If your payoff method changed and you did not change it, Auto-adjust Payoff Plan did. Here is what it is, the exact rule it follows, and how to turn it off.
What Auto does
The two best known payoff orders are the debt snowball (smallest balance first, for momentum) and the debt avalanche (highest interest rate first, for the least interest). Which one is better depends on your actual balances and rates, and the answer can change as you pay things off. Auto runs both against your accounts and keeps you on the one that fits:
- You start on the snowball, because the early wins matter more than the math while the gap is small.
- Auto moves you to the avalanche when it would save at least $250 in interest, or 2% of your total balance if that is more, or would get you debt free at least two months sooner.
- Once on the avalanche, Auto only moves you back when that advantage has mostly gone away, so you are not flipped back and forth by a small change.
Auto only ever chooses between snowball and avalanche. If you use any other method (hybrid, cash flow index, custom order and the rest), Auto stays out of the way.
When it checks
Auto rechecks when the debts in your plan change (a new account, a paid off account, a rate or minimum change) and on the first of every month after the monthly rollover. It does not run on every page load.
How you find out
Whenever Auto switches your method, the next time you log in you see a notice at the top of the page saying which method you were on, which one you are on now, and roughly what it saves. The notice has an Undo button that puts the old method back in one click. Undo also turns Auto off so it will not re-apply the same switch.
Turning it on or off
Open My Account, go to the Options tab and use the Auto-adjust Payoff Plan switch, next to Auto Budget Adjustment. Turning it on runs a check immediately, so if the avalanche is already the better fit you will see the notice right away. Turning it off keeps whatever method you are on.
You can also turn it off without visiting My Account: pick any payoff method yourself, on My Account or the Snowball Table, and Auto switches off, because a choice you made by hand should stick.
New members
The guided setup offers Auto as its default at the method step. Most new members take it, which is why the plan can change a month or two in once the numbers start to separate.