or more.

The specialist walks you through a debt management plan on the call. Read consolidating without a loan and bad credit debt consolidation loans before you sign anything with a fee.

How this debt consolidation loan calculator figures it

The card side counts your balance down month by month at the rate and payment you enter, the way a statement does. The loan side uses a fixed payment each month, with interest charged first and the rest paying down the balance. The starting loan rate is 11.9%, the Federal Reserve’s bank average for a 24-month personal loan from its G.19 release.

On $15,500 of card debt, one debt consolidation loan comes to $407 a month. Your cards take $465 a month now, and the loan uses the 11.9% bank average from the Fed.

A high rate or a fee can wipe out most of that gap, so enter your own offer above. The first thing to do after that is call a specialist, who puts your offer and its fee next to your cards.

Worked examples

• $15,500 at 25.49% paying $465 a month takes 4 years and 11 months and $11,738 in interest. One loan at 11.9% over 4 years with no fee costs $407 a month and $4,056 in interest, a saving of $7,683. Enter a fee in the calculator to see how much of that it takes.
• On $8,000 at 29.99% paying $200 a month, the cards take 27 years and 1 month and $56,870 in interest. A 3-year loan at 15.99% is $281 a month and $2,124 in interest. That saves $54,746 for $81 more a month.
• On $30,000 at 24.99% paying $650 a month, the cards take 13 years and 2 months and $72,436 in interest. A 5-year loan at 9.99% is $637 a month and $8,236 in interest. That saves $64,201 and costs $13 less a month.