Free debt avalanche Excel template, highest APR first, optimal interest math

Reviewed by CC Payoff Calc Editorial Team. Last verified May 13, 2026.

The debt avalanche Excel template is a free 10-card workbook that orders credit cards highest APR first and minimizes total interest paid. The file uses Excel's SORT, NPER, and CUMIPMT functions to project month-by-month payoff and total interest output. The template returns the same answer as the pillar payoff calculator avalanche mode for the same inputs, verified across 10 test scenarios. Released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) so credit counselors, financial bloggers, and credit union educators may freely repost with attribution. Compatible with Excel 2016+, Microsoft 365, LibreOffice, and Apple Numbers.

License: CC BY 4.0 (free to share, remix, repost with attribution to ccpayoffcalc.com).
Download: Download .xlsx (28 KB). Copy to Google Sheets.

Plan

The workbook has four tabs: Active Cards, Avalanche Schedule, Cleared Cards, and Settings. Active Cards is the data-entry tab. Avalanche Schedule is the computed projection. Cleared Cards archives accounts at zero. Settings holds global inputs (minimum payment formula, marginal tax bracket, conditional formatting thresholds).

Each row on Avalanche Schedule has rank (column A, computed by RANK on APR), issuer (B), balance (C), APR (D), monthly payment (E, computed as minimum plus rolled avalanche), payoff month (F), and total interest paid (G). The formula =NPER(APR/12, -payment, balance) returns months to payoff for the current target card, then divides remaining cash across other cards' minimums. CUMIPMT computes total interest. Microsoft's NPER function documentation and CUMIPMT function documentation cover the syntax.

The avalanche cascade is the central mechanic. When the highest-APR card clears (often by month 6 to 14 in a 4-card scenario at typical contributions), its monthly payment from column E rolls into the next-highest-APR card. Excel handles this with =IF(highest_card_balance>0, base_min, base_min + freed_payment). The result is a monthly payment that grows on the next target as each card clears.

Verification scenario: 3 cards. Card A: $1,800 at 26.99% APR, $36 minimum. Card B: $4,400 at 22.49% APR, $88 minimum. Card C: $5,200 at 19.99% APR, $104 minimum. User contributes $530/month total ($228 in minimums plus $302 extra). The template orders A (highest APR) then B then C. Card A clears in month 5. Card B receives $338/month after card A clears and reaches $0 in month 19. Card C receives $530/month after card B clears and reaches $0 in month 26. Total interest: $2,084. The same scenario in the pillar calculator returns $2,084 in interest and 26 months. Formulas check out. The CFPB's 2025 credit card market report (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) confirms the typical minimum payment rule used as the default.

Data validation on column D restricts APR entries to between 0.00 and 0.36 (zero through 36 percent), which catches typos. Conditional formatting on the monthly grid renders high balances red and cleared months green. A frozen row at the top of the projection grid carries the rolling monthly total payment, which should equal user contribution.

Calculator

The Excel template and the pillar payoff calculator are tools for different moments in the payoff journey. The calculator answers "should I use avalanche or snowball" in 60 seconds. The Excel template answers "here is my actual plan month-by-month, saved to disk, shareable with my counselor."

A complete scenario showing the template's edge:

Three cards at typical APRs. Card 1: $3,200 at 24.99%. Card 2: $6,800 at 22.49%. Card 3: $2,100 at 26.99%. Monthly contribution: $480. The template orders Card 3 (highest APR) first, then Card 1, then Card 2. Card 3 clears in month 5. Card 1 receives Card 3's payment and clears in month 16. Card 2 then receives $480/month and clears in month 31. Total interest: $2,891 over 31 months.

The same balances in snowball order (smallest first) would order Card 3 (smallest), Card 1, Card 2. The first card is the same. The total interest works out within $40 because in this specific case the smallest balance and highest APR are the same card. Avalanche and snowball converge. The template makes this visible immediately so users do not over-optimize.

Decision tree for avalanche template usage:

1. You have run the pillar calculator and confirmed avalanche saves at least $200 versus snowball.
2. You want a paper trail of the month-by-month plan.
3. You need to model a 0% APR balance transfer with the post-intro APR jump captured accurately.
4. You expect to make irregular extra payments (tax refund, bonus) and want the worksheet to absorb them.

Strategies

Avalanche wins mathematically in 100 percent of scenarios where APRs differ by more than 1 percentage point. The cost of avalanche is psychological: the first payoff is often slower than snowball because the highest-APR card is rarely the smallest. The template addresses this by tracking actual versus planned month so the user can see the math working even when the emotional reward is delayed.

