A lower monthly payment is not the same as a lower total cost. This is the single most important thing to understand about debt consolidation. Replacing several debts with one loan at a lower rate almost always reduces the monthly payment, but if the consolidation term runs longer than the remaining term on the original debts, the total interest paid can be higher. This debt consolidation calculator shows both figures side by side, works out the longest term at which consolidation still saves money, and lets you test consolidating some debts rather than all of them. If you are struggling with debt and not sure where to start, StepChange and National Debtline both offer free, impartial advice.
Enter each debt with its balance, APR, and current monthly payment, then set the rate, term, and any arrangement fee on the consolidation loan. The tool returns a colour-coded verdict, a month-by-month interest comparison, a per-debt breakdown of which debts are worth including, and a break-even term. All figures are illustrative and the tool does not constitute financial advice. If you are not yet sure that a consolidation loan is the right type of borrowing for your situation, the borrowing type finder compares the alternatives.
At a Glance
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The tool answers two questions independently: does consolidation reduce the total cost, and does it reduce the monthly payment?
These two outcomes can point in opposite directions, which is why the tool produces four verdicts rather than a yes or a no. Green means both measures improve. Amber means the monthly payment falls but the total cost rises. Red means both worsen. Blue means the monthly payment rises but the total cost falls. Knowing which one applies to your debts is the whole purpose of the calculator.
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The most common real-world outcome is amber: a lower monthly payment but a higher total cost.
Consolidation loans are usually taken over a longer term than the time left on the existing debts. Even at a much lower rate, the extra months in debt can accumulate more interest than the rate reduction saves. A credit card balance cleared in around 15 months at 22.9% APR can cost less in total than the same balance cleared over 60 months at 8% APR. Amber is not automatically the wrong choice, but it should be a deliberate one.
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Shortening the term is the most effective single lever, and the tool tells you exactly how far to shorten it.
The break-even term finder scans every term the slider offers and reports the longest one at which consolidation still reduces the total cost. If your chosen term sits beyond that point, the verdict tells you the term that would fix it. The best financial outcome is usually the shortest term at which the monthly payment is genuinely affordable.
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Consolidating some debts often beats consolidating all of them.
A debt that is nearly cleared, or already on a low rate, usually costs more once it is rolled into a longer term. Untick it in the table and the whole comparison rebuilds around the debts you actually want to consolidate. The per-debt analysis flags which is which, and explains the cases where a debt with a higher rate than the loan still shows as one to leave alone.
Interactive tool
Debt consolidation calculator
Enter your existing debts and a consolidation loan to see whether you genuinely save money or simply lower the monthly payment at a higher total cost. Includes a colour-coded verdict, a break-even term finder, a month-by-month interest comparison, per-debt analysis, and accelerated payoff modelling.
Your data stays private — nothing you enter is stored, transmitted, or accessible to anyone. All calculations run entirely in your browser.
Untick any debt to leave it out of the consolidation and see how the comparison changes. Unticked debts stay in the table so you can put them back.
| Include | Debt | Balance | APR % | Monthly | Remaining interest | Months left | Remove |
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Consolidation loan
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Current debts (included only)
Consolidation loan
Break-even term finder
The longest term at which consolidation still reduces your total cost
Cumulative interest paid over time
Where the red line flattens, your current debts would have cleared. Everything the blue line adds after that point is extra cost.
Per-debt analysis: which debts to consolidate
Whether each debt saves or costs money at the loan terms above. Untick a debt in the table to test leaving it out.
Keep paying the old amount
If you keep paying your current combined monthly total towards the consolidation loan instead of the lower required payment
Figures are illustrative only and are not a quote. APR is treated as an effective annual rate, so the monthly rate used is the twelfth root of the annual rate rather than the annual rate divided by twelve. Remaining interest on existing debts assumes payments continue at the amounts entered. The consolidation loan uses standard UK amortisation; any arrangement fee is added to the loan principal and included in the total cost. Debts where the payment does not cover the interest charge are excluded from the numeric comparison, because their remaining interest has no fixed end point, and are flagged separately as Priority. Each debt’s share of the consolidation cost is allocated in proportion to its balance, which is an assumption rather than a measurement. The tool does not model early repayment charges on existing debts, variable rate changes, or any balance a lender may decline to consolidate. Debt consolidation may extend your repayment period and increase total interest paid even when monthly payments fall. Secured consolidation puts your home at risk if repayments are not maintained. This tool does not constitute financial advice.
