US Finance Tool
Student Loan Payoff Calculator
Most people carry several loans at several rates, and the servicer shows one combined payment that hides which is actually hurting. Put each loan in separately, see what an extra payment is worth, and test a refinance offer against the number that matters — total interest, not the monthly payment a longer term can always shrink.
- 🎓 Federal and private tracked apart
- 📉 Highest rate attacked first
- ⚖️ Honest refinance verdict
- 🔒 Nothing leaves your browser
Your loans
One row per loan. Rates and terms come from your servicer's statement.
Start from a common case
Paying extra
A refinance offer
Enter what a private lender has quoted you.
Where you stand
- Total balance
- —
- Blended rate
- —
- Required payment
- —across all loans
- Interest accruing
- —this month
- Total interest
- —
- Total repaid
- —
Three routes compared
| Plan | Time | Interest | Total paid |
|---|
Balance remaining under each plan
Where a line reaches zero is when that plan clears the debt. Totals are in the table above.
Payoff order
Pay what is required on everything; put every spare dollar on the loan at the top.
| Loan | Rate | Balance | Interest paid | Cleared |
|---|
Not financial advice, and not a model of income-driven repayment. This calculator covers standard repayment, extra payments and a private refinance — the parts that are arithmetic. It deliberately does not model income-driven plans, forgiveness programs or interest subsidies, because those depend on rules that change and are subject to ongoing policy and litigation. For those, use the official Federal Student Aid loan simulator. Nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice.
The refinance question is really two questions
Refinance offers are sold on the rate, and the rate is genuinely the easy half. The two things you are actually deciding pull in different directions and should be weighed separately.
The money. A lower rate does not guarantee a lower cost. Total interest is driven by the rate and the term, and a refinance that stretches eight remaining years out to fifteen can cost thousands more while advertising a smaller monthly payment. The comparison above reports total interest for exactly this reason, and flags the case where the rate falls and the cost rises.
The protections. Refinancing federal loans with a private lender is a one-way door. You give up income-driven repayment, which caps payments as a share of discretionary income; any forgiveness path including Public Service Loan Forgiveness; federal deferment and forbearance if you lose your job; and discharge on death or permanent disability. Private lenders offer none of these as a matter of right.
These are not commensurable, which is why this page will not collapse them into a single recommendation. If your income is stable, your field is secure, you have a cash reserve and no realistic path to forgiveness, the trade can be a good one. If any of those is shaky, a point off the rate is thin compensation for losing the floor beneath you. Refinancing private loans, by contrast, forfeits nothing federal — that is a straightforward comparison of cost.
Pay the highest rate first — and check it landed
When you hold several loans, the ordering that minimises cost is not a matter of opinion. Interest accrues fastest on the highest rate, so every spare dollar belongs there until that loan is gone. This calculator assumes that ordering throughout.
The practical trap is not the strategy but the servicer. An overpayment does not automatically reduce your principal. Some servicers apply it to future instalments, advancing your due date while the balance sits there accruing exactly as before — you paid more and saved nothing. Others spread it evenly across every loan in the account, including the low-rate ones you deliberately were not targeting.
Most servicers accept a standing written instruction to apply any overpayment to principal on a specific loan. Send it, and then check the next statement to confirm the balance moved and the due date did not. It is a five-minute job that decides whether the plan above is real or theoretical.
Paying loans down versus investing
Clearing a loan is a guaranteed return equal to its interest rate, with no volatility and no sequence risk. That framing settles most of the argument on its own.
A private loan at 9.75% is a guaranteed 9.75% return. Very little beats that reliably, and nothing beats it safely. A subsidised federal loan at 4.99% is a much closer call: the expected return on a diversified portfolio is higher over long horizons, and the federal protections attached to that debt have real option value you forfeit by prepaying.
Two things come before either. An employer retirement match is an immediate 50 to 100 percent return and should be captured first, whatever your loan rates. And a cash reserve has to exist, because the alternative to a reserve is a credit card at 22% the first time something breaks — which undoes years of careful loan prepayment in a single month.
Frequently asked questions
Should I refinance my student loans?
Two separate questions. First, the money: does the new rate and term actually reduce total interest? Read the total interest column, not the payment. Second, the protections: refinancing federal loans privately is permanent and gives up income-driven repayment, forgiveness including PSLF, federal deferment and forbearance, and death and disability discharge. If income is stable and there is no forgiveness path, the trade can be sound. If any of that is uncertain, a lower rate is poor compensation.
Can a refinance have a lower rate and still cost more?
Yes, and it is the most common way offers mislead. Total cost depends on rate and term together. Taking eight remaining years back out to fifteen at a lower rate lowers the monthly payment and can easily raise total interest by thousands. This calculator flags that case explicitly.
Which loan should I pay extra on first?
The highest rate, always — which is what this calculator assumes. Interest accrues fastest there, so clearing it first removes the most future interest. No other ordering beats it on cost. The only reason to deviate is motivational, the same trade-off as snowball versus avalanche on credit cards.
Does this model income-driven repayment or forgiveness?
No, deliberately. Those depend on statute and regulation that have changed repeatedly and remain subject to litigation and policy change. A calculator that hardcodes today's rules is wrong within a year, in a way you cannot see. This tool models the parts that are arithmetic. For IDR and forgiveness, use the official Federal Student Aid loan simulator.
What is the rollover and why does it matter?
When one loan is paid off, its payment joins the money attacking the next. Each payoff makes the next faster. This calculator models it, which is why the results are much better than dividing your balance by your payment would suggest.
Should I pay off student loans or invest instead?
Paying off a loan is a guaranteed return equal to its rate. A 9.75% private loan is a guaranteed 9.75% return, hard to beat reliably. A 4.99% federal loan is a much closer call, and its protections have value. Capture any employer retirement match first — that is an immediate 50–100% return — and build a cash reserve before rushing low-rate federal debt.
Do extra payments go to principal automatically?
Not always. Some servicers apply overpayments to future instalments, advancing your due date rather than cutting principal, which saves nothing. Others spread it across every loan instead of the one you intended. Most accept written instructions to apply extra to principal on a specific loan — send them, and check the next statement.
Is my information sent anywhere?
No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Your loan names, balances and rates are saved only in your own browser's local storage so the page remembers them next visit, and clearing your site data removes them. Nothing about your finances is transmitted to ToolAdda.