Debt Consolidation Calculator

The snapshot tool takes all your debts as inputs and produces five outputs simultaneously: how your debt breaks down between secured and unsecured, your monthly payment burden as a percentage of net income, your debt-to-income ratio, your debts ranked by APR, and the estimated time to payoff for each individual debt. The payment burden and debt-to-income gauges use traffic-light colouring to indicate whether your overall position is broadly healthy, stretched, or under significant pressure. The APR ranking is particularly useful: it shows at a glance which debts are generating the most interest, which is the most important input to any consolidation decision.

Running the snapshot before the consolidation calculator is strongly recommended. The snapshot tells you the total remaining interest across all your debts on current terms, which is the baseline the consolidation calculator compares against. Without it, the consolidation calculator requires you to enter each debt individually without the benefit of the summary view. The snapshot also generates tool recommendations based on your specific debt profile, which may point you towards the DMP comparator rather than the consolidation calculator if your payment burden is high relative to your income.

The amber verdict fires when the consolidation loan reduces your monthly payment compared with your current combined minimums, but costs more in total interest than continuing with your existing debts on their current terms. This is the most common real-world outcome when a lower-rate loan is taken over a significantly longer term: the monthly payment falls, but the extended repayment period means more months of interest accrue in total, even at the lower rate.

The breakeven point is the month at which the cumulative monthly savings from the lower payment overtake the extra total interest cost of the consolidation loan. Before that month, you are worse off in total terms despite paying less each month. After it, the cumulative monthly savings exceed the extra interest cost and the consolidation has, in net terms, been financially worthwhile. If the breakeven point falls in the final months of the loan, the consolidation produces very little net financial benefit even though the monthly payment is lower throughout; the main effect is cash flow improvement rather than genuine saving. Our guide to is debt consolidation right for you covers the scenarios where consolidation typically does and does not make financial sense.

The comparator defaults to the interest-frozen scenario, which is the typical outcome when a DMP is established through a reputable provider. Under this model, all creditors agree to stop adding interest from the point the DMP starts, meaning every pound of your monthly payment goes directly to reducing the debt balance. In the frozen scenario, the time to debt-free is simply the total balance divided by the monthly DMP payment, and the total cost equals the current balance with no additional interest.

The worst-case scenario, where interest is not frozen, can be toggled using the button in the DMP inputs section. Under this model, each creditor continues to charge interest at the current rate on their respective balance, and the DMP payment is allocated pro-rata. Whether this scenario applies depends on whether all creditors agree to the freeze, which most do when approached through a recognised free DMP service but which cannot be guaranteed in advance. The comparator shows both scenarios so you can see how much the interest freeze matters to the overall DMP outcome. If a DMP is the right route, StepChange (stepchange.org), National Debtline (nationaldebtline.org), Citizens Advice, and MoneyHelper all provide free DMP services.

The debt snapshot is the logical starting point for almost everyone, because it gives you the full picture of your debt position and flags immediately whether the payment burden or debt-to-income ratio suggests consolidation is the priority question or whether a DMP should be considered first. From there, the path depends on what the snapshot shows. If payment burden is manageable and the main goal is reducing interest cost, the consolidation calculator is the natural next step. If payment burden is above 25% to 30% of income and current payments are difficult to maintain, the DMP comparator should be run alongside or instead of the consolidation calculator.

If you are unsure which debts to include in a consolidation, the debt prioritisation tool should come before the consolidation calculator, not after. Modelling a consolidation without knowing which debts to include often produces an over-optimistic saving figure that changes significantly when lower-priority debts are removed. The monthly affordability checker is the final step for anyone who has identified a consolidation loan that looks viable: running the proposed payment through a full budget model, including three stress tests, gives a more robust sense of whether the loan is genuinely sustainable before you apply. All figures produced are illustrative and are not a substitute for advice from a free debt advice service or qualified broker.