How to use the Credit Card Payoff Calculator
- Enter your current balance and the card's APR.
- Choose a fixed monthly payment, or a number of months you want to be debt-free in.
- Read the payoff time, total interest and total paid.
What does this tool do?
Credit card interest is charged monthly on the remaining balance, at roughly APR ÷ 12. When you only pay a little more than the interest, most of each payment disappears into interest and the balance falls slowly.
The calculator simulates every month until the balance reaches zero, and tells you if a payment is too small to ever pay the card off.
Why use it?
- See the true cost of carrying a balance.
- Find the payment that clears the debt by a target date.
- Watch the interest drop as the payment rises.
Example
A $5,000 balance at 22.9% APR, paid at $200 a month, takes 35 months to clear and costs $1,859.78 in interest. Raising the payment to $300 clears it in 21 months with about $1,076 in interest.
Accuracy and limits
- Assumes no new purchases, fees or rate changes, and interest calculated monthly. Card issuers usually compound daily, so the real interest can be slightly higher.
Privacy
The calculation happens instantly in your browser. The numbers you enter are not sent to our servers or saved. There's no account to create and nothing to install.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the minimum payment take so long?
Minimum payments are often set to just over the interest plus 1% of the balance, so the balance falls very slowly. Paying a fixed amount above the minimum makes a big difference.
Should I pay off the highest-rate card first?
Mathematically, yes — the “avalanche” method saves the most interest. Some people prefer paying the smallest balance first (the “snowball” method) for quick wins.
Last reviewed by the M2Toolkit team.