Debt Consolidation Calculator
Should you roll your debts into one consolidation loan? This calculator answers with the only fair comparison: the blended APR of your current debts — interest, payments and payoff order included — against the real APR of the new loan with its fee counted. If the loan's real APR is lower, consolidation saves money; if the fee eats the rate advantage, it doesn't, whatever the advertised rate says. To just pay the debts off in the best order, use the Debt Payoff Calculator.
| Debt name | Remaining balance | Monthly or min. payment | Interest rate |
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At the defaults, the new loan advertises 10.99% against debts blending to 18.92% — an easy yes, until the 5% fee lifts the loan's real APR to 13.25%. Still a yes. Push the fee past about 16% and the real APR climbs past the debts themselves, and consolidation quietly becomes the expensive option. That is why this calculator compares real APRs — rate plus fees — and never the advertised rate alone.
Consolidation, Judged on Its Real Cost
Debt consolidation replaces several debts with one new loan. People do it for a lower rate, a lower monthly payment, or simply for one payment instead of many — and a good consolidation loan can deliver all three. The vehicles vary: an unsecured personal loan, a balance-transfer card with a promotional rate, or a secured loan against the home (a home-equity loan, HELOC, or cash-out refinance), which borrows the house's lower rate at the price of putting the house behind the debt. Whatever the vehicle, the judgment is the same: does the new loan, with all its costs, beat the debts it replaces?
Why Real APR Decides
An advertised rate ignores the fee; a real APR doesn't. Origination fees and points are paid before the first payment, so the borrower receives less than the loan amount while owing payments on all of it. Spreading that shortfall over the loan's life gives the real APR — here it turns a 10.99% loan with a 5% fee into a 13.25% loan, the honest number to compare against your debts. The comparison on the other side is honest too: your debts' blended APR is computed from their real payment stream under an avalanche payoff, not from a naive average of rates. If the loan's real APR is lower, consolidation saves money — the table also shows by how much, in total interest. If it's higher, no rearrangement of payments fixes that; the red verdict means walk away or negotiate the fee down.
The Traps Around the Verdict
A green verdict still leaves three traps. Term stretch: a lower payment over a much longer term can quietly return the interest saving — watch the payoff-time row, not just the monthly one. Upfront cash: the fee comes off the top, so the loan must be sized to cover every balance after fees, or you bring cash to closing (the defaults need $250). Refill risk: consolidation empties the cards; if they fill again while the loan is still running, you now own both debts — the classic way consolidation makes things worse. Close or freeze the cards, keep the total monthly outlay at the old level if you can, and the plan works. And fix the root cause — a budget that spends less than it earns — because no loan structure outruns a deficit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a lower-rate loan still lose?
Fees and time. A big enough fee pushes the real APR above your debts' blended APR (try 20% above), and a long enough term piles the interest back on even at a lower rate.
What is my debts' blended APR?
The single rate that explains your actual combined payment stream — computed by simulating the avalanche payoff of your debts and solving for the rate that amortizes the combined balance with exactly those payments.
What if the loan is smaller than my balances?
After the fee, whatever it doesn't cover stays behind: the upfront-cash-flow row shows the gap as a negative number — cash you'd need, or the smallest debt left out of the deal.
Will consolidating hurt my credit score?
Slightly and briefly (hard inquiry, new account), usually offset by the utilization drop from paying cards off and by the on-time-payment record the single loan creates.