Free Debt Reduction Tools

Free Debt Reduction Tools

There are a number of debt reduction tools and resources available online.   I dug through these and everything listed below is both FREE and helpful.

Here goes:

• Dinkytown: Dinkytown is a calculator creation company.  This company’s calculators are a cut above the competition.  So, if you’re cool ignoring the ads on their page and need to make sophisticated decisions about how to pay off your debt, they are a good first stop. Here is the direct link.
• CNN’s Debt Calculator: CNN has a nice debt calculator that is the result of a collaboration with Money Magazine.  The calculator is a bit more limited than Dinkytown, but its free and will  tell you how long it takes to pay off your debt.
  
• Debt Payoff Assistant: The Debt Payoff Assistant is an Apple smartphone app.  The app helps you add up how much you owe, and then helps you project how long it takes to get rid of the debt.
• Credit Card Payoff: This app is build for the Android smartphone.  It a bit different than the rest of these free tools.  Basically it allow you to a) generate charts and b) it helps you evaluate various payoff scenarios.  Not bad.
  
• Bankrate.com has a solid calculator page.  Since Bankrate is a larger organization their page has a lot of calculators.  There are two worth checking out.  First, Bankrate’s minimum payment calculator is worth a visit. Second, their credit card payoff calculator is also useful.  Here is a piece of rock solid advice: if you do have any credit card debt, DON’T pay the minimum.  Pay off as much of it as quickly as you can.
• Unbury.me: A favorite, but its limited. This one only lets you compare snowball versus avalanche repayment strategies, but it does a good job that comparison.  This is probably best accessed on desktop.

Debt Reduction Communities

Solving debt related problems is a lot easier if you have a supportive community to help you.  Its better to have one thats face to face, but if you can’t find people in your area to help with your debt journey, a virtual community isn’t a bad second.  Here are sites that might be good first stops.

First, most of the good virtual debt communities are on Facebook.  Here are some Facebook groups which are focused solely on getting out of debt.

Debt Free Life Budgeting

Your Debt Freedom Family

Our Debt Free Family (This one is faith based)

There are, however, a good number of old fashioned forums that are worth checking. They are:

Debt Consolidation Care’s Forums

MoneySavingExpert’s Forums

Savingadvice.com’s Forums

Finally, Mr. Money Mustache, a PF favorite, has a “Money Mustache” community which is definitely worth checking out.  Their link is here.