A free tool from L&K Technical LLC · Built for Iowa households
Most debt statements show the minimum payment and stop there. Clear the Balance shows you the rest: how long a debt will really take, what it will really cost, who profits if it drags on, and the plan that gets you out fastest and cheapest. It's free, it works on your phone, and your numbers never leave your device.
L&K Technical LLC helps families, churches, nonprofits, and small businesses get their systems working for them. Again and again we meet good, hard-working people paying far more than they need to, because the most important number on a debt, the payment that actually ends it, is the one nobody prints.
Lenders rarely warn you when the math turns against you; a slow payoff is how they earn the most. We think that's backwards. This page tells you plainly, every time, whether a number is helping you or hurting you, and what would change it.
You'll need each debt's balance, interest rate (APR), and minimum payment. All three are on your statement or in your lender's app.
Every result is rated the same way, so you can compare at a glance. Each rating lists its reasons, so you always know why.
This starting point is built on researched 2026 numbers for Iowa: federal taxes, Iowa's 3.8% income tax, and typical living costs for Iowa households from MIT's Living Wage Calculator. It's a baseline guesstimate meant to show the shape of your budget. It is not your actual tax bill or your actual expenses, and it doesn't apply to other states. Replace any number you know, and check big decisions with a qualified professional.
Before planning any debt payoff, it helps to know what you really have to work with. Enter your yearly income and your household. The page estimates your take-home pay after 2026 taxes, fills in typical Iowa living costs for a household like yours, and shows what's left each month for debts and savings.
If the bar below runs past your take-home pay, the gap has to come from somewhere, usually a credit card. That gap is how the minimum-payment loop starts, and this page shows exactly how big it is.
| 2026 estimate | Per year | Per month |
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Enter one debt and the amount you'll pay each month. You'll see when it's paid off, what it costs, how much of each payment the lender keeps as interest, and the exact payment that moves you into yellow or green.
Drag to see where every payment lands, from red to green. It moves in $1 steps; use the arrow keys or the buttons to fine-tune.
| Extra each month | Rating | Paid off in | Total interest | You save |
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The chart appears once the payment is large enough to pay the debt off.
The same math for every $1,000 you owe. Multiply by how many thousands you owe.
List every debt you're paying: cards, car loans, medical bills, personal loans. The page adds them up, rates each debt, and compares three plans.
A debt turns yellow when more than half of its minimum payment is interest, and red when the minimum doesn't even cover the interest, so the balance can never shrink on its own.
Even $25 helps. Enter 0 to see what rolling the minimums forward does on its own. Exact rates with decimals, like 27.99%, work in every row.
Drag to see how much extra each month moves your whole plan from red to green. It moves in $1 steps; use the arrow keys or the buttons to fine-tune.
| Debt | Balance | Rate | Minimums only | Snowball | Avalanche |
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A balance transfer card lets you move high-interest debt to a new card that charges 0% for a set time, usually 12 to 21 months, for a one-time fee of about 3 to 5%. It can save a lot, but only if the balance is gone before the 0% period ends. The card's minimum payment is set low on purpose and will not get you there.
Approval usually requires good credit. Apply for one card at a time; several applications at once can lower your score.
Drag to see which payments clear the balance safely in time. It moves in $1 steps; use the arrow keys or the buttons to fine-tune.
Three short tests to run before you borrow, save, or invest. They answer the questions a lender won't ask on your behalf: how fast money grows against you, whether a deal really earns more than it costs, and whether the income can carry the loan.
L&K TECHNICAL LLC