Credit Card Payoff Calculator
See how long it will take to pay off a credit card balance and how much interest you'll pay, or find the monthly payment needed to be debt-free by a target date.
Must be more than $114.50 (this month's interest) to make progress
Time to pay off
2 yr 9 mo
Total interest
$2,100.76
Total paid
$8,100.76
Payoff speed vs. interest cost
| Paid off in | Monthly payment | Total interest |
|---|---|---|
| 6 mo | $1,067.84 | $407.06 |
| 1 yr | $564.17 | $770.02 |
| 1 yr 6 mo | $396.99 | $1,145.90 |
| 2 yr | $313.94 | $1,534.61 |
| 3 yr | $231.95 | $2,350.05 |
| 4 yr | $191.98 | $3,215.05 |
| 5 yr | $168.80 | $4,127.90 |
Assumes no new purchases and a constant APR, with interest compounded monthly. Card issuers typically calculate interest daily on your average daily balance, so real figures can differ slightly.
About this calculator
Credit card debt doesn't have a fixed term the way a car loan or mortgage does, so it's easy to lose track of how long it will really take to clear. Enter your balance and APR, then either the amount you'll pay each month (to see how long payoff takes) or a target number of months (to see the payment required). The table below compares several payoff timelines so you can see how much interest a faster plan saves.
Credit card APRs are typically much higher than rates on mortgages or auto loans, so a big share of a small payment goes to interest. If your payment barely covers the monthly interest, the balance hardly moves, which is why paying only the minimum can stretch a modest balance out over many years. Even a moderate increase in the monthly payment often cuts the payoff time dramatically.
The calculation assumes you stop adding new charges to the card and that the APR stays the same. If you have several cards, two popular strategies are the avalanche method (put extra money toward the highest-APR card first, which minimizes interest) and the snowball method (pay off the smallest balance first for quicker wins). You can run each card through this calculator to plan either one.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does paying the minimum take so long?
- Minimum payments are usually calculated as a small percentage of your balance plus interest, or a small fixed floor. As the balance drops, so does the minimum, so the payoff keeps slowing down. Paying a fixed amount each month, even if it's only a bit more than the current minimum, avoids that trap.
- How is credit card interest calculated?
- Most US card issuers divide the APR by 365 to get a daily periodic rate and apply it to your average daily balance over the billing cycle. This calculator uses the APR divided by 12 each month, which gives very close results for planning purposes.
- Does a balance transfer make sense?
- A 0% introductory balance transfer offer can save a lot of interest if you can pay the balance off before the promotional period ends. Watch for the transfer fee, often a few percent of the amount moved, and for the higher rate that applies afterward.
- Does paying off my card improve my credit score?
- Generally, yes. Credit utilization, how much of your available credit you're using, is a major factor in most credit scores, so lower balances usually help. Keeping the paid-off card open preserves your available credit and the age of the account.