Debtless
Getting started
Set aside a small surprise-expense reserve during payoff
Consider a practical cash reserve during debt payoff, compare the tradeoffs, and decide how to rebuild it after a necessary surprise expense.
Money decisions, made clearer.
Getting started
Debtless is a 100% free debt payoff app for iPhone. Make sense of what you owe and choose a manageable first step. It turns reading like this into a plan, drawing on 442 articles in this library.
Getting started articles
48 articlesGetting started
Track debt when one account has missing information
Keep incomplete debt information visible without guessing, then resolve the missing amounts and deadlines that matter most to your next action.
Getting started
Check a debt plan before making the first extra payment
Check cash availability, creditor instructions, payment application, and posting before treating your first extra debt payment as completed.
Getting started
Create a simple debt progress notebook
Create a simple debt notebook that explains balance changes, records creditor conversations, and leaves a clear next action for each review.
Getting started
Know when a do-it-yourself debt plan needs more help
Recognize when debt tracking needs qualified support, prepare useful records, and ask concrete questions about counseling services and costs.
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.
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.
Getting started
Debt-to-income ratio: how to calculate yours
The exact formula for debt to income ratio, which payments to include, why lenders check it, and a full worked example with real math.
Getting started
Good debt vs. bad debt: a more useful way to sort it
Skip the moral labels. Sort your debt by cost, risk and whether it is backed by collateral, and the payoff order becomes obvious.
Getting started
Secured vs. unsecured debt: why the difference matters
What collateral actually changes about a debt: the consequence of missing a payment, typical rates, and how it should factor into your plan.
Getting started
Revolving vs. installment debt in a payoff plan
Why a credit card and a car loan behave differently in a payoff plan, and how the open-ended balance changes your strategy.
Getting started
Find every debt you owe using your free credit reports
How to use your free credit reports to find accounts you forgot about, old collections and errors before building a full debt list.
Getting started
What is APR? The number that prices your debt
What APR actually measures, how it differs from a simple interest rate, and how to turn it into a monthly dollar estimate.
Getting started
Fixed vs. variable rates: what changes in your plan
How a variable rate can move your monthly interest, which debts typically carry one, and how to plan around a rate that is not fixed.
Getting started
Principal vs. interest: where each payment goes
How a single payment splits between interest and principal, why early payments feel slow, and how that split shifts over time.
Getting started
How to calculate one month of interest on a debt
Two ways to estimate a month of interest on a debt, the quick APR-over-12 method and the more exact daily rate, with the math shown.
Getting started
Pay off debt or save first? A way to decide
A way to weigh a starter cash cushion against extra debt payments, including the one common exception worth checking first.
Getting started
Pay off debt or invest? Compare the certain rate
Why paying off high-rate debt is a certain return and investing is not, and how to think through the comparison for your own numbers.
Getting started
How long does it take to pay off $10,000 in debt?
Months to pay off a $10,000 balance at three different payment sizes, simulated month by month with the same 22% APR held constant.
Getting started
How to pay off $5,000 in one year
A fixed monthly payment is the amount that clears a $5,000 balance in twelve months at a given APR, found by simulating each month.
Give your plan a place to live.
Track balances and compare payoff methods in Debtless. Free, with no account or bank connection.
