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Credit Card Payoff Calculator

How long a fixed payment takes, against what the minimum costs you.

Inputs
$
22.9%
$
Time to clear
2y 11m
NormalExpensivePunishing

Expensive

Total interest paid
1,859.78$
Total you will pay
6,859.78$
Interest in your first payment
95.42$
Of this payment, reducing the debt
104.58$
Paying only the minimum would take
19 years
and would cost in interest
8,453.56$
Interest is charged monthly on the balance · anything above it reduces the debt

Assumes no further spending on the card and a rate that does not change. The minimum is modelled as one percent of the balance plus interest, with a $25 floor.

Every tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.

Interest is charged monthly on the balance, so only the part of a payment above that month's interest reduces the debt. A minimum payment is set as a percentage of the balance, so it shrinks as you pay, stretching repayment across decades.

How to use Credit Card Payoff Calculator

  1. Enter what you owe and the rate. Use the purchase APR from your statement, not a promotional rate that is about to end.
  2. Set what you can pay each month. A fixed amount, held steady rather than falling with the balance.
  3. Compare against the minimum. The last two lines show what paying only the minimum would cost in years and in interest.

About credit card debt

Revolving debt behaves differently from a loan, and the difference is the minimum payment. A loan has a fixed term and a level payment, so it is guaranteed to clear on a known date. A card has neither: the minimum is typically calculated as around one percent of the balance plus that month interest, subject to a small floor, which means it falls every month as the balance falls. The result is a repayment curve that flattens out almost indefinitely — a balance that would clear in three years on a fixed payment can take more than two decades on minimums, and cost several times the original amount in interest. That is not an accident of the arithmetic; it is what the minimum is designed to do. The single most effective change is to fix the payment at today amount and keep it there as the balance falls, which converts the card into something closer to a loan. The second is to stop adding to it, since new spending is charged interest from the statement date once a balance is being carried, and the interest-free grace period no longer applies. The figures here assume both: no further spending, and a payment that does not drift downward.

Frequently asked questions

Why does paying the minimum take so long?
Because the minimum is a percentage of the balance, so it falls as the balance does. Each payment is a little smaller than the last, and most of it is interest, which is why a card can take decades to clear on minimums alone.
What happens if my payment is below the interest?
The balance grows every month and the debt never clears. The payment has to exceed the monthly interest before any of it reduces what you owe, which is the first thing this calculator checks.
Should I pay the highest rate or the smallest balance first?
Paying the highest rate first costs least in interest. Paying the smallest balance first clears individual cards sooner, which some people find easier to sustain. The arithmetic favours the first; the evidence on completion favours whichever you will actually stick to.
Does a balance transfer help?
It can, if the transfer fee is smaller than the interest it saves and you clear the balance before the promotional rate ends. Work out the fee as a percentage and compare it against the interest figure here for the same period.
Is my APR the same as my monthly rate?
No. The monthly rate is roughly the APR divided by twelve. Statements sometimes quote a daily periodic rate instead, which is the APR divided by 365 and applied to the balance each day.

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