online debt calculators?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-21-2004
online debt calculators?
8
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 10:05am
Hi everyone! I have noticed that some of you say things like "I will have this paid off in three years according to my debt repayment plan..." how did you figure that out? I am trying to find an online debt calculator or something that will help me figure out how much we have to pay in order to be debt free in a certain amount of time. I have about 5-6 cards all at different interest rates.. how do i do this? any help would be greatly appreciated!!

kel

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-18-2004
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 10:25am
I don't know about online debt reduction planners--someone who has been posting here longer (much longer--I just found this board a few months ago) can help you with those.

However, I have a debt function in my Quicken software. It does all my calculations for me, tells which debt to target based on the interest rate and even tells me how much I will owe on each debt the next month basing it on the fact I don't charge more and I pay the minimum I should pay. The really good thing about it is it is fairly close. I don't think it has ever been more than a dollar off.

Microsoft Money has the same function I think. The debt reduction things are great because they do let you see how quickly you can get out of debt if you just keep on target.

Kellie

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2004
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 11:46am

Hi,


I didn't really use an online calculator per se. The first time I even considered paying off all my debt, I stumbled across the calculator on CNN Money. That particular one lines gives precedence to high interest rates, however, I know there are other that give precedence to amount you owe. Let me explain...


Basically you take all your CCs. You line them up either based on interest rate (high to low) or amount owed (low to high) and you start paying them off. You have to figure out how much per month you are comfortable paying (assuming this is higher than all your mins combined). Then you pay the mins on all but the top card (either the highest interest rate or the lowest balance). Once that card is paid off, you take that amount that you have been sending to bank #1, add it to the min you have been sending to bank #2 and keep plugging away till you're done.


You can find these calculators on cnn.com, motleyfool.com, bankrate.com, ihatefinancialplanning.com... just to name a few sites.


I keep track of my payoff schedule using excel. I could use Quicken as well, but I like having the table in front of me IYKWIM.


HTH!


Tiffany

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SwAAABMWJUsHt2!NZF1MNLvf7qJ*oIaRadPaQTKfkOWhIyIbIokpBpj2r8bKf9*7s6eb8K1ThU7RuwM6xxKAlUY5VkaQun4pCCLt5KpQHsFBk2POT5VpFQ/Halloween%20Sig.gif?dc=4675491398069629379

cl-tiffany10605
Got debt questions? We got answers.
Debt Q&A
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-28-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 12:28pm
quicken.com has one that used to be free - I haven't used it in a while so I'm not sure if it is anymore.

Also, if you google "snowball debt repayment" or something along those lines, you should come up with the excel snowball spreadsheet. This spreadsheet is good because it allows you to put in the interest rates and everything and it's easier to play with the numbers than the one on quicken.

I think bankrate.com has a debt repayment calc., too.

Good luck!

med12

Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 12:57pm
Mary Hunt has one on her website (cheapskatemonthly.com). However, it cost at least $18 to subscribe.

mym

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 1:54pm
Go to www.dinkytown.net. They have a ton of free calculators. Look for the section called Credit/Debt, I think.
Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 1:57pm

Here is a link to the Quicken Debt Reduction Planner: http://www.quicken.com/planning/debt/


It's a free calculator, and it's great!

All my best,
Danni
cl-phocid, Debt Support Group


Is it snowing in your wallet?

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2004
Sat, 10-02-2004 - 3:00pm
Bankrate.com has lots of different calculators.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Mon, 10-04-2004 - 10:45am
You can create a debt amortization schedule in Excel. All you do is have a column for month, new purchases, interest, payments and total. Start on the first row with your current balance in the "total" column. Then on each subsequent row put enter a "month" all the way down the page, starting with this month. If you make any purchases, enter that in the purchase column. The payment column is how much you have paid this month, or how much you expect to pay in the future (so if you are paying $200 per month, enter $200 in each row all the way down). The interest column is all formulas. Somewhere at the top of the schedule, enter your interest rate. Then in the cell take the previous previous months balance times the interest rate divided by 12. Then in every cell under the initial starting total, enter the formula of (previous total + purchases + interest - payments). Copy this formula all the way down.

So if you start with $3,000 owed, an interest rate of 14%, your making no new purchase and paying $200 per month, it will look something like this:

Month____Purchases___Interest____Payments_____Total

Today_________________________________________$3,000.00

October_____$0________$35.00*_______$200______$2,835.00

November____$0________$33.08________$200______$2,668.08

December____$0________$31.13________$200______$2,499.21

January_____$0________$28.16________$200______$2,328.37

... and so on.

* Interest was computed by taking 14% divided by twelve and times previous balance. Or =(3,000*(.14/12)). If you enter the 14% somewhere on the spreadsheet, you can reference it on your formula. Sometimes the interest is based on the average balance, but I just make the amortization table use previous balance and then when I get my statement I enter the actual interest amount in that months cell (and actual payment if it was different than my estimate) and make sure the new total for that month equals my statement. That way amounts in the past always match the statement, and amounts in the future are estimates. But you could also make the formula more complex to more closely approximate average balance if you like.

Once you set this up for each credit card, you can change payment amounts and see what it does to the date each card gets fully paid off. As a general rule you want to pay off credit cards with the highest interest first, but this also lets you see when it will be paid off, and run scenarios of what will happen if you can't pay as much as you thought, or if start to pay more. You can use this for car loans too.

Edited 10/4/2004 10:49 am ET ET by firstamendment


Edited 10/4/2004 10:50 am ET ET by firstamendment

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