Should you consolidate your credit cards with a loan?
Enter your cards and up to two loan offers. You'll see what each option costs in interest and fees by the month you'd actually pay it off — including the month where a "low rate with a fee" offer stops being the better deal. It runs in your browser, and nothing is stored.
Why this exists. A lender showed two offers for the same $30,000: a lower rate with a $1,800 fee, labeled "$1,958 estimated savings," and a higher rate with no fee. The savings are real only if you keep the loan for the full five years. Pay it off in a few months with a bonus or a windfall, and the fee option costs about $1,400–$1,700 more. Lenders don't show that month-by-month view — this page does.
How it works
Loan cost = the origination fee plus interest paid through the month you pay it off. The principal you still owe isn't a cost — it's the debt you had anyway.
Fees come out of the loan. A $30,000 loan with a 6% fee sends you $28,200. If that's less than you owe, the gap stays on your cards.
Keep-the-cards comparison pays the same monthly amount to the highest-rate card first (the "avalanche" method), and respects 0% promo balances until the promo ends.
Use the interest rate, not the APR. APR already bakes the fee in; entering both would count the fee twice.
What it doesn't do: credit-score effects, late fees, variable rates, or prepayment penalties (most personal loans have none — check yours).
A consolidation loan only helps if the paid-off cards stay at $0. If they fill back up, you owe the loan and the cards.