At a Glance
- The tool ranks your debts using a scoring model that weights remaining interest most heavily, then APR, then balance – how the scoring model works
- Each debt receives one of four tier labels: strong candidate, worth considering, lower priority, or a special flag for 0% rate debts, nearly-paid-off debts, and secured debts – understanding the tier labels
- Secured debts are automatically excluded from the ranking and flagged separately – consolidating a secured debt requires specific professional advice – secured debts
- Click debts in the ranked list to select them, then set a consolidation APR and term to see the live interest comparison for your chosen combination – using the live comparison
- All figures are illustrative examples only – not a quote, offer, or guarantee – about this tool
Debt Prioritisation Tool
Which debts should I consolidate?
Enter your debts below. The tool ranks them by how much you stand to save through consolidation – then lets you select which ones to include and see the live impact. All figures are illustrative only.
| Debt | Balance (£) | APR (%) | Monthly pmt (£) | Remaining interest | Months left | Secured? |
|---|
Prioritisation ranking
Click a card to select or deselect it for consolidation. Secured debts are excluded from ranking – see note.
Consolidation loan for selected debts
Figures are illustrative only. Remaining interest estimates assume payments continue at the amounts entered using standard amortisation. Secured debts (mortgages, secured loans) are excluded from consolidation recommendations – consolidating a secured debt into an unsecured product, or vice versa, has significant implications and should be discussed with a qualified adviser. Debt consolidation may extend your repayment period and increase total interest paid even when monthly payments fall. This tool does not constitute financial advice.
About this tool
One of the most common mistakes in debt consolidation planning is assuming that all debts should be consolidated together. Some debts are excellent candidates: they carry high rates, large balances, and significant remaining interest costs. Others are poor candidates: they are nearly paid off, carry promotional 0% rates, or have APRs that are already lower than the consolidation rate available to you. Consolidating the wrong debts can increase the total interest cost rather than reduce it.
This tool is designed to help you identify which group each of your debts falls into before you decide what to include. It scores and ranks your debts based on how much each one stands to benefit from consolidation, then lets you select a combination and see the financial impact of that selection against a consolidation loan at your chosen rate and term. Our guide to how to consolidate debt covers the practical steps that follow once you have identified the right combination.
What it does
Scores and ranks each unsecured debt you enter using a weighted model based on remaining interest, APR, and balance. Assigns a tier label to each debt. Lets you select any combination and shows the live interest cost of consolidating just those debts versus continuing on current repayment terms. Secured debts are excluded from ranking and flagged for separate advice.
What it does not do
The tool does not tell you what APR you will be offered or confirm that any lender will accept an application. It does not account for early repayment charges on existing debts or arrangement fees on the consolidation loan. It ranks debts based on financial metrics only – it does not consider cash flow, employment stability, or other personal circumstances that may affect which approach is most appropriate for your situation.
How to use it
Enter your actual balances, APRs, and monthly payments for each debt. Mark any secured debts (mortgages, secured loans) using the toggle in the secured column. The tool will automatically rank the unsecured debts and pre-select the top two. Review the ranking, adjust the selection by clicking cards, then set the consolidation APR and term to see the live comparison for your chosen combination.
When to use it alongside other tools
This tool answers the question of which debts to include. The debt consolidation saving and true cost calculator answers the question of whether consolidation saves money overall at a given APR and term. The most useful workflow is to use this tool to identify the best combination, then take that combination to the true cost calculator to confirm the verdict before applying.
How the scoring model works
The prioritisation score is calculated for each unsecured debt using three factors, each normalised against the highest value in the set so that the scores are relative rather than absolute. The weighting reflects the practical reality of what drives consolidation value: the amount of interest you stand to save is the primary driver, followed by the cost of the debt, followed by its size.
Remaining interest: 50% weight
The total interest you would pay on this debt if you continued making the current monthly payment until it was fully cleared. This is the most important factor because it represents the actual amount at stake. A large high-rate debt with many months remaining has far more interest to save than a similar balance that is nearly paid off. The remaining interest for each debt is calculated from the balance, APR, and current monthly payment using standard amortisation.
APR: 30% weight
The annual percentage rate of the debt relative to the highest APR in your list. Higher-rate debts benefit more from consolidation into a lower-rate product. This factor ensures that a debt with a very high APR scores strongly even if the remaining interest figure is not the largest in absolute terms, because the rate differential is likely to produce a meaningful saving if replaced.
Balance: 20% weight
The current outstanding balance relative to the largest balance in your list. A larger balance generally means more interest to save, though this is already partly captured by the remaining interest factor. Balance is given the lowest weight because a large balance on a low-rate, nearly-cleared debt should not score highly simply because of its size.
