How To Find Out How Much Debt You Owe

Tracking your debt is an important aspect of managing your finances, but facing what you owe can be intimidating. Ignoring your debts may save you from the stress—temporarily at least—but it's not a smart move.

Debt, especially high-interest-rate debt, can spiral out of control if you ignore it, cautioned Madison Block of the American Consumer Credit Counseling.

You may be unsure about where to find details of all your debts, but the information isn't too hard to track down. We'll show you how to pull together a list of your accounts, and walk you through some tips on organizing the information so it's easier to take action on.

How To Find All Your Debt

Since most of your credit card issuers and lenders will have reported your account details to at least one of three major credit bureaus, your credit reports are a great place to start. You can order your reports directly from any of the credit bureaus or grab a free copy at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Once you have your credit reports, you'll see a list of both open and closed accounts. These will include credit cards, auto and personal loans, and collections (delinquent accounts that have been sent to a third-party for further collection). Your credit report will include the last reported balance, but because credit reports aren't updated in real time, your credit report may not reflect the latest balance on all of your accounts.

Your debt list should also include debts not picked up on your credit report. These could be installment payments, fines or fees, medical debts, and loans from family and friends, and anything else that may not be reported to the credit bureaus. For instance, you can include in your debt list a cell phone on an installment plan, rent-to-own arrangements, or buy now, pay later balances. Make sure you also list past-due child support, rent, or back taxes you owe so your debt plan addresses these, too.

You can verify your debt balances and the amounts by accessing your online credit card and loan account, checking billing statements or loan agreements, or reviewing court orders.

Organizing Your Debt Accounts

Having a list of your debts gives you a better idea of where you stand, but a list of debts can be hard to act on. By prioritizing the figures on your list, you have a roadmap to guide your debt journey. For example, if you're following the debt snowball method, you'd organize your list of debts from the lowest balance to the highest. Or you might decide to pay off bad debts first—those with high interest rates— then focus on getting rid of your less-expensive debt.

Spreadsheet

If you're savvy with spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, you can use it to organize your debt accounts and create custom calculations to better understand your debt picture.

Dedicated Apps

Using a computer or smartphone debt reduction app can help you organize your debt accounts while saving time on data entry and doing calculations. There are both free and paid options with features including automatic debt plan creation, real-time balance updates, and calendar syncing.

Tracking Debt and Managing Your Budget

Tracking your debt in the same place as your budget—for example in a budgeting app or a spreadsheet—allows you to make more informed decisions about reducing your debt. You can make adjustments to your budget and see how it may affect your ability to reduce your debt.

If you're using a spreadsheet to keep up with your debt, you can create formulas to give you additional insight into your accounts. For example, you can determine how much of your monthly income is going toward debt payments with a formula to calculate your debt-to-income ratio—your total monthly debt payments divided by your total monthly income. Or you can estimate the total interest you'll pay on a loan with the CUMIPMT calculation in a Google Sheets spreadsheet, using the interest rate, number of payments, balance, and timing of the first and last payments.

No matter which method you choose, keeping up with your monthly payments, current balance, and any interest rate changes is key to staying on track.

The Bottom Line

Life can change while you're paying off debt, and that may mean reorganizing your accounts when your income changes, your family grows, or even as you pay off debts. Review your plan periodically—once a year, for example—to check your progress and make adjustments if you need to.

Now that you have all your debts in one place, the next step will be choosing a debt reduction strategy. Having your debt organized makes it easier to compare strategies and choose one that will be most effective for your finances and your debt payoff goal.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)