How the calculator works
The tool uses standard UK amortisation to model both the existing debts and the proposed consolidation loan. Each stage is straightforward once you know what is being calculated.
Enter your existing debts
Use the editable table to enter each debt. The default example uses five: two credit cards, a personal loan, car finance, and an overdraft. Edit these in place, remove rows you do not need, and add rows for any others. Enter the current outstanding balance, the APR rather than the monthly rate, and your current monthly payment. If you know the months remaining instead of the payment, enter that and the payment is calculated for you.
Choose which debts to include
The tick box at the start of each row controls whether that debt is part of the consolidation. Unticking a debt removes it from every figure below while leaving it visible in the table, so you can compare consolidating everything against consolidating only the debts where it helps. The total row shows the combined balance, blended APR, and remaining interest for the ticked debts only.
Set the consolidation loan terms
Three sliders set the APR, the term, and any arrangement fee. The term runs from one to fifteen years in six-month steps. The fee is added to the loan principal, so you pay interest on it as well as the fee itself, and both are reflected in the total cost. Use the rate you have actually been quoted where you have one, or a representative rate as a starting point where you have not.
Read the verdict, then the break-even term
The verdict shows which of the four outcomes applies. If it is amber, it also tells you the longest term at which consolidation would still save money. The chart plots how interest accrues month by month under both scenarios, the per-debt analysis shows which individual debts are pulling the result in which direction, and the accelerated payoff panel shows what happens if you keep paying your current combined amount.
One cost the calculator does not model is early repayment charges on existing debts. Under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Consumer Credit (Early Settlement) Regulations 2004, settling a regulated agreement early does not usually involve a fee as such: you are entitled to a rebate of future interest, but the lender may defer the assumed settlement date by 28 days, and by a further 30 days where the original term was longer than a year. In practice that means the settlement figure can include up to around 58 days of interest beyond the date you ask to settle. Check your credit agreements or contact your existing lenders before assuming a debt can be cleared at its face value. The guide to whether consolidation is right for you covers the decision framework in detail, and the guide to consolidation and your credit score explains the credit file implications.
The four verdicts explained
Consolidation comparisons are usually presented as a simple yes or no, but the financial reality has four distinct outcomes depending on the interaction between the rate difference and the term length. Working out which one applies to your situation is the core purpose of this tool.
Green: genuine saving on both measures
The consolidation loan has a lower APR than the blended rate across your existing debts, and the term is similar or shorter than the time left on them. The monthly payment falls and so does the total cost. This is the ideal outcome and means consolidation is beneficial on every measure in the example modelled. It is most likely when consolidating high-rate debts such as credit cards into a lower-rate loan over a comparable term.
Amber: monthly saving but higher total cost
The most common outcome. The rate is lower, but the term runs significantly longer than the time left on the existing debts. The monthly payment falls while the extended repayment period accumulates more interest overall. This is not automatically the wrong choice, because cash flow relief can be worth a higher total cost in the right circumstances, but it should be a deliberate decision. The verdict tells you the term at which it would turn green.
Red: costs more on both measures
The consolidation APR is above the blended rate across your debts and the term is longer, so the monthly payment rises and so does the total cost. This typically arises when adverse credit restricts the rate available, or when the existing debts have short remaining terms and little interest left to save. Shortening the term improves the position but may not be enough on its own at a higher rate.
Blue: higher monthly but cheaper overall
The consolidation loan has a lower APR and a shorter term than the time left on some or all of the existing debts. The monthly payment is higher than the current combined total, but less interest is paid because the debt clears faster. This suits borrowers who can afford the higher payment and want to minimise total cost. It is less common with credit card debt, because cards carry long effective terms when only minimum payments are made.
Understanding the amber trap
The amber verdict is worth examining closely because it is the outcome most people do not anticipate. A consolidation loan at a lower APR than your existing debts sounds straightforwardly good. But if it runs over a term much longer than the time left on those debts, the lower rate does not offset the extra years of interest.
