❄️ Personal Finance & Money-Savers
Build a Debt Repayment Plan in Kenya: Snowball vs Avalanche (2026)
The pain: You have several debts at once, Fuliza, app loans, a SACCO loan, and no clear order to clear them in.
The outcome: A tracker listing every debt and a payoff order that either saves the most money or delivers quick wins, then rolls each freed-up payment into the next.
For most Kenyans juggling Fuliza and app loans, both methods point to the same first target, because the overdraft or app debt is both smallest and most toxic.
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Snowball vs avalanche
- Avalanche: pay minimums everywhere, throw all extra cash at the HIGHEST effective rate first. Mathematically cheapest.
- Snowball: throw extra at the SMALLEST balance first. Slightly costlier but the quick wins keep you motivated.
⚠️ For most Kenyans juggling Fuliza plus app loans, both methods point to the same first target, so start there either way. The choice only matters for ordering the cheaper SACCO or bank loans afterward. Clear a debt, then roll its freed-up payment into the next, a rolling snowball.
Fill-in template: debt repayment tracker (build as a spreadsheet)
- Creditor
- Type (Fuliza / app / SACCO / bank)
- Total balance
- Interest or fee (state per-day, per-month or p.a.)
- Effective annualised %
- Minimum payment
- Due date
- Payoff order (1, 2, 3 and so on)
- Running balance
- Date cleared
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Questions people ask
Which is better, snowball or avalanche?
Avalanche is mathematically cheapest because you attack the highest effective rate first. Snowball is slightly costlier but the quick wins from clearing the smallest balance keep you motivated. Both are valid.
Does the choice matter for Kenyan borrowers?
Often not for the first target. For most Kenyans juggling Fuliza and app loans, the overdraft or app debt is both smallest and most toxic, so both methods point to it first. The choice only matters for ordering the cheaper SACCO or bank loans afterward.
What is a rolling snowball?
You clear one debt, then roll its freed-up payment into the next debt on top of that debt's own minimum. Each cleared debt makes the next one fall faster.
Keep it current: Effective annualised rates on Fuliza, app loans and SACCO or bank loans move. Confirm current fees on each provider's app before locking your payoff order.
Official sources
- Snowball and avalanche debt-repayment methods
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