A debt payoff planner may very well be your best friend in helping you shed off those piles of debt.
If you’re not sure which one to pay off first, there are plenty of apps and tools available to keep your spending habits on track. Utilizing these will slowly help you inch closer towards financial freedom.
Below, we’ve developed a full review of 14 helpful apps and tools to get you out of debt as soon as possible.
Pay Off Debt App by Jackie Beck has been around since 2009 and has been downloaded by over 51,000 app users, although it only has 11 reviews in the iPhone App store.
While you’ll pay $4.99 as a one-time download fee, as far as debt payoff planners go, it has everything you need to stay motivated, organized, and confident about paying down your debt.
It allows you to stay on track with your expenses by inputting each debt and connecting accounts from loans, credit cards, mortgages, and even not-so-official debts like IOU’s to friends or family.
Pay Off Debt shows you amortization tables and a summary of your debt as a whole, and lets you make your own notes.
It takes it all into account: interest rates, starting & current balances, your planned monthly payment, payment recorded dates, estimated time left, and even taxes & insurance (escrow) when adding a Mortgage/HELOC type debt.
Through all of that, it provides you with a customizable debt repayment plan that you choose based on your needs.
Check out this insider peak of the app. The user easily swipes between their organized debt list, to a detailed debt summary, and even turns on the “Snowball” effect which allows users to organize and pay down debts faster while saving them the most money on interest… pretty cool, huh?
Download: iPhone
The concept of ChangeEd is pretty simple. It takes your leftover change from your bank account spendings and applies it to your student loans.
However, that’s the one kicker… it doesn’t work with other debt types- only student loans. But since 60% of millennials or their parents carry student loans, this should still be pretty useful if you’re in the market for a helpful debt payoff planner.
The best part of the ChangEd App is that it doesn’t require large payments, so there is no need to budget.
It first analyzes your natural spending habits straight from your bank accounts and gathers up “leftover” cents to make a full dollar amount. Then your leftover change gets transferred straight into its own FDIC-insured bank account. Lastly, once the new account hits $100, ChangEd makes an automatic extra payment towards your loan.
For example, let’s say you head to Starbucks and you buy a small coffee for $2.44. ChangEd would take an extra $0.55 to round up to $3 and transfer it into the FDIC-insured account. When the account has built up at least $100 in “leftover” change, bada-bing bada-boom, you just made an extra payment without even trying.
It’s pretty much the definition of a painless payment and you can download the app for just $1/month.
Download: Apple
Something worth mentioning right about now is an app called Digit. It’s ranked at #29 in the Finance category of the Apple Store and is sitting at a solid 4.8-star review with over 44.7k reviewers.
Digit works similar to ChangEd in the sense that it analyzes your spending habits, takes little cents here and there, and distributes them into an FDIC insured and 128-bit encryption secured bank account. Basically, “128-bit encryption secured” means that it’s pretty freakin’ safe (this is the same encryption level the U.S. military uses).
From there, you are free to distribute the funds into wherever you’d like, as often as you would like. So, if paying down debt is your main concern, it’s a painless way to start saving money to meet your debt goals.
(Want even more tools to help you understand, manage, and track your get out of debt progress? Pair your debt payoff planner with the Ultimate Get Out of Debt Checklist and be on your way out of debt in no time. Download the free Get Out of Debt Checklist to help kickstart your debt free journey, here.)
The beauty of Digit is that you don’t even have to think about it and you legitimately forget that you’re even saving money in the first place.
The amount transferred into your new Digit account each day will fluctuate depending on how much you spent that day which may throw some users off due to the uncertainty… but in the end, it analyzes your spending so it is never likely to take more than you can afford.
If that doesn’t calm your nerves, Digit makes it simple to transfer funds back into your bank account and also comes provided with overdraft protection and “low balance” alerts so you always know where you financially stand.
This may be a little suave for some users, but for the savvy at heart, it’s a painless way to save up for an unlimited amount of goals and pay down debt.
Digit can be purchased for $2.99/month coming out to $35.88 /year. The oxymoron of spending money to save money may thwart some users but for those who are serious about saving in little ways to make a big difference, it may be worth it.
For being a free app available in the Apple store, the Debt Payoff Assistant takes the “Best Free App Award” in my opinion.
It focuses on paying down debt the Dave Ramsey way with the all famous Debt Snowball strategy.
When using this type of strategy, you list out all of your debts by order of interest rate and pay down the lowest interest rate debt first, while paying the minimum payment on all other debts.
Once the lowest interest rate debt is paid off, you take what you were paying on the first debt and start piling it onto the second lowest interest rate debt payment.
And just like a snowball effect, once the second debt is paid off, you take what you were paying on the second debt, and start paying it to the third lowest rate.
It’s a killer strategy that gives you a sense of accomplishment and motivation that is often so difficult to find when paying down debt and makes paying down debt almost like a game.
While this app focuses on the Snowball Method, you are free to customize your own by multiple payoff strategies like:
For being a free app, it comes with a number of debt calculators like Payoff Date Calculator, Mortgage Calculator, and Loan Calculator as well as amortization tables to show you how interest, principals and remaining balances are affected by your payments.
