Free debt avalanche Google Sheets template, APR descending with real-time collaboration

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

The debt avalanche Google Sheets template is a free 10-card workbook that orders credit cards highest APR first and minimizes total interest paid. The file uses Google Sheets' SORT, NPER, and CUMIPMT functions to project month-by-month payoff and total interest. Verified to return the same answer as the pillar payoff calculator avalanche mode and the Excel template version. Released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) so credit counselors, bloggers, and credit union educators may share with attribution. Works on any device with a browser, no installation required.

License: CC BY 4.0 (free to share, remix, repost with attribution to ccpayoffcalc.com).
Open in Google Sheets: Copy to Google Sheets (one-click copy to your Drive).
Download for offline use: Download .ods.

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.

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 target card. CUMIPMT computes total interest. Google's NPER function documentation and CUMIPMT function documentation confirm equivalence to Excel.

The avalanche cascade is the central mechanic. When the highest-APR card clears (often 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. Sheets handles this with =IF(highest_card_balance>0, base_min, base_min + freed_payment). The ARRAYFORMULA wrapper propagates the cascade across all months automatically.

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. The template orders A (highest APR) first, 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. Same result in the pillar calculator and the Excel avalanche template.

Data validation on column D restricts APR entries between 0 and 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.

The CFPB's 2025 credit card market report documents the typical minimum payment formula and the Federal Reserve G.19 release tracks the average credit card APR used as default in the Settings tab.

Calculator

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

When the Sheets avalanche template is the better choice over Excel:

1. You and a spouse manage payoff jointly across multiple devices.
2. You work in an environment without Microsoft 365 access (Chromebook, public library, kiosk).
3. You want auto-saved version history rather than manual Save As cadence.
4. You meet with a credit counselor who needs view access to the live plan, not a static snapshot.
5. You want comment threads on specific card rows for review feedback or accountability check-ins.

A realistic execution scenario over 24 months: 5 cards starting balances $1,200, $2,400, $3,800, $5,600, $7,800. Mixed APRs from 18.99% to 28.49%. Monthly contribution $850. The template orders the 28.49% card first (whatever balance), then descends through APR. First card clears month 4. Cascade flows. Total interest paid across the payoff window of 29 months: $4,872. The same scenario through snowball ordering (smallest balance first) would clear the $1,200 card first regardless of APR; total interest $5,418. Avalanche premium: $546 saved.

During execution, the spouse accesses the same Sheets file from a different device. The View > Show edits feature highlights recent changes by user. The Notes column logs payment confirmations and any deviations from plan. Version history preserves the rationale for any mid-plan adjustments.

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-by-month and through version history preserving the discipline.

Customization tips:

Modeling a 0% APR balance transfer. Add a row in Active Cards with the transferred balance plus the typical 3% transfer fee in column C. Set column D (APR) to 0% for months 1 through 15 by overwriting cells. From month 16 onward, set the APR to the post-intro rate. The SORT function will rank this card lowest (0% APR) during the intro period, then jump it up the ranking when the post-intro APR kicks in. The CARD Act of 2009 requires issuers to honor promotional APR terms unless the cardholder is 60+ days delinquent.

Adjusting for a debt management plan. If you enrolled in an NFCC member DMP, your APRs may drop to 6 to 10 percent. Update column D for each enrolled card. Because DMP rates are often similar across cards, avalanche ordering may flatten; the template falls back to balance-descending tiebreaker logic. The NFCC publishes typical DMP rate concessions annually.

Sharing for joint accountability. Click Share with Editor permission for a spouse or partner. Both edit the same plan. The View > Show edits feature highlights recent changes by user. End-of-month review becomes a 10-minute joint session reviewing what changed and confirming the plan for next month.

Sharing for counselor review. Click Share with Commenter permission for a credit counselor. The counselor can leave inline notes on specific cells during quarterly review sessions. NFCC member agencies typically prefer this workflow since it preserves the client's plan while enabling expert feedback. Schedule the counselor session 1 to 2 weeks before each quarter ends so updates can be reflected in the following quarter's plan.

Stacking promotional APRs across multiple cards. Some users open 2 or 3 0% APR cards in a promotional stack. Add each card with its specific intro period in column D using per-month overrides. The template ranks all 0% APR cards last (do not extra-pay them while the rate is zero), focusing 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 Google Sheets template with identical inputs. The total interest delta is your avalanche premium, the dollars avalanche saves over snowball. For most realistic 4-card scenarios, this is $150 to $700.

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 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. 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.

Mobile updates. The Sheets app on iOS and Android renders the avalanche schedule correctly. Update after each issuer's confirmation email. The desktop version is better for initial setup and customization. The mobile version is sufficient for the monthly maintenance routine.

Resources

Authoritative sources

• Google, NPER function documentation
• Google, CUMIPMT function documentation
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2025 Consumer Credit Card Market Report
• Federal Reserve, Consumer Credit G.19 statistical release
• Cornell Law, 15 U.S.C. § 1666c CARD Act payment allocation

Sibling templates

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

Related tools

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

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the avalanche method?

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

Does this Sheets template auto-sort by APR?

Yes. The Avalanche Schedule tab uses the SORT function to pull active cards sorted by APR descending. Whenever you edit an APR, the SORT formula re-orders. Ties on APR are broken by balance descending so the larger high-rate account clears first. The order updates automatically when a balance transfer changes a card's effective APR or when a promotional period ends.

How much does avalanche save versus snowball typically?

On $14,200 across 4 cards at APRs 19.99 to 28.99 percent with $710 monthly contribution, avalanche saves $313 and one month versus snowball. On smaller balances or 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 Sheets template returns your specific number for your inputs.

Can I share avalanche execution progress with a counselor?

Yes. Use Share with Comment-only permission. Most NFCC member agencies prefer reviewing client plans through view-or-comment access rather than editor access, preserving the client's plan integrity. Add the counselor's email through Share, set permission to Commenter, and the counselor can add inline notes on specific cells during quarterly review sessions.

Can the template handle promotional APR periods?

Yes. Set column D (APR) to 0 percent for intro months (typically 15 to 21 months) and to the post-intro APR for subsequent months by overwriting individual month cells. The SORT function re-ranks the card based on the current month's APR. For balance transfers, add the transfer fee to the balance in column C so the math reflects true cost including the typical 3 to 5 percent fee.

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