A single debt illustrates it. Suppose you have a credit card with a £4,000 balance at 22.9% APR and you pay £300 a month. At that rate the card clears in around 15 months and costs roughly £588 in remaining interest. Roll the same balance into a five-year loan at 8% APR and the payment on that portion drops to about £81 a month — but the interest over the full term comes to around £834. The rate is a third of what it was, yet clearing the balance over 60 months instead of 15 costs about £246 more. Consolidate five debts on that basis and the effect compounds. Our guide to what debt consolidation is explains the mechanics in more detail.
Show the working
Existing credit card
Consolidation loan
Comparison
APR is treated as an effective annual rate, as defined for UK consumer credit, so the monthly rate is the twelfth root of the annual rate rather than the annual rate divided by twelve. Remaining months use m = −ln(1 − rB ÷ M) ÷ ln(1 + r); the loan payment uses M = P × r(1+r)n ÷ ((1+r)n − 1). Payments are assumed fixed at the amounts shown, with no fees or early settlement adjustments. Totals rounded to the nearest pound, so the sub-totals may differ by a pound from the figures shown.
The same effect at a larger scale is what makes long secured consolidation terms worth checking carefully. Suppose three credit cards totalling £15,000 — at 22.9%, 19.9% and 24.9% — are being cleared at a combined £780 a month. They would clear in a little under two years at a total interest cost of around £3,325. Consolidating them into a ten-year secured loan at 7% cuts the monthly payment to about £172, a saving of more than £600 a month, but the interest over ten years comes to roughly £5,700. The rate falls by more than two thirds and the total cost still rises by about £2,375.
Show the working
Three credit cards
Ten-year secured loan
Comparison
Same method and assumptions as above. Card payments are illustrative and chosen to clear the balances in roughly two years; slower repayment on the cards would raise their interest cost and narrow the gap. No arrangement fee, broker fee, or early settlement adjustment is included, and a secured loan would normally carry at least one of these. Securing previously unsecured debt against your home is a change in the nature of the obligation, not only in its cost.
An amber outcome does not mean consolidation is wrong. Reducing monthly payments can be the right decision when cash flow is the binding constraint, when it prevents missed payments across several accounts, or when the alternative is a higher-cost product. What matters is that the trade-off is understood rather than discovered later. Our guide on whether debt consolidation is right for you covers when each outcome might suit your circumstances.
What to do with the results
The tool is a starting point for the decision rather than the final word. What to do next depends on which verdict it returns.
If the verdict is green
Check that the APR you modelled is realistic for your credit profile. A representative APR is the rate a lender expects to apply to at least 51% of the agreements resulting from a promotion, so a substantial minority of successful applicants are charged more. Use a soft-search eligibility checker before applying to see your likely rate without leaving a hard search on your file. If the rate offered is close to the one modelled, consolidation is likely to be worthwhile on these figures.
If the verdict is amber
Read the break-even term in the verdict and try shortening the loan to it. If the payment at that term is affordable, the shorter term is almost always the better financial outcome. If only the longer term is affordable, decide whether the cash flow benefit is worth the extra total cost. Also try unticking any debt flagged as one to leave — partial consolidation frequently converts an amber result to green without changing the rate at all.
If the verdict is red
Consolidation at these inputs is not financially beneficial. Consider whether a lower rate is available by improving your credit profile or by using a secured product, whether a much shorter term changes the picture, or whether consolidating only the highest-rate debts produces a better result. Our guide to debt consolidation for bad credit covers the options when the available rate is restricted. If repayments are already difficult, a debt management plan may fit better than a loan.
If the verdict is blue
Consolidation saves on total cost but raises the monthly payment. Confirm the higher payment is affordable before proceeding; if it is, this is usually the best financial result available, because the debt clears faster and costs less. Check any early settlement adjustment on your existing debts, as this can erode part of the saving shown. The debt-free date calculator shows when you would be clear under different payment strategies.
All debt consolidation tools
This calculator answers one question: whether consolidating saves money. Each of the tools below answers a different one, so it is usually worth knowing which question you are actually asking before opening them.
What do I owe?
Total debt picture tool
See all your debts in one place: combined balance, monthly cost, debt-to-income ratio, and which debts are generating the most interest. Open tool
Which debt first?
