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- How do I set up the Pay Off Debt app on my iPhone or iPod Touch?
- What can I do with the app?
- What is the debt snowball method?
- How does the app work?
- I added my debts to the app, but the estimated time to pay it off looks wrong when the snowball is on. They can’t possibly be paid off that quickly. Why is that happening?
- I send multiple payments to my debt each month, but the app only allows for monthly payments. How can I record those more frequent payments?
- I used my credit card and now I owe more on it. How can I show that?
- I emailed my debt snowball to myself or to someone else, but it was never received. What’s wrong?
- Why does my debt free date say “unknown”?
- I had a password set for the app but lost it. How can I get back into the app?
- I like the app. How can I help?
- My question isn’t answered here, or I have a suggestion to improve the app. What next?
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How do I set up the Pay Off Debt app on my iPhone or iPod Touch?
See the Setup tutorial for detailed directions on how to set up and use the app. -
What can I do with the app?
Pay Off Debt allows you prioritize your debts by organizing them by lowest balance, highest interest rate, or in any order at all. The app lets you see the estimated time remaining to pay off individual debts, and calculates your planned debt free date. On the Debts screen, you’ll see the current balances, starting debt amounts, the dates of your last recorded payments, and the planned monthly payment amounts for each debt. Tapping an individual debt will show you the debt details, including an amortization table and any notes you may have entered for the debt.You can experiment with changing the Additional Amount to see how different amounts would change the time it takes to get out of debt. You can turn the snowball off to see how long it would take you to get out of debt if you were not going to use the default debt snowball method. (Just turn it back on if you do want to use it.) You can also experiment with changing the Sort Debts by option, if you want to see which way would be fastest. (One caution with that though — you’re probably better off using lowest balance instead of highest interest, because getting out of debt isn’t logical.) Of course, you can add, remove, or modify debts at any time.
Once you’ve recorded payments for a debt, you can see your payment history, which shows the amount that was applied to interest and principal for each payment. (Note that for mortgage-type debts, amounts sent to escrow are subtracted first, since they’re not actually going toward your loan.) You can also email the snowball information to up to 4 different email addresses. The snowball information is the list of debts, starting debt amounts, current balances, minimum payment amounts, due dates, and progress bar. If you like, you can set a (non-recoverable) password for the app, and/or turn on payment reminders, which will appear when the app is running and disappear once the due date for it has passed.
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What is the debt snowball method?
It’s an effective way to systematically pay off debt. In it, you pay the minimum payment plus as much extra as you can to the first debt in your list, while making only minimum payments to the rest of your debts. When that first debt is paid off, you start paying the money you had been paying to the first debt to the next debt in the list, plus that debt’s minimum payment amount. This process is repeated until all of the debts are paid off. It’s called a debt snowball because more and more money becomes available for debt repayment as more and more of your debts are paid off — and your progress snowballs.For example, say you pay off your car and have an extra $300 a month now. When you use the debt snowball method, that $300 becomes money you send to the next debt in your list. Maybe you had been paying $50 a month to that debt, but now that you’re sending $350 a month to it, you’ll make progress faster. When you don’t use the debt snowball method, that former $300 car payment just becomes money you spend on something else instead — which means it usually takes you longer to get out of debt.
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How does the app work?
It depends on how you choose to use it. It’s almost always faster to use the debt snowball method, so Pay Off Debt is set to use the debt snowball method by default. If you leave the Snowball set to On, here’s how it will work:The app will assume you are using the debt snowball method, and base the estimated length of time it will take to repay your debts on that information. It’ll automatically add the amount you entered in the Additional Amount field to the minimum monthly payment for the first unpaid debt in your list. That total will show on the Debts screen as that debt’s planned monthly payment, so you can see at a glance what you should pay to keep the debt snowball rolling. The other debts in the list will show their minimum payment amounts as their planned monthly payment. Once you get a debt paid off, the planned monthly payment amount for the next unpaid debt in the list will automatically increase to show the new planned monthly payment. That new planned monthly payment will be the additional amount + the minimum payment for that debt + the minimum payment(s) for the debt(s) you’ve paid off previously. The process repeats until you’ve paid off all of the debts in your list. The app does all the calculations for you, and the numbers that appear in the amortization table for each debt will take the snowball into account.
If you set the Snowball to Off, the app assumes you will simply be paying down each debt individually, without using the benefit of the debt snowball. It will still automatically add the amount you entered in the Additional Amount field to the minimum monthly payment for the first unpaid debt in your list. But all of the other unpaid debts will just show their minimum payment amount as their planned monthly payment. Because you’ve turned off the snowball, the only real change that will happen is that once a debt is paid off, the Additional Amount will then be added to the planned monthly payment for the next unpaid debt in the list. The payment amounts won’t snowball, and the numbers that appear in the amortization table for each debt will be based on that.
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I added my debts to the app, but the estimated time to pay it off looks wrong when the snowball is on. They can’t possibly be paid off that quickly. Why is that happening?
This happens because the app is set to use the debt snowball method by default. Set the Snowball to Off if you want to see the estimated time increase or aren’t planning to snowball your debts. Snowballing the debts usually makes the payment time for almost every debt faster, because once you pay off one of your debts, you start sending the amount you had been paying to that debt to the next debt in the list. This speeds up how quickly the next debt gets paid off, because you’re sending more to it than you had been before. For example, if you have 3 debts with varying balances and minimum payments, you will make progress faster using the debt snowball than you would have if you had only paid the minimum payments on each debt. -
I send multiple payments to my debt each month, but the app only allows for monthly payments. How can I record those more frequent payments?
If you are making payments to principal only, use the Record Custom Payment button and select Yes each time you make a principal-only payment. If you’re not specifying that your payments are to go to principal only, you can total up how much you send to the debt over the entire month and then enter that total amount once a month by choosing Record Custom Payment. -
I used my credit card and now I owe more on it. How can I show that?
Tap the debt to access the Debt Details screen, then tap the Edit Debt button. Tap Current Balance and change it to the new amount you owe. -
I emailed my debt snowball to myself or to someone else, but it was never received. What’s wrong?
If you have not received your debt snowball via email, check the following things:
1. Tap Settings > Email Addresses and verify that your email address was entered correctly without any typos.
2. Check your spam folder to make sure that the email did not go to spam. Add payoffdebt@parallel-focus.com to your approved senders list, if necessary.
3. Be sure that you are not experiencing any problems with your internet connection.
4. If you are still unable to receive the email, contact me at payoffdebt@parallel-focus.com for help. -
Why does my debt free date say “unknown”?
Your debt free date will say unknown under the following conditions:
1. If you have the snowball off and have a debt with no minimum payment. (Entering a minimum payment amount for that debt will fix this.)
2. If you have the snowball on, have a debt with no minimum payment, and you have not entered an amount in the Additional Amount field. (Entering an amount in the minimum payment field or the Additional Amount field will fix this.)
3. If the amount you are paying on on a particular debt is not enough to reduce the principal balance of that debt. Generally this debt also has a very high interest rate. (Increasing the minimum payment amount for that debt enough will fix this.) -
I had a password set for the app but lost it. How can I get back into the app?
Unfortunately there is no way to recover the password or get to your data, but you can use the app again by deleting it from your iPhone or iPod Touch and then reinstalling it. -
I like the app. How can I help?
If you like the app, it’d help out a lot if you could leave a review for it in iTunes or “Like” Pay Off Debt on Facebook. -
My question isn’t answered here, or I have a suggestion to improve the app. What next?
Email me at payoffdebt@parallel-focus.com and I will get back to you. (For support, include the type of device you are using, along with the version number of the app from the Settings screen.)