Score adjustments
Debts with a 0% promotional APR receive a score of zero regardless of other factors – consolidating a free debt into an interest-bearing product is never financially beneficial. Debts that are nearly paid off (fewer than 6 months remaining or less than £50 in remaining interest) have their score reduced by 70% to reflect that the remaining interest saving is too small to justify inclusion in a consolidation loan. Both categories are flagged with explanatory notes in the ranking.
Understanding the tier labels
Each ranked debt receives a tier label based on its priority score. The labels are guides, not instructions. They summarise the financial case for consolidating each debt at the current consolidation rate, but the right decision for your situation depends on factors the tool cannot see.
Strong candidate (score 65 or above)
The debt has significant remaining interest, a high APR relative to your other debts, or both. Consolidating this debt is likely to produce a meaningful interest saving if a lower-rate product is available to you. These are the debts to prioritise when deciding what to include.
Worth considering (score 35 to 64)
The debt has a moderate case for consolidation. Including it may reduce the combined monthly payment or total interest, but the benefit is less certain than for strong candidates. Whether to include these debts depends on what it does to the comparison in the live section below the ranking.
Lower priority (score below 35)
The debt has a weak case for consolidation based on the scoring model. This may be because the remaining interest is small, the APR is already relatively low, or both. Including lower-priority debts in a consolidation often increases the total balance consolidated without adding proportionate interest saving, which can push the comparison verdict from green towards amber.
Special flags
Three categories receive special flags regardless of score. Debts with a 0% promotional APR are labelled “leave alone” and will not benefit from consolidation while the 0% period is active – flag these for review when the promotional rate expires. Debts with under 6 months remaining or less than £50 in remaining interest are labelled “nearly paid off” – continuing to clear these on current terms is usually better than extending them into a new loan. Secured debts are excluded entirely and discussed below.
Secured debts and why they are excluded
Secured debts, principally mortgages and second charge secured loans, are excluded from the prioritisation ranking because the implications of changing the nature of a secured obligation are significant and require specific professional advice rather than a scoring tool. The tool asks you to mark secured debts so they are flagged and excluded from the ranking rather than being scored alongside unsecured debts.
The key issue is that consolidating a secured debt into an unsecured product, or consolidating unsecured debts into a secured loan, each carry meaningful risks. Converting secured debt to unsecured typically increases the interest rate significantly. Consolidating unsecured debt into a secured loan reduces the rate but puts your home at risk if repayments are not maintained – a risk that did not exist on the original unsecured debt. Our guide to secured loans for debt consolidation covers the specific considerations involved in securing consolidation against property.
Using the live comparison
Once you have reviewed the ranking and adjusted your selection, the live comparison section shows the financial impact of consolidating just the selected debts. The two sliders set the APR and term for the illustrative consolidation loan.
Start with the tool’s pre-selection
The tool pre-selects the top two ranked debts when the page loads. This gives you an immediate starting point: the combination most likely to show a genuine interest saving. Review the verdict strip to see whether that pre-selection is financially beneficial at the default consolidation APR and term, then adjust from there.
Add or remove debts from the selection
Click any ranked card to toggle it in or out of the selection. Watch the verdict strip update as you add debts. Adding a lower-priority debt to the selection often flips the verdict from green to amber because it increases the total balance consolidated without adding proportionate interest saving. This is the core insight the tool is designed to show.
Adjust the consolidation APR
Set the APR slider to the rate you have been quoted or expect to be offered. If you do not have a personal quote yet, use the representative APR from the product you are considering as an indication, but check your actual rate using a soft-search eligibility tool before making any decision. The verdict is highly sensitive to the APR relative to the rates on your existing debts.
Try different terms
Adjust the term slider to see how the consolidation cost changes. A shorter term typically produces a green verdict (saves interest overall) but a higher monthly payment. A longer term typically reduces the monthly payment but produces an amber verdict (costs more interest overall). Finding the shortest term at which the monthly payment is affordable is usually the financially optimal choice.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the tool pre-select my top two debts rather than all of them?
The pre-selection of the top two ranked debts is designed to give you a starting point that most commonly shows a positive or borderline verdict, so you can then test whether adding further debts improves or worsens the outcome. Starting with all debts selected would often show an amber or red verdict for the reasons the tool is designed to illustrate: including lower-priority debts dilutes the benefit of consolidating the high-rate ones.
