Credit Card Payoff Calculator
Find out how long it will take to pay off your credit card balance, how much interest you'll pay, and compare minimum payment vs fixed payment strategies.
Your credit card
Check your card statement or app.
Pay this same amount every month instead of the minimum, and compare the two.
💡 What if I pay…
Drag to explore — updates the Fixed strategy instantly.
Interest is compounded monthly at APR ÷ 12 on the remaining balance.
Minimum payment
- Time to payoff
- 50+ years
- Total interest
- $27,118
- Total paid
- $31,101
- Interest saved
- —
Fixed $200/month
- Time to payoff
- 2 yr 10 mo
- Total interest
- $1,632
- Total paid
- $6,632
- Interest saved
- $25,486 saved ✅
At minimum payments only, this balance will take more than 50 years to pay off. You'll pay $27,118 in interest alone over the first 50 years.
Balance remaining over time
How fast each strategy clears the balance, month by month.
Payment schedule
| Month | Payment | Interest | Principal | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100.00 | $87.46 | $12.54 | $4,987.46 |
| 2 | $99.75 | $87.24 | $12.51 | $4,974.95 |
| 3 | $99.50 | $87.02 | $12.48 | $4,962.47 |
| 4 | $99.25 | $86.80 | $12.45 | $4,950.02 |
| 5 | $99.00 | $86.58 | $12.42 | $4,937.61 |
| 6 | $98.75 | $86.37 | $12.39 | $4,925.22 |
| 7 | $98.50 | $86.15 | $12.35 | $4,912.87 |
| 8 | $98.26 | $85.93 | $12.32 | $4,900.54 |
| 9 | $98.01 | $85.72 | $12.29 | $4,888.25 |
| 10 | $97.77 | $85.50 | $12.26 | $4,875.99 |
| 11 | $97.52 | $85.29 | $12.23 | $4,863.76 |
| 12 | $97.28 | $85.08 | $12.20 | $4,851.56 |
| 13 | $97.03 | $84.86 | $12.17 | $4,839.39 |
| 14 | $96.79 | $84.65 | $12.14 | $4,827.25 |
| 15 | $96.55 | $84.44 | $12.11 | $4,815.14 |
| 16 | $96.30 | $84.22 | $12.08 | $4,803.06 |
| 17 | $96.06 | $84.01 | $12.05 | $4,791.02 |
| 18 | $95.82 | $83.80 | $12.02 | $4,779.00 |
| 19 | $95.58 | $83.59 | $11.99 | $4,767.01 |
| 20 | $95.34 | $83.38 | $11.96 | $4,755.05 |
| 21 | $95.10 | $83.17 | $11.93 | $4,743.13 |
| 22 | $94.86 | $82.97 | $11.90 | $4,731.23 |
| 23 | $94.62 | $82.76 | $11.87 | $4,719.36 |
| 24 | $94.39 | $82.55 | $11.84 | $4,707.52 |
Estimates only. Actual payments may vary based on your card's billing cycle, fees, and any new purchases. Not financial advice.
Carrying balances across multiple cards? The Debt Payoff Calculator helps you prioritize them with the Snowball or Avalanche strategy. For your full financial picture, see the Income Tax Calculator and the Student Loan Calculator.
How to use
- 1
Enter your current credit card balance and the APR printed on your statement or shown in your card's app.
- 2
Set how your issuer calculates the minimum payment — a percentage of the balance with a dollar floor, or one fixed minimum amount.
- 3
Add a fixed monthly payment you could realistically afford, then compare payoff time, total interest and interest saved side by side.
Credit Card Payoff Calculator — See How Long & How Much Interest
Find out how long it takes to pay off your credit card, how much interest you'll pay at the minimum, and how much you save by paying a fixed amount every month instead.
A credit card payoff calculator answers the one question a statement never makes obvious: if you keep paying what you are paying, when does this balance actually reach zero? Enter your balance, your APR and the way your issuer works out the minimum payment, and this tool amortizes the card month by month — interest first, then whatever is left toward principal — until the balance clears. Everything runs in your browser as you type; no balance, rate or payment is ever sent to a server.
Credit card interest is calculated monthly, not yearly. The monthly rate is your APR divided by twelve, applied to the balance you carry. On a $5,000 balance at 20% APR, the first month costs $83.33 in interest. If your minimum payment that month is $100, only $16.67 goes to principal — which is precisely why minimum payments feel like they never move the number. The schedule in this calculator shows that split for every single month.
The strategy comparison is the point of the tool. Minimum payments shrink as the balance shrinks, so the payoff stretches out for decades and interest can end up costing more than the original purchase. A fixed monthly payment does the opposite: the payment stays flat while the interest portion falls, so principal accelerates every month. On a typical card, committing to a couple of hundred dollars a month instead of the minimum turns a multi-decade payoff into a couple of years and saves thousands in interest.
Two guardrails are built in. If a fixed payment is smaller than the card's monthly interest, the calculator tells you instead of pretending the balance falls — mathematically, that balance grows forever. And if minimum payments alone would take more than fifty years, the simulation stops and flags it rather than spinning. If you are juggling more than one card, use the Debt Payoff Calculator to order them by snowball or avalanche, then come back here to stress-test a single card's payoff plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to pay off $5,000 in credit card debt?
It depends almost entirely on what you pay. At a typical 20% APR with a 2%-of-balance minimum, $5,000 takes decades and costs more in interest than the original balance. Paying a flat $200 a month clears the same $5,000 in roughly 33 months with about $1,500 in interest — enter your own numbers above to see both timelines side by side.
What happens if I only pay the minimum?
The minimum is calculated as a small percentage of the balance, so it shrinks every month as the balance falls. Most of each payment goes to interest, principal barely moves, and the payoff date stretches out for years or decades. Paying only the minimum is not a default risk, but it is the most expensive way to carry a balance.
How is credit card interest calculated?
Take your APR, divide it by 12 to get a monthly rate, and multiply it by the balance you carry into the month. A 20.99% APR is about 1.749% per month, so a $3,000 balance accrues roughly $52 in interest. Interest is charged before your payment is applied, so only the amount above the interest reduces what you owe.
Should I pay more than the minimum payment?
Almost always, yes. Every dollar above the month's interest goes straight to principal, which lowers next month's interest too — the effect compounds in your favor. Even an extra $50 a month typically cuts years off the payoff and saves hundreds of dollars, which you can verify by adjusting the fixed monthly payment field above.
Does this calculator include new purchases or fees?
No. It models the balance you enter with no new spending, no annual fee and no late fees. Adding purchases while paying down a card pushes the real payoff date later, so treat these results as a best case for the balance you have today.
What is a typical credit card minimum payment?
Most US issuers use 1% to 3% of the statement balance plus accrued interest, with a dollar floor of about $25 to $35 — whichever is greater. If your statement shows a fixed minimum instead, switch the minimum payment type to "Fixed minimum" and enter that amount.
Will a balance transfer pay off my card faster?
A 0% introductory balance transfer can help a lot, because during the promotional window every dollar goes to principal. Factor in the transfer fee, usually 3% to 5%, and make sure you can clear the balance before the promo rate expires — otherwise the regular APR applies to whatever is left.
Is my data saved anywhere?
No. The entire calculation runs client-side in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored or shared, and there is no signup, so you can model real balances safely.
You might also like
Other tools you might find useful.