Credit Card Payoff Calculator
How fast can you escape? Compare your fixed payment plan to the minimum-payment trap.
Your payoff plan
Months to debt-free
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Total interest paid
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Total paid
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vs minimum payment
Min-payment months
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Min-payment interest
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Why the minimum is a trap
Credit card minimum payments are calculated to keep you in debt as long as legally allowed (the CARD Act of 2009 imposed limits, but they're still slow). A typical minimum is "1% of balance + this month's interest" or $25, whichever is greater.
On a $5,000 balance at 20% APR, paying only the minimum takes about 19 years and costs you $7,317 in interest — more than the balance itself. Paying a fixed $200/mo — about $67 more than the initial $133 minimum — gets you out in under 3 years.
The "right" approach
Pay as much as you can each month. Snowflake the rest (small bonuses, refunds, side income) onto the card. Stop using it. Set a debt-free target date and work backwards to the monthly amount you need to hit it.
The formula
Each month, interest accrues on the current balance, then your payment is applied. This calculator compounds monthly, which is the standard way calculators (including this one) simplify what card issuers actually do — most compound daily, which produces a slightly higher real-world total than the monthly approximation.
Repeat until the balance hits zero. Months-to-payoff is however many iterations that takes; total interest is the sum of every month's interest charge.
Worked example
$5,000 balance at 19.99% APR, paying a fixed $200/month: debt-free in 33 months (2 years 9 months), paying $1,521.02 in interest — $6,521.02 total.
Same balance and rate, but paying only the minimum (1% of balance plus that month's interest, or $25, whichever is greater): it takes 226 months — nearly 19 years — and costs $7,312.87 in interest, more than the balance itself. The starting minimum on that balance is about $133/month, so the $200 fixed payment is only about $67 more — yet it finishes 193 months sooner and saves $5,791.85 in interest.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as the "minimum payment" here?
This calculator models a common minimum-payment structure: 1% of the balance plus that month's interest, with a $25 floor. Actual issuer formulas vary — some use 1%, some 2%, some a flat percentage with no interest add-on — so check your card's terms for the exact formula. The shape of the result (very slow, very expensive) is consistent across issuers even when the exact numbers differ.
What if my payment doesn't cover the interest?
Then the balance grows every month no matter how long you "pay" — this calculator flags that case and shows the minimum payment that would at least cover interest, so the balance stops climbing.
Is a balance transfer worth it?
Often, if you can pay off the balance before the promotional period ends. Balance-transfer cards typically offer 0% APR for 12–21 months in exchange for a one-time transfer fee, commonly a few percent of the amount moved. Run the math: fee cost vs. the interest you'd otherwise pay over that same window using this calculator.
Why might my real payoff differ from this estimate?
New purchases, annual fees, promotional-rate expirations, and daily (instead of monthly) compounding all shift the real number. This calculator assumes a static balance, a static rate, and no new charges — the cleanest case, and a reasonable baseline for comparison.