Debt prioritisation tool
Work out which debts benefit most from consolidation and which are better left on their current terms, based on rate and remaining term. Open tool
When am I clear?
Debt-free date calculator
See when each of your debts would be cleared at current repayments, and how much sooner with overpayments or a consolidation loan. Open tool
Loan or plan?
Consolidation vs DMP comparator
Compare a consolidation loan against a debt management plan across cost, timeline, and credit score impact to see which route fits better. Open tool
When can I borrow again?
Credit rebuild timeline
Map when different lender tiers become accessible after adverse credit events, and what actions help your credit score recover fastest. Open tool
Not sure what to look at next?
All of our debt consolidation guides and tools in one placeFrequently asked questions
Why does the tool show a higher total cost when the consolidation APR is lower than my current debts?
A lower APR reduces the rate at which interest accrues, but interest is a function of rate and time together. If the consolidation term runs significantly longer than the time left on your existing debts, the extra months more than offset the lower rate. A balance cleared in around 15 months at 22.9% APR can cost less in total than the same balance cleared over 60 months at 8% APR, because the longer version accumulates almost four times as many months of interest charges even at the lower rate.
The chart shows this directly. Where the red line flattens, your current debts would have been fully repaid; everything the blue line adds beyond that point is cost the consolidation loan incurs and the existing debts would not have. Shortening the term closes the gap, and the break-even term finder tells you exactly how far it needs to shorten before the total cost falls below your current position.
Should I consolidate all my debts or just some of them?
There is no rule that all debts must be consolidated together, and partial consolidation is frequently the better outcome. Debts on a very low rate, such as a 0% balance transfer card still inside its promotional period, or debts with very few payments left, usually cost more once they are rolled into a longer term. The highest-rate debts with substantial balances and long remaining terms are where consolidation produces the largest saving.
Use the tick boxes in the table to model this directly. Unticking a debt removes it from every figure while leaving it visible, so you can compare combinations without retyping anything. The per-debt analysis flags each debt as one to include or leave, and explains the cases where a debt carrying a higher rate than the loan still shows as one to leave, which is usually a sign that its remaining term is short. The debt prioritisation tool ranks debts in more depth, and our guide to how to consolidate debt walks through the decision in practical terms.
What APR should I use for the consolidation loan?
Use the APR you have actually been quoted where you have one. If you have not applied yet, the representative APR on the product you are considering is a reasonable starting point, but treat it as optimistic. A representative APR is the rate at or below which a lender reasonably expects credit to be provided under at least 51% of the agreements resulting from that promotion, so a substantial minority of successful applicants are charged more. A soft-search eligibility checker gives a more personal figure without leaving a hard search on your file.
It is also worth moving the slider across a range of rates to see how sensitive the result is. If the verdict flips between green and amber over a percentage point or two, a small difference between the advertised rate and the rate you are offered would change the answer. Knowing that in advance lets you set a threshold before you apply rather than reassessing afterwards.
Does debt consolidation affect my credit score?
Applying generates a hard search on your credit file, which has a small short-term negative effect. If the application succeeds and you use it to clear multiple credit card balances, your credit utilisation typically falls, which tends to help over the following months. The net effect depends on your circumstances, the timing, and whether you maintain payments on the new loan consistently.
Missed payments on the consolidation loan would matter considerably more than the hard search, so affordability should drive the choice of term. If the payment at the shorter, greener term is tight enough to risk a missed payment, the amber outcome on a longer term with a reliable payment history may be the better credit result as well as the more manageable one. Our guide to how debt consolidation affects your credit score covers this in more detail.
What is the difference between secured and unsecured consolidation?
A secured consolidation loan is a second charge mortgage against your property. It typically offers lower rates and higher borrowing limits than an unsecured loan, but your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments. An unsecured loan carries no property security, which means higher rates and lower limits but no risk to your home. Our secured versus unsecured consolidation guide covers the choice in detail.
The calculator models both: the rate and term you enter determine which scenario is being tested. Two things are worth watching when modelling a secured loan. Secured products are usually offered over longer terms, which makes the amber outcome more likely, so the break-even term is particularly worth checking. And they frequently carry arrangement or broker fees, which the fee slider accounts for. Our guide to secured loans for debt consolidation covers the considerations specific to securing debt against your home.
