Dave Ramsey's Pro-Rata Debts Spreadsheet

What happens when you can't pay your creditors all the money they're asking for each month?

According to Dave Ramsey, in his ultra-popular book The Total Money Makeover, the first step is to determine exactly how much income you can put toward your debts during the month. Then you divide that money fairly amongst your creditors, paying each one an amount proportional to that creditor's share of your total debt.

No, the math here isn't difficult. But it's even easier when a spreadsheet does it for you:

Simply plug in your disposable income (the amount you can put toward your debts) for the month. Then list out all your debts and/or creditors and the balances you owe them. The worksheet tallies up your debt and computes the "fair share" payment for each creditor.

Additionally, since Ramsey recommends sending a copy of the Pro Rata Worksheet to each of your creditors along with your payment, the spreadsheet carries over your data to a second worksheet which is formatted for quick 'n' easy printing.

If all this sounds like something you'd be interested in, just snag the file below.

Using the Pro Rata Debts Spreadsheet ought to be extremely easy. But just in case, I'll add a few more details here:

PRO RATA DEBTS Worksheet:
Entering Disposable Income and All Debts

The worksheet has very few inputs, really. All required figures are entered on the PRO RATA DEBTS worksheet. You'll enter data in the light-blue cells only. If there are numbers in these cells already, simply overwrite them with your own.

1. Monthly Disposable Income ($)
   How much money can you honestly put toward your debts this month? Enter that amount here.
2. Debt/Creditor
   In this column, list all your debts and/or creditors. You'll find space to list up to 25 separate debts.
3. Total Payoff or Balance
   In this column, list the total current balance you owe each creditor. ("Total balance" means the total balance you owe to fully pay off the note — not just the payment they're asking for.)

And that's all the spreadsheet needs from you. Now here's what it gives back:

Keeping Things Fair:
% of All Debt and New Payments

For each debt or creditor, you'll see:

1. % of All Debt
   This tells how much each of your individual debts represents, percentage-wise, of your total debt. This figure is important because it also represents how much of your Monthly Disposable Income (see above) should go to each creditor.
2. New Payment
   This is the "pro-rated" payment to send to each creditor. It assures that each creditor is paid an amount equal to that debt's share of your total debt. It assures that no preference is shown to any one creditor or creditors.

Gotta Be Printer-Friendly

Obviously, Ramsey advises his readers to send payments — no matter how small — to every creditor, every month. But he also strongly encourages them to send, along with payments, a copy of their monthly budget as well as a copy of this Pro Rata Debts worksheet.

Because of this, I added a second worksheet: PRO RATA DEBTS (PRINTABLE).

Once you've filled out the first worksheet, your figures will carry over to the PRO RATA DEBTS (PRINTABLE) worksheet. It's presented in a much more printer-friendly format so that you can — that's right! — print out paper copies.

Questions? Comments? Contact Me!

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