What is the debt snowball method?

Method:

  • List out all your debts by balance from smallest to largest, regardless of interest rate

  • Work out your budget to make minimum payments on all of them

  • With your remaining budget pay off the debt with the smallest balance first

  • Once the smallest is paid off, then take the next smallest and so on

For example: you have a 10k credit card with 18% interest, 1k overdraft with 15% interest and 5k car loan with 3% interest. You would make minimum payments on all three and then pay off the overdraft first, then the car loan and then the credit card.

 

Pros: Motivating strategy to pay off debts as you reach a specific goal quicker, which provides gratification. It’s easy to implement and easier to stick to than the debt avalanche method.

 

Cons: Costs more money than debt avalanche method, and therefore could take longer to be debt free. Assumes you can pay more than the minimum balance across all debts.

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