Get the debts in
Import a statement, or connect Akahu for read-only sync. BNZ is parsed precisely; ANZ, ASB, Kiwibank and Westpac go through a general parser.
The argument
Debt advice is an argument, not a number.
Snowball or avalanche: every forum, book and budgeting app will tell you which one wins in general. General is not useful. What you need is the payoff date and the interest bill for your debts at your rates.
- “Smallest balance first” and “highest rate first” can differ by years, or by almost nothing. You can’t tell which without running both.
- A surplus figure that ignores your minimum payments is not money you can actually put anywhere.
- Most tools want an account and a copy of your bank credentials before they will tell you anything at all.
What Plainly does
Both strategies, run to the last dollar.
A full month-by-month amortisation of every debt you’ve entered. No rules of thumb, no estimates. The comparison is the picker: two payoff dates, two interest totals, side by side.
- Two complete simulations, run side by side, with the payoff date and total interest for each.
- “Truly available” nets your surplus against every minimum payment, so the figure is genuinely spendable.
- Local-first. No account, no central database, and bank credentials never touch the app.
Getting set up
Your debts go in. A date comes out.
Pick a strategy
Avalanche or snowball, both simulated in full. The cheaper one is shown rather than argued for.
Move the date
Drag the extra-payment slider and the debt-free month moves with it, live, along with the interest you avoid.
The comparison
Two futures, priced.
The snowball’s case is psychological: small wins early keep you going. The avalanche’s case is arithmetic. Plainly refuses to settle that for you in the abstract; it just shows you exactly what the psychology costs, in dollars and in months, for your own balances.
- 1Every month of every debt is modelled. At its own APR, against its own minimum payment.
- 2One decision, surfaced daily. “Your next move” names the single payment that helps most today.
- 3Your data stays yours. Everything is computed on the device, and your balances are never stored on our servers.
0accounts to sign up for
2payoff futures, both fully costed
$310the gap between them, in the example
Beyond the payoff date
Because a payoff date on its own doesn’t change what happens on payday.
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STEP 4 OF 4
4-stage Baby Steps
Starter fund, debt payoff, full emergency fund, then your own savings goals.
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DAILY TRUTH
You've spent $340 more on dining than last month.You're 14 months from debt-free at this pace.
One honest line each morning
A single observation drawn from your own numbers. Same numbers, same line, every time.
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Trip to Japan
$1,240 / $2,000Watch a goal close
Pick an icon, set a target, and the bar fills as the money goes in.
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Fuel
Grocery
Dining
Subs
Your spending sorts itself
Fuel, groceries, dining and subscriptions, sorted out of every statement or synced transaction.