Quickly calculate your current total monthly debt repayment amount (how much debt you’re paying off each month). Plus, your new reduced instalment under debt review to see how debt review can make your debt more manageable and affordable once again.
Here is the breakdown of how to use the calculator, what it calculates, and how to get the most accurate estimate.
Let’s start with a couple of basic instructions.
How to use the debt review calculator
The calculator is set up to make it as simple and user-friendly as possible to get a quick estimate of your reduced debt repayment under debt review.
You can punch in the numbers from memory or follow a more detailed approach.
- Make a note of your various debts, and estimate what you owe each creditor per month.
- Categorise the debt according to the field in the calculator and sum them together to get the total for each category.
- Enter the instalments on the calculator.
- Tap the button to calculate the reduced monthly debt repayment that debt review could offer.
Here’s a detailed breakdown if you’re unfamiliar with some fields.
Start by entering what you owe on items classified as assets. This includes a car and a home/mortgage instalment; remember, instalments are what you owe each month.
Car instalment = how much you currently pay on your car loan or financing every month.
Home/mortgage instalment = how much your home loan or bond costs per month.
It’s okay if you’re not 100% sure. These numbers don’t have to be precise. Estimates are good enough.
Next, we’ll add what is known as unsecured facilities. These are debts like credit cards, an overdraft facility, retail accounts (Woolies, Mr Price, @Home, etc.) — you get the idea.
Credit card instalments = the total of all your minimum monthly repayments across all your credit cards.
Overdraft instalments = how much you need to repay if you have an overdraft with your bank (if you have multiple overdrafts, add them together to get a total)
Personal loan instalments = If you have any personal loans, add what you need to repay across all your monthly loans in this field.
Retail account instalments = list all your retail accounts (Foschini, Vodacom, Makro, etc.), then estimate how much you owe on each account every month and add the subtotals together to get a combined retail account instalment amount. Enter the total here.
Okay, are you ready? The fun part comes next.
Tap the button, and our magic formula will calculate a reduced monthly debt instalment for you.
Keep in mind that the amount is just an estimate. To make it work for everyone, we had to generalise a bit.
Everyone has a unique situation, so actual amounts are bound to vary.
The great news is that your reduced debt repayment amount could be even less! How crazy is that?
How to calculate your debt repayments
Several factors determine your debt repayments. Generally, this includes the total loan value, interest rate, and repayment term, but other factors could also affect the repayment amount.
Most creditors list the account’s debt repayment amount on their statements. Otherwise, you can find it in your credit agreement (your contract).
Here are two formulas that you can use if you want to do it yourself:
For credit card debt repayments:
Minimum payment = (Balance * Minimum payment percentage)
For loans (using the annuity method):
Payment = (Interest rate * (1 + Interest rate)^Number of payments) / (((1 + Interest rate)^Number of payments) – 1) * Principal
Where:
- Interest rate is the annual interest rate, expressed as a decimal (e.g. 0.05 for 5%)
- The number of payments is the total number of payments over the life of the loan.
- Principal is the initial loan amount.
- Payment is the monthly repayment amount (this is the answer)
Check your original agreement or contact your creditor to ensure you have all the details. In fact, they could tell you what the amount is if you are struggling to find it or calculate it yourself.
How to get accurate debt review calculations
There are a couple of things that you can do to get the best possible debt review repayment calculation.
First, provide accurate totals.
Second, make sure that you list all of your debt. Add what you owe for your assets, like your car or home, and all your other debts.
We tried to make the calculator as user-friendly as possible, so its estimations are simplistic.
If you want a debt review calculation that is 100% accurate, ask one of our team members to work it out for you — check to see if you qualify here.
Final thoughts
Now you know what debt review could mean for you. If you want to apply, visit My Debt Hero and try our assessment to see if you qualify.
Otherwise, if you’d like to continue to learn about debt review, check out these popular posts:
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