Free Debt Repayment Spreadsheet | Credit Canada

Getting out of debt is a major goal for many Canadians. Paying off your debt is liberating and makes it easier to achieve your other financial goals – like owning a home, starting your own business or retiring.

However, with the high cost of living and occasional emergency expenses, it can be difficult to make progress toward your goal of becoming debt-free.

Credit Canada has created a free debt payoff spreadsheet to help you get out of debt. This spreadsheet will help you understand your total debt and track your progress toward debt relief.

Get your free debt repayment spreadsheet

Get help tracking your progress toward debt relief. Download Debt Repayment Spreadsheet.

How to Use a Debt Repayment Spreadsheet

Step 1: Gather information

Before you start using the spreadsheet, you’ll need to gather some key information, such as your estimated monthly income and details about your debts.

• Debt amounts

• Interest rates (if applicable)

• Debt payment due dates

• Minimum payment amounts for each debt

• Payment plan details

• Creditors for each debt

• Estimated payment dates (if available)

Gathering information about your debts will help you fill out a payoff spreadsheet and better understand how close you are to meeting your goal. This information is also useful for prioritizing which debts to focus on paying off first.

Where can you find this information? For most debts, you can find this information on the statement issued by your creditor. If you can’t find your statement, contact your creditor and request a copy of your statement. It can also help to record the creditor’s contact information in a spreadsheet.

You can also check your credit report to see what debts you have on record. In any case, you should check your credit report for any unfamiliar debts that you may need to dispute.

Step 2: Download the spreadsheet

Download Debt Repayment Spreadsheet Document and save it to your computer or mobile device. This is a Google spreadsheet that you can copy to Google Drive or download.

Step 3: Fill in the information in the first month of the spreadsheet.

For each debt you have, add its information to the repayment schedule. Make sure to clearly label each debt and check the data for each debt.

Step 4: Prioritize Your Debts

Identify the most important debts to pay off first. One common strategy is to prioritize the debts with the highest interest rates to pay off first while paying off the minimum amounts for each other debt. (More on this strategy later.)

Step 5: Record your progress at the end of the month.

This is the fun part! At the end of each month, go to the tab for the next month and enter the updated information for each of your debts. Repeat this process at the end of each month until you have paid off all of your debts.

Here is a screenshot of the debt repayment spreadsheet:

Get a tutorial on how to use this spreadsheet to track your debt repayment and achieve your goal of getting out of debt by clicking here. This linkHere’s a breakdown of how to use the spreadsheet:

• In the Overview box, enter the current month in the cell next to the Starting Month cell.

• Choose a payment method from the drop-down list – Avalanche or Snowball (you can find information about each of these methods in the spreadsheet and in the next section of this article).

• Add up all your debts to determine your total starting balance.

• In the following months, you can subtract your current debt total from your initial debt to determine your overall progress. For example, if you started with $25,000 in debt and paid it down to $20,000, you would have made $5,000 in progress.

• In each of the sections with the blue “Enter name here” bars, name each of your debts and enter the information for each one – the opening balance, the current balance, the minimum monthly payment amount, and the interest rate (if applicable).

• In the “Month” section, replace the text “Month 1” with the current month and year (for example, August 2024), the next month with “Month 2”, and so on.

• Each month, record how much you paid on each debt and track your current balance. Repeat this process for each row in the spreadsheet. When you update your current balance, you’ll see that the “Percentage Paid” section will automatically update.

• The graph in the upper right corner of the spreadsheet provides a visual display of your overall progress toward paying off your debt to help you stay motivated and on track.

Strategies for Effective Debt Repayment

When you’re working on paying off your debt, you need to choose a strategy that fits your situation and that you’re confident you can stick to. This will help you achieve your debt repayment goal by keeping you focused. Two strategies to consider are the avalanche method and the snowball method for paying off debt.

• Paying off bad debts. Here, you put all of your extra payments toward the highest-interest-rate debt until it’s paid off while only making minimum payments on the other debts. Once you pay off the debt, you can roll any extra payments that would have gone to it over to the next highest-interest-rate debt — and repeat until all of the debts are paid off. This method tends to save you the most money in the long run because it eliminates the highest-interest debt first.

• Pay off accumulated debts. This is when you focus on the smallest debts first and then make additional payments on the next debt once the smallest debt is paid off. Many people find it easier to stay motivated to pay off debt under this strategy because they see the debt being eliminated faster than the avalanche method.

• Use unexpected wealth to pay off debt. If you get an unexpected financial windfall like an inheritance or tax refund, consider putting that extra money toward paying off your highest-interest debt. This can help you save money on interest, pay off debt faster, and put you in a better position to achieve your financial goals later on.

• Switch to prepaid or debit cards. Using prepaid credit cards instead of traditional credit cards can help you avoid paying interest and stick to your shopping budget since you can only spend what is available on the card. Many banks also offer debit cards with credit logos that can be processed like a credit card but withdraw money from your checking account.

“If you are dealing with debt, dealing with it head-on is always the best course of action. Ignoring or overlooking it will only make things worse in the long run.”

Mike Bergeron, Director of Advisors, Credit Canada

Modify your debt repayment plan as needed.

As you make progress in paying off your debt, plan to evaluate and adjust your debt repayment plan regularly. Update your debt repayment spreadsheet each month to see your progress and change how you allocate your money if necessary.

For example, let’s say your mortgage is up for renegotiation and the terms change to make your monthly payment different. You’ll need to rebalance your debt payments to account for this change. However, mortgage negotiations can also be a good opportunity to leverage the equity in your home to consolidate your high-interest debt into your mortgage.

Need more help managing debt?

If you need information and advice on using a debt payoff spreadsheet or getting out of debt, reach out to Credit Canada’s certified credit counselors. Our counselors have helped thousands of people get out of debt and stay debt-free afterwards.

You don’t have to face the challenges of paying off debt alone. With resources like the free debt payoff spreadsheet and credit counseling, there is a path to getting out of debt.