When does a loan save me money?
Add each card’s balance, rate and fixed payment. See how the loan’s rate, fee and length change the full cost.
Compare my cards and a loan
When does a debt consolidation loan save money?
A loan saves money if you pay less in total than you would on your card debt. A lower monthly payment can still cost you more over time. Check the fee and how long you will pay.
What do you want to find out?
Use the Atlas example below, or start with your own cards. These two tools answer different questions.
A 36-month loan saves here. A 60-month loan costs more.
Both loans have an interest rate of 18% a year that stays the same. The lender takes a 5% fee before sending the money. So you must borrow $10,526.32 to clear the $10,000 card debt. The fee takes $526.32 of that loan.
You repay the full loan amount, including the part used to pay the fee. The totals below already include that fee. It is not added again.
Over 36 months, you pay $13,699.86 in total. That saves $1,276.22 compared with keeping the card debt. But the monthly payment rises to $380.55.
Over 60 months, the payment falls to $267.30. You pay $16,037.95 in total, or $1,061.87 more than on the card. You get a lower bill each month but stay in debt longer.
A lower bill may be your main goal if the current payment is out of reach. The extra cost shows what you pay for that relief. It does not, by itself, make the longer loan the wrong choice.
Keep paying the card$14,976.0843 months; $350 payments, with a smaller last payment
36-month loan$13,699.86$380.55/month · 36 months
60-month loan$16,037.95$267.30/month · 60 months
In all these examples, you make every payment on time and add no new debt. Rates stay the same, and there are no other fees.
A lower payment can mean a higher total cost
Read the payment, total paid, and time to pay off the debt together. The charts show the same four loans. The dashed lines show what you pay if you keep the card debt.
What changes as you take longer to repay?
Same $10,000 paid off. Loan interest stays at 18%, with a 5% fee taken out.
Keeping the card: $350.00 a month · $14,976.08 total
24months
Monthly payment$525.52$175.52 more
Total paid$12,612.40$2,363.68 less
36months
Monthly payment$380.55$30.55 more
Total paid$13,699.86$1,276.22 less
48months
Monthly payment$309.21$40.79 less
Total paid$14,842.11$133.97 less
60months
Monthly payment$267.30$82.70 less
Total paid$16,037.95$1,061.87 more
60 months: a smaller bill, a bigger total. You pay $82.70 less each month, but $1,061.87 more overall than keeping the card.
Bars start at $0. Dashed marks show the card comparison. Each change is measured against keeping the card.
| Loan length | Monthly payment | Total paid | Time to pay off |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 months | $525.52 +$175.52 / month | $12,612.40 −$2,363.68 | 24 months -19 months |
| 36 months | $380.55 +$30.55 / month | $13,699.86 −$1,276.22 | 36 months -7 months |
| 48 months | $309.21 −$40.79 / month | $14,842.11 −$133.97 | 48 months +5 months |
| 60 months | $267.30 −$82.70 / month | $16,037.95 +$1,061.87 | 60 months +17 months |
The 48-month loan costs a little less in this example and lowers the payment. It still takes 5 months longer to pay off than the card. Lower cost, a lower payment, and less time in debt are three separate things to check.
How low must the interest rate be?
Break-even is the point where the loan and the card cost the same in total. Below that interest rate, the loan costs less. Above it, the loan costs more. This only holds when you keep the fee and loan length the same.
For a 60-month loan with a 5% fee taken out, break-even falls between 14.85% and 14.86%. The card still has the $10,000 debt, 24% yearly interest, and $350 monthly payment from our example.
Longer loans need a lower rate to break even
Yearly loan interest rate where total paid equals the card’s $14,976.08.
← Lower rate: costs lessHigher rate: costs more →
24 months36.43%–36.44%
36 months24.54%–24.55%
48 months18.50%–18.51%
60 months14.85%–14.86%
At 60 months, 18% is still too high to save. The loan’s break-even rate is between 14.85% and 14.86%. A rate below that point costs less, with the same 5% fee.
The exact break-even point lies inside each range. The line connects the four loan lengths shown; it does not give values for other lengths. Payment rounding can shift the point. These are modeled rates, not offers.
