Debts

Debts is the section that does the most work. Everything else in the Builder describes your situation; this section is what the algorithm actually optimizes.

What each debt takes

›Name — e.g. "Chase Sapphire", "Sallie Mae", "Car Loan"
›Balance — what you currently owe
›Interest Rate — the annual rate on the balance
›Payment — your required minimum payment
›Starting date — when the debt begins in your plan

What counts as a debt

Any balance you're paying down over time:

›Credit cards
›Student loans, federal or private
›Auto loans
›Personal loans
›Medical debt
›Buy-now-pay-later balances
›Anything else with a balance and a rate

If it has a balance that shrinks when you pay it, it belongs here — not in Expenses.

Your mortgage is the exception. Enter it under Housing. If you want to model paying it down early, use the Early Mortgage Payoff calculator.

How the algorithm uses them

Given your surplus, the app decides how to distribute it across your debts over time. It's not a fixed rule applied blindly — it models the sequencing, including what happens when a debt clears and its payment becomes available to roll into the next one.

That rolling effect is why the order matters and why a missing debt distorts the result. The engine is choosing an order; leave one out and it's choosing from an incomplete set.

The output is a set of plans at different intensities, each showing when your balances reach zero and how much time that saves against the baseline. See Understanding Your Results.

Accuracy, in order of importance

Interest rate first. This is the input people get wrong most and the one that matters most. A card you think is at 18% but is actually at 26% may deserve to be first in the queue rather than third. Check a statement rather than going from memory.

Balance second. Recent is good enough; it doesn't need to be to the cent.

Minimum payment third. It sets the floor the plan works above.

Include everything, especially the small ones

A $400 balance feels too small to bother entering. Enter it anyway. Small balances clear fast, and when they do their payment rolls into the next debt — so a small debt near the front of the queue accelerates everything behind it. Omitting it doesn't just lose $400 from the total, it changes the sequence.

If you want to compare strategies yourself

The Builder decides the approach for you. If you want to see the classic strategies side by side — highest-rate-first against smallest-balance-first — the Debt Payoff Calculator has an avalanche/snowball toggle and lets you test an extra monthly payment.

You can send debts from that calculator straight into the Builder with Add To Budget.

Considering combining debts into one loan? Debt Consolidation will tell you whether it actually helps before you commit.

Continue to Understanding Your Results.