And finally, my favorite part is the charts, reports and percentage progress bar. These easily allow you to visually interpret how each payment is making a difference.
While it may seem small and ineffective at first, as you stick with the Debt Snowball method, it becomes very apparent how all your hard work has paid off. It’s very rewarding and motivating to see this represented visually in the graphs and especially the progress bar.
Download: Apple
The Debt Manager app costs $0.99 and offers its users with a clean interface.
Like many of the other apps, its main focus is to get you out of debt the fastest and easiest way possible while emphasizing the Debt Snowball Method.
It also allows you to use interactive graphs and progress summaries for easy visualization of your debt breakdown like comparing debts side by side and seeing your total costs per month.
The biggest defining quality that The Debt Manager offers users is the “What If” feature. The “What If” feature is essentially a customizable calculator that allows you to play around with different interest rates, payment amounts and pay off dates which enables you to see total interest saved and how long it will take you to get out of debt.
This can be a useful tool for those who are able to pay extra variable payments whenever the opportunity arises.
Additionally, The Debt Manager offers users debt payoff hints and tricks from debt experts along their payoff journey. When it comes to smart debt payoff, expert advice is essential, so I found this to be not only motivating but also extremely helpful in building my self-confidence for paying off debt the right way.
Download: iPhone
Debt Control is a useful app when it comes to splitting debts with other people like roommates, friends, and even spouses.
Let’s say you and you’re 3 friends are planning a trip to Rome. Clearly, there will costs that the group will want to split such as room and board, dinners out, plane tickets, and excursions booked.
Debt Control makes it simple to cut costs across multiple parties and keep track of IOU’s to friends and family.
Debt Control has 3 main ways to view your debts:
As a free app, it takes the stress and confusion out of repaying debts to others and keeping track of debts owed to you.
With the Group Share feature, you are able to share your bills with other people who also have the app, which allows everyone in the group to easily keep track of everyone’s portion of the bill. Splitting bills made simple!
While I personally find the app more useful as a way to easily split group debts, Debt Control doesn’t stop at just bill splitting. One can appreciate the fact that you can also add in individual debts, like loans or credit card bills. This way you are able to efficiently keep track of all expenses across the board.
Download: Android
If building credit is your main objective for getting out of debt, CreditWise from Capital One is one app that you will want to at least add to your arsenal of Get Out of Debt planners.
While its main function is to provide you with a breakdown of your TransUnion credit score, accounts, and inquires, it also provides you with hints, tips, and action plans for building credit and dealing with debt.
If you need to understand how your debt affects your score and what is keeping your score lower than you may want, CreditWise can provide you with exactly what may be holding you back and ways to improve.
For example, want to know how much your score could change if you pay off half your credit card debt or all your debt?
CreditWise has what they call a Credit Simulator which will fluctuate your TransUnion score based on the debt pay off decisions you make. So if your goal was to pay your debt off in order to build credit for a new car or a new home, CreditWise is just as handy as any other debt payoff planner!
One of the best parts? It’s totally free and you don’t need to be a Capital One client to download it… the app is available to anyone and everyone.
EveryDollar is another app that doesn’t only help users with debt management and control, but a ton of other useful money management tricks.
All-in-all, EveryDollar is a budgeting app to its core, so it will also help you manage your hard earned money and all other sorts of incomes and expenses. Like CreditWise, it’s another app that you will want to add to your arsenal in order to get out of debt the quick, easy, and painless way.
Created by the Dave Ramsey brand, its purpose is to serve you with a personal budgeting partner while providing you a simple way to manage your money with a zero-based budgeting approach.
With zero-based budgeting, you want to make sure that every dollar of income you have is accounted for and serves a specific purpose. Whether that dollar be used for paying rent or mortgage, making a student loan payment, paying down a credit card bill, investing it, spending it at the grocery store, or going out to dinner with a friend, you need to know how every dollar (given the name of the app) is being utilized.
This is why EveryDollar makes it simple to create a fully customizable budget in less than 10 minutes and then allows you to sync and split spending habits while tracking every dollar down to the cent.
This makes it super simple to see where extra money may be laying around to pay down debt.
EveryDollar is free for all Android and iPhone users, but are given a free 15-day free trial to the upgraded version, EveryDollar Plus. After the trial is over with, users will then need to pay $99 per year to have access to these exclusive features of the app:
(Want even more tools to help you understand, manage, and track your get out of debt progress? Pair your debt payoff planner with the Ultimate Get Out of Debt Checklist and be on your way out of debt in no time. Download the free Get Out of Debt Checklist to help kickstart your debt free journey, here.)
Debt Payoff Planner + Calculator is great for focusing on the two major and most popular strategies for tackling down your debt: The Debt Snowball, which focuses on taking down debt by the smallest balances first, and Debt Avalanche which focuses on taking down the highest interest rates first.
The app also gives you the option to create your own custom plans if you’d rather come up with your own payoff strategy or have specific debt types that you’d like to pay down first.