Example: $10,000 in card debt at 24% yearly interest. You pay $350 each month, with a smaller last payment. The rate stays the same. Each fee is a share of the full loan amount before the fee is taken out. The loan must still send enough cash to pay off all $10,000.
| Loan length | 0% fee taken out | 3% fee taken out | 5% fee taken out | 8% fee taken out | 10% fee taken out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 months | Costs less at 0%–40%No break-even point in this range. | 38.77%–38.78%Break-even falls in this range. | 36.43%–36.44%Break-even falls in this range. | 32.88%–32.89%Break-even falls in this range. | 30.48%–30.49%Break-even falls in this range. |
| 36 months | 28.43%–28.44%Break-even falls in this range. | 26.11%–26.12%Break-even falls in this range. | 24.54%–24.55%Break-even falls in this range. | 22.15%–22.16%Break-even falls in this range. | 20.54%–20.55%Break-even falls in this range. |
| 48 months | 21.43%–21.44%Break-even falls in this range. | 19.68%–19.69%Break-even falls in this range. | 18.50%–18.51%Break-even falls in this range. | 16.70%–16.71%Break-even falls in this range. | 15.49%–15.50%Break-even falls in this range. |
| 60 months | 17.19%–17.20%Break-even falls in this range. | 15.79%–15.80%Break-even falls in this range. | 14.85%–14.86%Break-even falls in this range. | 13.40%–13.41%Break-even falls in this range. | 12.43%–12.44%Break-even falls in this range. |
A longer loan needs a lower interest rate to save money in this example. We checked rates from 0% to 40%. “Costs less at 0%–40%” means there is no break-even point in that range. It says nothing about higher rates.
The two numbers in each small range surround the exact break-even point. They are not two rates you can expect a lender to offer. Rounding each payment to cents can shift the point. If the costs are close, check the lender’s full list of payments.
How big a fee wipes out the savings?
A fee leaves less cash to pay the card, so you need a larger loan. This table shows the fee that makes the loan cost the same as the card. A lower fee saves money; a higher fee costs more. Keep the interest rate and loan length the same.
For the 48-month loan at 18% yearly interest, that fee falls between 5.84% and 5.85% of the loan amount before fees. That is why the 5% fee in our example leaves only a small saving.
Example: $10,000 in card debt at 24% yearly interest. You pay $350 each month, with a smaller last payment. The rate stays the same. Each fee below is a share of the full loan amount before the fee is taken out. Each loan pays off the full card debt. All loan rates stay the same.
| Loan length | 8% interest rate | 12% interest rate | 18% interest rate | 24% interest rate | 30% interest rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 months | Costs less at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | Costs less at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | 19.99%–20.00%Break-even falls in this range. | 15.27%–15.28%Break-even falls in this range. | 10.39%–10.40%Break-even falls in this range. |
| 36 months | Costs less at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | Costs less at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | 13.09%–13.10%Break-even falls in this range. | 5.69%–5.70%Break-even falls in this range. | Costs more at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. |
| 48 months | Costs less at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | 15.59%–15.60%Break-even falls in this range. | 5.84%–5.85%Break-even falls in this range. | Costs more at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | Costs more at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. |
| 60 months | 18.76%–18.77%Break-even falls in this range. | 10.88%–10.89%Break-even falls in this range. | Costs more at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | Costs more at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. | Costs more at 0%–20%No break-even point in this range. |
Some loans cost more even with no fee. Others cost less across the full fee range we checked, from 0% to 20%. Neither result tells you what happens outside that range.
As with the rate table, the exact break-even fee falls inside the range shown. Rounding each payment to cents can shift it. Use the lender’s full list of payments when the costs are close.
A fee can leave some card debt unpaid
If the lender takes a 5% fee from a $10,000 loan, it sends $9,500. You still owe $500 on the $10,000 card debt. This report does not work out the cost of that leftover debt, so it cannot call the partial payoff a saving.
Check how much cash reaches the card after the fee. It must cover all the debt you plan to pay off.
Check all three numbers before you choose
Start with the cash left after the fee. Then compare the monthly payment, total paid, and time to pay off the debt. A smaller bill may help, but check what that relief costs over time.
How we worked it out
For the card, we add interest each month, then take off the payment. We count the smaller last payment. If the payment does not reduce the debt, we do not give a total cost. We also stop if debt remains after 600 months.
For the loan, we find the amount you must borrow to clear the card after the fee. The fee is part of what you owe, so you pay interest on it too. We count all loan payments through the last month.
We compare the dollars paid until each debt is gone, even if the dates differ. We do not adjust for how the value of money changes over time. Paying a loan off early needs a different check.
We keep all decimal places while we work out costs. We round the final dollar figures to cents for display. In a separate check, we rounded the interest and payments each month. That changed some very close results by up to $0.56 at break-even.
In 5 cases, rounding moved break-even outside the small range shown. It did not change which loan costs less in the main example. That is why you should check the lender’s full payment list when costs are close.
See the data and calculations
You can download the numbers, check how we worked them out, and see the sources. The publisher has reviewed this version.
Sources and review status
Rung prepared this study with help from Codex to collect sources, calculate costs, write the report, and check the work. Colin McCracken completed the publisher review on 2026-09-13. A second AI-assisted calculation check is not an independent human expert review.
These sources explain loan fees, interest rates, APR, and the risks of taking a loan to pay off card debt. The rates and fees in our examples were chosen to show how costs change. They are not market averages from these sources.