Why are some of my debts left out of the comparison?
Two things can remove a debt from the figures. The first is your own choice: unticking a debt in the table excludes it from every calculation so you can model partial consolidation. The second happens automatically when the monthly payment entered does not cover the interest being charged at that APR. In that situation the balance grows each month and never clears, so the remaining interest has no fixed total and cannot meaningfully be compared against a loan that does have one.
Rather than treating such a debt as costing nothing, which would make consolidation look worse than it is, the tool sets it aside and flags it as Priority. A debt in that state is the strongest candidate for consolidation there is, because almost any rate over almost any term stops the balance climbing. If several of your debts fall into that category, the underlying issue is more likely to be affordability than rate, and free advice from StepChange or National Debtline is likely to be more useful than any loan comparison.
Squaring Up
The monthly saving headline is where most consolidation marketing starts and stops. The figure that actually determines whether consolidation is worth doing is the total cost, and the two routinely point in opposite directions: the payment falls because the term is longer, and the longer term costs more regardless of the lower rate. A loan that saves £200 a month but costs £8,000 more in total is not a saving. It is a cash flow trade, and sometimes a justifiable one, but it should be recognised as what it is.
- Amber is the most common verdict and the one worth understanding. If the tool shows a higher total cost despite a lower rate, read the break-even term before concluding that consolidation is wrong at that rate.
- Partial consolidation often beats full consolidation. Unticking debts that are nearly cleared or already on a low rate usually improves the verdict without changing the rate at all.
- The rate you are offered may not be the rate advertised. A representative APR applies to at least 51% of resulting agreements, not all of them. Use an eligibility checker before committing to a decision.
- Secured consolidation changes the nature of the debt, not just its cost. Even where the comparison is favourable, moving unsecured debt onto your home is a different kind of obligation.
- If payments are not covering interest, the problem is not the rate. Free debt advice will be more useful than any comparison tool.
The guides below cover the next steps depending on your situation.
Continue your research
Guides, calculators, and comparators covering every aspect of debt consolidation Explore guides and toolsUpdate log: September 2026
What changed in this update
This page now brings together everything previously split across two separate consolidation calculators. The tool gains a month-by-month cumulative interest chart comparing your current debts against the consolidation loan, a four-way verdict covering all the combinations of monthly and total cost outcomes, and a full summary of both positions side by side. Each debt can now be ticked or unticked to model consolidating some debts rather than all of them, with every figure rebuilding around the debts you select. The break-even term now appears inside the verdict itself, so an amber result tells you directly what term would turn it green, and the term slider runs from one to fifteen years in six-month steps.
Calculations now treat APR as an effective annual rate throughout, in line with how APR is defined for UK consumer credit, and the worked examples have been recalculated on that basis. The table total row shows a blended APR across the debts you have included. Debts where the payment does not cover the interest charge are set aside from the comparison and explained separately, since their cost has no fixed end point. The per-debt analysis now states how each debt’s share of the loan cost is allocated. Additional worked examples with full calculations have been added for the long secured consolidation scenario, and the guidance on early settlement has been expanded to describe how the statutory rebate actually works.
Accessibility improvements include a single consolidated screen reader summary that reports the verdict once results settle rather than announcing on every slider movement, labelled controls throughout, visible keyboard focus indicators, focus retention when debts are added or removed, a described chart, and colour contrast meeting WCAG AA across all four verdict states. Free debt advice from StepChange and National Debtline is now surfaced at the points in the tool where it is most likely to be relevant.
All figures produced by this tool are illustrative examples only and are not a quote, offer, or guarantee of any rate or saving. Remaining interest on existing debts assumes payments continue at the amounts entered and that interest compounds monthly at the stated APR. Actual figures depend on your lender’s calculation method, any early settlement adjustment on your existing agreements, and the specific terms of any product you apply for. The rate you are offered will depend on your individual circumstances, credit profile, and the lender’s assessment. Debt consolidation may extend your repayment period and increase total interest paid even when monthly payments fall. Your home may be at risk if you consolidate unsecured debts into a secured loan and do not keep up repayments. This tool does not constitute financial advice. If you are struggling with debt repayments, free and impartial advice is available from StepChange and National Debtline.