Getting started is extremely easy in that there is no login required and it’s totally free to start using. All you need to do is download it in the app store of your iPhone or Android and get down to business by completing these 4 steps:
Steps You Need to Take:
While the free version is great for most purposes like tracking payment dates, accessing graphical views of your payoff timeline, and using the Debt Calculator to determine the optimum payment plan and see how long it will take you to pay a debt off, there is also a Pro Version you can upgrade to if you wish.
Debt Calculator is a free and simple tool to help give you a clear, bird’s eye view of when you can expect to get out of debt.
It is a free calculator offered by CNN which allows you to punch in your debt types, principal amount, interest rate, and monthly payment. Simply hit submit, and out comes an expected get out of debt date along with the projected interest you will pay.
But unfortunately, it’s simply a calculator and nothing else. It won’t organize your debts, or give you helpful tips for getting out of debt, but it’s a good tool to use for a foundational understanding of where you lie with your debt.
It’s very easy to switch around payment amounts as you pick repayment strategies and see where you will stand with each one.
Unbury.me is also a Debt Calculator that will help you visualize all of your debts across one platform as you list them out. Similar to the CNN calculator above, all you need to do is enter in each debt amount, the interest rate, and monthly payment and it will give you a projected pay off date along with estimated interest paid.
One of its best features is the different strategies it can come up with for repaying your debt. As you choose a repayment plan and slide the payment slider to greater or lesser amounts, you can see the graphs will reflect your choices.
This makes it extremely easy for users to see if using the Debt Avalanche Method (highest interest rate first) or the Debt Snowball Method (lowest principal first) will benefit them more. For a free online tool, I’d say it definitely falls into the “This is pretty useful” category!
Users don’t need a login to use it, however, I highly recommend creating an account. Especially if you have multiple debt types with varying interest rates, creating an account will allow you to come back and see your payment progress without having to re-enter all your loan information.
Save yourself some time and money, and use this free tool!
I’d go as far to (un)officially announce that Undebt.it may be the best free tool out there for those looking to get out of debt and manage their accounts and expenses in one centralized platform.
At a glance, Undebt.it is a debt calculator that creates easy and customizable repayment plans to use to pay down your debt in an organized manner. But once you get into it, Undebt.it presents users with tons of other useful features like Credit Utilization charts, Payment and Transaction History, progress bars and in-depth pay off projections and so much more…
For the kick-it-in-to-high-gear users who really want to take down their debt in an organized and easy manner, they can upgrade their free account to Undebt.it Plus for $12/year.
Upgrading will unlock another 17 features that the app has rolled out for users like amortization charts so you can see how you are being affected by interest rates, account autopay’s which allows you to make payments without even thinking about it, text message reminders, a support team, and even Debt Snapshots which help keep you motivated and on pace to pay down your debt.
If you’re unsure about creating an account, Undebt.it has created a demo account for anyone who is interested to use so they can test drive the tool without the commitment or without even handing over your email address.
Additionally, all users will be given a free 30-day trial to try out the Undebt.it Plus version without the hassle or commitment of entering in your credit card information making it essentially risk-free.
If there is one software that wants to see you get out of debt without charging you an arm and a leg to get you there, it is Undebt.it.
This tool comes for free when you have a Mint.com account. It also has features such as setting up of financial goals which you can integrate easily with your finances every month.
You can also review a repayment plan after filling in all your loan or credit card account linked to a certain financial goal.
This is also another debt payoff planner tool offered for free. Made by financial guru Suze Orman, this tool will not save any details you entered into the calculator.
However, it also offers its users a customized full debt payoff plan.
Having these debt payoff planner tools and apps can help increase your motivation in paying your debts fast. You’re also sure to come up with strategies suitable for your needs with the help of these apps and tools.
You may also use the mobile apps offered by your lenders or a debt servicer to help you monitor your payments. Each of them may have varying setups and functions.
However, having more options will also make it easier for you to select one that fits your preferences.
(Want even more tools to help you understand, manage, and track your get out of debt progress? Pair your debt payoff planner with the Ultimate Get Out of Debt Checklist and be on your way out of debt in no time. Download the free Get Out of Debt Checklist to help kickstart your debt free journey, here.)
YNAB (youneedabugdet.com) allows users the ability to synch all their bank accounts in one place and track purchases. At first glance it appears to be very similar to Mint.com
YNAB has a very specific strategy designed around 3 rules they believe are very important.
Rule #1 – Give every dollar a job –
Every dollar should be allocated to a certain purpose
Rule #2 – Embrace your true expenses –
Reduce stress by allocating the proper amount of money to all your expenses.
Rule #3 – Remain Flexible –
Anticipate and adjust for unforeseen expenses or overspending in some months and save appropriately to stay within your long term goals.
When comparing YNAB vs Mint, Mint appears as more of a report card than a useable tool. Mint is significantly more popular, but YNAB’s budgeting component truly helps you understand and make better budgeting decisions.
These 15 debt payoff planner tools can help you payoff debt, stay within budget, and focus on your long term goals.
Used any of these?
Tell us what you think in the comments below
Which among the debt payoff planner apps and tools do you prefer? Please share your choices in the comments section below.
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