Credit Card Payoff Calculator
How long a balance takes to clear at your payment, what the interest costs, and what paying a little more changes.
32 monthly payments of $250, ending April 2029.
- Balance$6,000
- Interest$1,979
- Total of payments$7,979
- +$25/mo3 months sooner$246 less interest
- +$50/mo6 months sooner$436 less interest
- +$100/mo11 months sooner$710 less interest
Behind the numbers
How the payoff is calculated
Each month, your card charges interest on what’s left — the balance times the monthly rate (APR ÷ 12). Whatever’s left of your payment after interest is what actually shrinks the balance. The calculator runs that month by month until the balance hits zero; the final payment is adjusted so it lands exactly there. And it isn’t card-only math: it works for any fixed-rate balance paid with a fixed amount — a personal loan, medical debt, a balance you owe a person.
balance falls by (payment − interest)
$6,000 · 22% APR · $250 / mo → debt-free in ≈ 32 payments · ≈ $1,980 interest
Two honest notes. Card issuers compound daily on your average daily balance; this uses the standard monthly convention, so your statement can differ slightly. And the projection assumes no new charges land on the card while you pay it down — the math only holds if the balance only moves one way.
Reading the result
The date is the answer; the ring is the cost. The rose slice is the balance you actually owed, the clay slice is what the borrowing charged you on the way out. And if the tool tells you the balance never pays off, that’s not a bug — a payment at or below the monthly interest just rents the debt. The card shows the interest-only line so you can see exactly where progress starts.
Making it faster
- Pay a fixed amount, not the minimum. Minimum payments shrink as the balance shrinks, which stretches the payoff for years. A fixed payment does the opposite: every month, more of it reaches the balance.
- Small increases land hard. Money added early stops interest from ever charging on that slice again — at the defaults, $50 more a month clears the debt about half a year sooner and saves about $440. The strip under the ring shows your own numbers.
- A lower APR changes every month. The rate sets how much of each payment is lost to interest before the balance moves. If a lower rate is available to you, the same dollars work harder.
Questions
Why does paying a little more make such a big difference?
Because extra money goes entirely to the balance, and interest is charged on the balance. Every dollar of principal you clear this month is a dollar that never charges interest again — the savings compound in your favour for the whole rest of the payoff.
Will this match my card statement exactly?
Closely, not to the penny. Issuers compound daily on the average daily balance and post on cycle dates; this uses the standard monthly convention. It also assumes no new charges — spending on the card while paying it down moves the date out.
Should I enter the card’s minimum payment?
Enter what you’ll actually pay each month, as a fixed amount. Minimums are recalculated down as the balance falls, which is why a card paid at the minimum can take many years to clear. A fixed payment — even the same number the minimum starts at — finishes far sooner.
I have several debts — which goes first?
Two well-known orders: highest APR first ("avalanche") pays the least total interest; smallest balance first ("snowball") gets you a finished debt fastest, which some people find easier to stick with. Both work — run each debt here and see what the numbers say.
Is this a payoff plan?
It’s the arithmetic of one. The math is exact for the numbers you enter; whether the payment happens every month is the part only you control — that’s a budgeting question, and it’s the one we’re best at.
Keep going
The payment only happens if your month has room for it. A budget is how you make the room.
Every figure on this page is an estimate for planning, produced by the formulas shown from the numbers you enter. It isn’t a quote, a rate offer, or financial, lending, or tax advice.