Debt & Credit
Credit Card Payoff Calculator
Enter your balance, APR, and monthly payment to see exactly how many months until your card is paid off and how much interest you'll pay in total.
🔒 All calculations happen instantly in your browser. No data is sent to any server.
How the calculation works
Credit cards use simple monthly interest on the average daily balance. This calculator approximates it as:
Monthly Interest = Balance × (APR ÷ 12)
New Balance = Balance + Monthly Interest − Payment
Repeat until balance = 0. Count the months.
Example: $5,000 at 20.99% APR · $200/month
Month 1 interest = $5,000 × 0.01749 = $87.46 → Balance after payment = $4,887.46
Continue... → paid off in approximately 31 months with $1,190 interest
Frequently Asked Questions
- Most credit cards compound interest daily. The daily periodic rate = APR ÷ 365. It's applied to your average daily balance each day, then charged to your account monthly. This calculator uses monthly compounding as a close approximation.
- Minimum payments are typically 1–2% of balance or a fixed amount (e.g. $25), whichever is higher. On a $5,000 balance at 20% APR paying only minimums, payoff takes 20+ years and costs over $5,000 in interest. Use the Minimum Payment Calculator to see this.
- For a $5,000 balance at 20.99% APR to be paid off in exactly 12 months, you'd need approximately $463/month. Use trial-and-error in the calculator to find your target payment for any specific timeframe.
- Yes — significantly. On a $5,000 balance, the difference between 15% and 25% APR at $150/month is over $700 in extra interest. Getting a lower-rate balance transfer or personal loan can meaningfully reduce your total cost.
- Absolutely. Every extra dollar above the minimum directly reduces principal, cutting the interest on every future month. Paying $50 more per month on a typical card can cut years off the payoff timeline.