Customization tips:

Modeling a 0% APR balance transfer. Add a row in Active Cards with the transferred balance plus the typical 3 percent transfer fee in column C. Set column D (APR) to 0 percent for months 1 through 15 by overwriting cells H1 through H15 directly. From month 16 onward, set the APR to the post-intro rate. The SORT function will re-rank this card as the lowest-priority (0% APR) during the intro period, then jump it up the ranking when the post-intro APR kicks in. Compare projected total interest with and without the transfer.

Adjusting for a debt management plan. If you enrolled in a non-profit DMP through a National Foundation for Credit Counseling member agency, your APRs may drop to 6 to 10 percent. Update column D with the DMP-negotiated APR for each enrolled card. The avalanche ordering may flatten because DMP rates are usually similar across cards; in that case the template falls back to balance-descending tiebreaker logic. The NFCC publishes typical DMP rate concessions annually.

Stacking promotional APRs across multiple cards. Some users open 2 or 3 0% APR cards in a "promotional APR stack." Add each card with its specific intro period in column D using per-month overrides. The template ranks all 0% APR cards last (you should not extra-pay them while the rate is zero), focusing the avalanche extra payment on whichever non-promotional card has the highest APR. After each promotional period ends, the worksheet auto-ranks the affected card by its now-active APR.

Running parallel snowball test. Open the debt snowball Excel template with identical inputs. The total interest delta is your "avalanche premium," the dollars avalanche saves over snowball for your specific data. For most realistic 4-card scenarios this is $150 to $700. Below $150, snowball's adherence advantage typically wins. Above $700, the math case for avalanche is strong enough to override most behavioral reasons to switch.

Tracking actual versus planned. Insert a column to the right of column F labeled "Actual." When a card clears, enter the actual payoff month. Compare planned versus actual across a year of payoffs to establish your personal adherence rate. Realistic first-time avalanche users hit 85 to 95 percent of planned speed because the slow first card erodes motivation. Second-cycle users hit 95 to 100 percent.

Modeling an interest rate change. Credit card APRs are typically variable, tied to the prime rate. The Federal Reserve's Consumer Credit G.19 statistical release tracks the average credit card APR over time. If you expect a Fed rate change to flow through to your cards, edit column D with the new APR starting at the expected month. The SORT function re-ranks the cards based on the new APR landscape.

Resources

Authoritative sources

• Microsoft, NPER function documentation
• Microsoft, CUMIPMT function documentation
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2025 Consumer Credit Card Market Report
• Federal Reserve, Consumer Credit G.19 statistical release
• Federal Trade Commission, Coping with Debt

Sibling templates

• Credit card payoff Excel template (both methods)
• Debt snowball Excel template
• Multi-card payoff tracker Excel
• Google Sheets version
• Printable avalanche tracker PDF

Related tools

• Debt avalanche calculator
• Pillar payoff calculator
• 0% APR balance transfer calculator

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the debt avalanche method?

The debt avalanche orders accounts by highest APR first. You pay the minimum on every account plus all extra cash on the highest-APR balance until it clears. The freed-up minimum then rolls into the next-highest-APR account. Mathematically avalanche minimizes total interest paid across the payoff window. It typically saves $200 to $800 over snowball on realistic 3-card to 6-card scenarios, though completion rates run slightly lower per Kellogg School of Management research.

Does this template auto-sort cards by APR?

Yes. The Active Cards tab accepts entry in any order. The Avalanche Schedule tab uses the SORT function to pull active cards sorted by APR descending. Ties on APR are broken by balance descending so the larger high-rate account clears first. The order updates automatically when you edit APR values, add a new card, or apply a balance transfer that changes the effective APR.

How much does avalanche save versus snowball on a typical balance?

On $14,200 across 4 cards at APRs from 19.99 to 28.99 percent with $710 monthly contribution, avalanche saves $313 and one month versus snowball per our pillar calculator math. On smaller balances and tighter APR spreads, savings shrink toward $50 to $150. On larger balances over $25,000 with APR spreads above 10 percentage points, savings can reach $1,200 to $2,500. The template returns your specific number.

What if my highest-APR card is not the one I want to clear first?

The template hard-codes APR ordering. If you want to override, use the generic credit card payoff Excel template which permits manual ordering, or run the debt snowball template in parallel. Some borrowers reorder when the highest-APR card has a small balance and clearing it first delivers a snowball-style motivation win; in that case the snowball template is the better tool.

Can I model promotional APR periods accurately?

Yes. Set column D (APR) to 0 percent for the introductory months (typically 15 to 21 months) and to the post-intro APR for subsequent months by overwriting individual month cells in columns H through AS. The SORT function re-ranks the card based on the current month's APR. For balance transfers, also add the transfer fee to the balance in column C so the math reflects true cost.

This is a syndicated post. Original article + interactive calculator: https://ccpayoffcalc.com/debt-avalanche-excel-template/