What will the agent ask you?
A good agent asks before it answers. Expect questions like these, and answer the ones that matter to you.
- What do you owe on each card and loan, at what yearly rate, and with what minimum?
- Is any balance on a 0% or promotional rate? When does it end, and is it deferred interest?
- How much can you pay each month on top of the minimums, and is that amount steady?
- Will anything new go on these cards while you pay them down?
- Would you rather pay the least interest, or see one debt gone sooner?
- Is there cash set aside that you want to keep where it is?
What does a good answer look like?
A worked example on sample data: one person with $6,500 on a card at 27.49% (minimum $195), $1,600 on a second card at 19.99% (minimum $48), $4,200 left on a personal loan at 11.5% (minimum $140), and $250 a month to pay on top of the minimums.
You
Should I do the snowball or the avalanche? I keep reading about both.
Your agent
You owe $12,300 across the two cards and the loan, and the minimums come to $383 a month. With your $250 on top, that's $633 a month.
Your agent
Smallest balance first clears the second card in month 6, the loan in month 15, and the 27.49% card in month 25, with about $3,263 in interest. Highest rate first puts the extra on the 27.49% card, which is gone in month 18, then the second card in month 21 and the loan in month 24, with about $2,618 in interest.
Your agent
So highest rate first costs about $645 less and finishes a month sooner. Smallest balance first pays off its first debt a year earlier, in month 6 instead of month 18. On the minimums alone, it would take 50 months and about $6,700 in interest.
Your agent
I built the page in Candor with both orders and an extra amount you can change. Tell me which order you want to follow, and I'll save it as your plan with each payoff date.
Illustrative example with sample data, not a customer result.
What does a weak answer look like?
Use the debt snowball: list your debts from smallest to largest, pay the minimum on all of them, and put every extra dollar on the smallest. The momentum gets you out of debt faster.
- It never asked for balances, rates, or what you can pay, so there's no date.
- It said the snowball is faster without checking. Here, highest rate first finishes a month sooner and costs about $645 less.
- It didn't ask about promotional rates, which change the order once they end.
- Nothing is saved, so next month you start over.
Give every debt a date, then try paying more
Seeing a payoff date for each card and loan makes an extra payment concrete. Candor holds balances and, where your bank or a statement supplied them, rates and minimums. Your agent should ask for any missing rate instead of guessing, because the rate decides the date.
Check the answer
- Look for promotional rates and their end dates. A balance at 0% today may cost far more after the promotion ends.
- Compare highest rate first and smallest balance first at the same extra amount, so the faster plan is not simply the one that pays more.
Choose a next step
Save the plan you choose as goals. Your agent can check each month whether you are ahead of or behind the dates.
Where Candor fits
Your agent works through the question with you, builds the plan, and keeps you on it. Candor gives it your real accounts, exact figures, and the goals, budget, notes, and decisions from earlier sessions, in whichever agent you use. Its review raises what's worth talking through and tells your agent why. Candor is not a licensed advisor and gives no advice; your agent does the advising, and the decisions are yours.
- Candor connects to banks read-only and cannot move money.
- Candor never sells your financial data or trains models on it, and you can export or delete it.
- Every agent read and change is recorded with its reason.
Common questions
- What is the debt snowball method?
- The debt snowball pays the minimum on every debt and puts any extra toward the smallest balance. When that debt is paid off, its payment moves to the next smallest, so the amount aimed at one debt grows as each is cleared. The CFPB describes it as an approach that focuses on your smallest debt.
- Debt snowball vs avalanche: which saves more?
- At the same monthly payment, highest rate first (the avalanche) usually pays less interest, because each extra dollar goes where interest costs the most. Smallest balance first (the snowball) usually clears a first debt sooner. When your smallest balance also has the highest rate, the two orders are the same. In the example above, the avalanche saves about $645 and one month, and the snowball clears its first debt a year sooner. The calculator shows both for your numbers.
- How is a credit card payoff calculated?
- Each month, the balance gathers interest at the yearly rate (APR) divided by 12, and the payment covers that interest before it lowers the balance. $5,000 at 22.36%, the average rate on card accounts charged interest in the Federal Reserve's data for the third quarter of 2026, gathers about $93 of interest in its first month. Many card issuers calculate interest daily on your average daily balance, so a statement can differ a little from a monthly estimate.
- What if I only pay the minimum?
- It takes longer and costs more. Paying a fixed $100 a month on $5,000 at 22.36% takes 146 months, over 12 years, and about $9,535 in interest. Your card statement must show how long paying only the minimum would take and the monthly payment that clears the balance in three years. When the minimum doesn't cover the interest, the statement must warn that you would never pay off the balance, and the calculator says the same.
- Does a 0% promotional rate change the payoff?
- Yes. While the rate is 0%, all of each payment lowers the balance. When the promotion ends, whatever is left gathers interest at the regular rate. The calculator holds one rate per debt, so try the debt at both rates to see the range. A deferred-interest offer, such as no interest if paid in full within 12 months, works differently: if any balance is left at the end, you can owe the interest back to the date of the purchase.
- Does Candor do this from my accounts?
- Your agent does, from your records in Candor. It reads each card and loan balance, rate, and payment, asks for any rate or minimum the records don't have, and builds this page in Candor with both orders. Candor gives no advice; your agent works through it with you. Candor connects to banks read-only and cannot move money.
Sources
- How to reduce your debt Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, June 25, 2026
- Consumer Credit, G.19: Interest rates on credit card plans Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 6, 2026
- How does my credit card company calculate the amount of interest I owe? Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, January 22, 2024
- A box on my credit card bill says that I will pay off the balance in three years if I pay a certain amount. What does that mean? Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, February 2, 2024
- Regulation Z, § 1026.7 Periodic statement Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- I got a credit card promising no interest for a purchase if I pay in full within 12 months. How does this work? Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, February 2, 2024