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A debt payoff order that targets the highest interest rate first, while paying minimums on everything else.
Why It Matters
Ordering by interest rate produces the lowest total interest paid, because the most expensive balance stops compounding soonest. That is a mathematical result, not a matter of opinion. The counterpoint is behavioural: the highest-rate balance may also be the largest, so it can take a long time to see the first one disappear — which is the gap the debt snowball tries to close.
Key Points
- Pay minimums everywhere; put anything extra toward the highest APR.
- Mathematically produces the lowest total interest paid.
- Progress can feel slow if the highest-rate balance is also the biggest.
Related Terms
Common Questions
A debt payoff order that targets the highest interest rate first, while paying minimums on everything else. Ordering by interest rate produces the lowest total interest paid, because the most expensive balance stops compounding soonest. That is a mathematical result, not a matter of opinion.
Ordering by interest rate produces the lowest total interest paid, because the most expensive balance stops compounding soonest. That is a mathematical result, not a matter of opinion. The counterpoint is behavioural: the highest-rate balance may also be the largest, so it can take a long time to see the first one disappear — which is the gap the debt snowball tries to close.
Pay minimums everywhere; put anything extra toward the highest APR.
Mathematically produces the lowest total interest paid.
Progress can feel slow if the highest-rate balance is also the biggest.