This calculator is designed to help determine whether using your home equity to consolidate your debt is right for you. Enter your credit cards, installment loans and any other debt you wish to consolidate by clicking on the "Enter Data" button for each category. Then change the consolidated loan amount, term or rate to create a loan that will work within your budget. Click the "View Report" button for detailed results.
Definitions
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Home equity loan amount
Original or expected balance for your home equity loan or line of credit.
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Interest rate
Annual interest rate for this home equity loan or line of credit.
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Term
The number of years over which you will repay this loan. The most common mortgage terms are 15 years and 30 years.
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Payment
Monthly principal and interest payment (PI) for this mortgage.
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Credit lines/cards
Enter your total credit card debt and credit line debt and its average interest rate, or press the "Enter Data" button to enter up to 10 credit card or credit line accounts, one on each line.
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Auto loans
Click on the "Enter Data" button to input any auto loans you may have into the details page. This details page is designed to let you input your current monthly payment, the term (in months), the starting balance and the number of months you have left. It then calculates your outstanding balance and interest rate. You can enter up to three installment loans.
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Other loans
Click on the "Enter Data" button to input any additional installment loans you may have into the details page. This details page is designed to let you input your current monthly payment, the term (in months), the starting balance and the number of months you have left. It then calculates your outstanding balance and interest rate. You can enter up to six installment loans.
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Balances
Your total current balances for your credit cards, auto loans and other loans.
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Interest rates
The average annual percentage rate you pay. This interest rate is calculated for each of the categories of debt you have including credit cards, auto loans and other installment loans. For credit cards the rate you enter is used to calculate the interest on all future credit card payments. The length of time to pay off this credit card may be much greater than calculated if you enter a low promotional interest rate that is only good for a short period of time.
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Payment
This is your initial monthly payment. For credit cards, if you checked the "use credit card minimum payments" box, your monthly payment is calculated as 4% of your current outstanding balance. With the "use credit card minimum payments" box checked, your monthly payment will decrease as your balance is paid down. This can greatly increase the length of time it takes to pay off your credit cards. Uncheck this box to enter your own monthly payment that will remain the same until your balance is paid in full.
(We calculate your minimum monthly payment as 4% of your current outstanding balance. While your actual minimum monthly payment may be slightly different, this is one of the most common methods used by credit card companies to calculate minimum payments.)
