Debtless
Loans & bills
Car Payment Calculator: A Worked Example With Real Numbers
A car payment calculator turns a loan amount, APR and term into one monthly number. Here is a worked example with 2026 auto-loan averages and what it skips.
Money decisions, made clearer.
The Debtless Journal
Debtless is a 100% free debt payoff app for iPhone. Practical ways to get out of debt, one decision at a time. Clear examples, useful routines and a free app to put your plan into practice. The Debtless Journal is a free debt blog of practical articles on payoff methods, credit card interest, loans, collections, budgeting and privacy, written for anyone deciding how to pay down what they owe. It turns reading like this into a plan, drawing on 442 articles in this library.
The Debtless Journal articles
442 articles
Loans & bills
Online Mortgage Payment Calculator: A Step-by-Step Guide
An online mortgage calculator estimates principal and interest from your loan amount, rate and term. A step-by-step guide to the numbers, and what it skips.
Getting started
What counts as debt? A plain list for your inventory
A concrete list of what belongs on a debt inventory, including cards, loans, BNPL plans, medical bills and tax debt, and what to leave off it.
Payoff methods
When snowball and avalanche give the same order
The case where your smallest balance is also your highest APR, so snowball and avalanche tell you to pay the same debt first.
Free debt apps
Debt payoff apps without a subscription: what to expect
What features to expect from a free debt payoff app with no subscription, and how to confirm there's no hidden paywall before relying on it.
Budget & cash flow
The 50/30/20 budget when you have debt
Adjust the 50/30/20 budget framework to fit real debt payments, including what to do when minimums alone exceed the 20% share.
Credit card debt
Daily periodic rate: how card interest adds up
A credit card's daily periodic rate turns APR into a per-day charge. Here is how issuers use it to calculate a month's interest, with an example.
Payments & progress
How lenders apply payments: fees, interest, principal
The general order lenders use to apply a payment across fees, interest and principal, and how credit cards handle amounts above the minimum.
Loans & bills
Amortization: why early loan payments are mostly interest
How loan amortization works, why your first payments go mostly to interest, and how the split shifts toward principal over the loan's life.
Life & debt
Getting married with debt: what to share first
What to tell each other about debt before a wedding, whose balances actually become shared, and how to set a joint plan without blame.
Privacy & habits
Credit freeze vs. fraud alert while paying off debt
The difference between a credit freeze and a fraud alert, what each one costs, and how to plan around lifting a freeze before you apply for new credit.
Getting started
How much debt is too much? Three checks you can run
Three checks, debt to income, minimums against your paycheck, and whether balances shrink, that tell you more than any single number.
Payoff methods
The cash flow payoff method: free up minimums first
How the cash flow payoff method ranks debts by minimum payment freed per dollar paid off, and who tends to benefit from it most.
Free debt apps
Choosing a debt payoff app for iPhone
A practical checklist for choosing an iPhone debt payoff app: payoff methods, privacy label, data export, offline use, and real price.
Budget & cash flow
What percent of income should go to debt?
There's no single right percentage of income for debt; see how to work out a number that fits your essentials and leaves a buffer.
Credit card debt
Average daily balance calculator: how the method works
The average daily balance method calculates interest by summing each day's balance and dividing by the number of days in the cycle.
Payments & progress
How to make a principal-only payment
How to send an extra payment straight to principal instead of having it sit as a paid-ahead credit, and how to confirm it worked.
Loans & bills
Extra payments on an auto loan: make them count
Estimate how a $100 monthly extra could change an auto loan, then confirm the contract, payment instructions, and posted principal balance.
Life & debt
Debt stress: practical steps that lower the load
Concrete steps for the parts of debt that cause the most stress, from not knowing the full number to feeling like nothing is changing.
Privacy & habits
A yearly credit report check in 30 minutes
A simple yearly routine for checking your credit reports from all three bureaus, comparing them to your own debt list, and spotting errors worth disputing.
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