Credit Card Payoff Calculator
Two ways to attack a card balance: enter your monthly payment to see how long payoff takes and what it costs in interest — or set a target date and get the payment that hits it.
Payoff plan
Example: $5,000 at 20% APR, $150/mo → debt-free in 4 yr 2 mo.
Fixed payments beat sliding minimums
The worked example — a $5,000 balance at 20% APR with a fixed $150 payment — clears in 4 yr 2 mo at a cost of $2,359 in interest. Want out in two years instead? The target-date mode shows $254.48 a month does it. Both figures come from the same tested engine as the calculator. The lesson generalizes: because interest accrues on the balance, every dollar above the interest charge is what actually shrinks the debt — fixed payments concentrate those dollars, sliding minimums starve them.
If you hold several cards
Pay minimums on everything, then put every spare dollar on the highest-APR card (the "avalanche" — mathematically optimal), or on the smallest balance (the "snowball" — faster visible wins). Both work; the avalanche saves more interest, the snowball is easier to stick to. When a consolidation loan's fee-adjusted APR beats your cards, compare totals with the Personal Loan Calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Why do minimum payments take decades?
Card minimums are typically set near 1–3% of the balance — barely above the monthly interest — so almost nothing reduces principal, and as the balance shrinks the minimum shrinks with it, stretching payoff for decades. A fixed payment (rather than the sliding minimum) breaks that pattern.
Does this account for new purchases?
No — it models a frozen balance being paid down. New spending on the card extends everything. The standard advice while paying down a card is to move day-to-day spending elsewhere so the balance only moves in one direction.
How is credit-card interest actually charged?
Cards typically accrue interest daily on your average balance, which compounds slightly faster than the monthly model used here — this calculator (like most) uses monthly compounding at APR ÷ 12, which lands within a few percent of the daily-accrual total over a full payoff.
What is the fastest way out of card debt?
Pay a fixed amount well above the minimum; put any extra on the highest-APR card first (avalanche); and consider a 0% balance-transfer offer or a consolidation loan if the math beats your current APR after fees — compare with the Personal Loan Calculator.
Not financial advice: a general educational estimate using monthly compounding; card issuers typically accrue daily, which differs slightly. Values are processed locally in your browser and never transmitted. See the methodology page.