The pre-selection is simply a prompt, not a recommendation. If only one debt scores as a strong candidate, try selecting just that one. If three debts are strong candidates, try selecting all three. The tool recalculates instantly as you adjust the selection, so it is straightforward to find the combination that produces the best outcome at your target APR and term.
Why does the score change when I add or remove a debt from the table?
Scores are normalised relative to the highest value in the current set. The remaining interest score, APR score, and balance score for each debt are calculated as a proportion of the maximum value for that factor across all debts currently in the table. When you add a debt with a higher APR than any existing entry, all the existing APR scores reduce because the new maximum is higher. When you remove the highest-balance debt, the remaining debts’ balance scores increase because the new maximum is lower.
This relative scoring is intentional. It means the tool always uses the full 0 to 100 range and the tier thresholds remain meaningful regardless of how many debts you enter or what their absolute values are. It also means the tool correctly updates the ranking when you make changes, ensuring the scores always reflect the relative priority given the current set of debts.
Should I always exclude the lower-priority debts from the consolidation?
Not necessarily, but the tool’s verdict should inform the decision. If adding a lower-priority debt to the selection converts a green verdict to amber, it means that debt is adding more cost than benefit to the consolidation. In that case, leaving it out and continuing to repay it on its current terms is likely the better financial outcome.
There are situations where including a lower-priority debt is still the right choice despite the amber verdict. If the cash flow relief of a single consolidated payment is the primary goal, including all debts regardless of score may be worth the higher total cost. If a lower-priority debt has erratic payment history and including it in a structured consolidation loan reduces the risk of missed payments, that can justify the inclusion even if the interest comparison is marginal. The tool quantifies the financial trade-off; the decision about whether that trade-off is worth it depends on your circumstances. Our guide to whether debt consolidation is right for you covers this broader decision.
What does the “payment too low” warning mean?
The payment too low warning appears in the remaining interest and months left columns when the monthly payment entered for a debt does not cover the interest accruing at the stated APR. At that payment level, the balance would grow rather than reduce. This happens with some credit cards where minimum payments are set very low relative to the balance and rate, and with overdrafts where a nominal monthly repayment is specified.
If you see this warning, correct the monthly payment before reading the comparison. To find the minimum viable payment, multiply the balance by the APR divided by 1,200. For example, a £3,000 balance at 24% APR accrues £60 in interest per month, so the monthly payment must exceed £60 for the balance to reduce. Any figure at or below £60 will trigger the warning. Setting the monthly payment to the actual amount you are paying each month will clear the warning and allow the tool to calculate the remaining interest correctly.
How does this tool relate to the debt consolidation saving and true cost calculator?
The two tools address different stages of the decision. This tool is primarily about selection: which debts to include and which to leave alone. It ranks debts by consolidation priority and shows the impact of different combinations. The debt consolidation saving and true cost calculator is about the full cost comparison: it shows the four possible verdict types, includes a month-by-month cumulative interest chart, and provides the breakeven analysis for amber-verdict scenarios.
The recommended workflow is to use this tool first to identify the best selection, then take the selected combination into the true cost calculator to confirm the verdict with the full analysis before making any application decisions. The true cost calculator also models the comparison more precisely because it uses each debt’s individual term rather than treating all current debts as if they run indefinitely.
Squaring Up
Not all debts are worth consolidating, and including the wrong ones is one of the main reasons consolidation produces a higher total cost than expected. The prioritisation ranking is a practical way to separate the debts that stand to benefit from consolidation from those that do not, before making any application.
- High remaining interest is the best indicator of consolidation value. A debt that still has years of interest to accumulate benefits far more from consolidation into a lower rate than a debt that is nearly cleared.
- 0% rate debts and nearly-paid-off debts should almost always be excluded. Including them adds cost without adding proportionate benefit.
- Secured debts are a separate decision entirely. Mark them in the tool to exclude them from the ranking and seek specific advice before taking any action on them.
- The verdict changes as you adjust the selection. Use the tool to find the combination that produces the best outcome at a realistic APR and term, not just any combination that results in a lower monthly payment.
The guides below cover the next steps once you have identified the right combination.
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Checking won’t harm your credit score Check eligibilityAll figures produced by this tool are illustrative examples only and are not a quote, offer, or guarantee of any rate or saving. Prioritisation scores are relative rankings based on the debts entered and should not be treated as financial advice about which debts to consolidate. Secured debts are excluded from scoring and require separate professional advice before any consolidation action is taken. Debt consolidation may extend your repayment period and increase total interest paid even when monthly payments fall. Secured debt consolidation puts your home at risk if repayments are not maintained. This tool does not constitute financial advice.
