Credit Card Payoff Calculator

Compare custom payment strategies vs. minimum payments, project interest savings, and customize timelines.

Card Details

Card Balance ($)

Card APR (%)

Monthly Fixed Payment ($)

Extra Monthly Payment ($)

Minimum Payment % Threshold (comparison default)

Balance decline projection

Accelerated Plan Results

2 yr 1 mo

Monthly Payment:$250.00

Interest Cost:$1,132.29

Total Amount Paid:$6,132.29

Minimum 2% Comparison

Payoff time:40 yr 5 mo

Total Interest:$18,451.17

By choosing the custom goal plan, you save $17,318.87 in interest and pay off debt 460 months sooner!

Understanding credit card debt amortization

Credit cards utilize compound interest computed daily or monthly based on the Annual Percentage Rate (APR). Paying only the minimum balance keeps you in debt for years because the payment is indexed to a percentage of the decreasing total, prolonging interest accruals.

By adding a regular extra monthly contribution or targeting a fixed month count, you accelerate principal reduction, which yields huge long-term savings in overall interest costs.

Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated 1 August 2026

What this tool is used for

Seeing how long a balance takes to clear on the minimum payment.
Comparing a minimum payment against a fixed monthly amount.
Working out the total interest each approach costs.
Testing what a one-off lump sum does to the timeline.
Producing a figure that makes the cost of carrying a balance concrete.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the monthly interest derived from the APR?: APR ÷ 1200 — divide by 100 for the percentage and by 12 for the month. A 19.99% APR is 1.666% a month, so a $5,000 balance accrues about $83 in the first month alone. Card issuers usually compound daily on the average balance, which makes the true annual cost slightly higher than this monthly model.
Why does paying the minimum take so long?: Because the minimum is a PERCENTAGE of the balance, so it shrinks as the balance does — every payment is smaller than the last. The tool models the usual 2% floored at $25, which is why the minimum-payment column runs for decades and costs more in interest than the original purchase.
Where does an extra payment go?: Entirely to principal, because that month's interest is already covered by the scheduled payment. Extra payments are far more effective than their size suggests: $50 a month against $5,000 at 19.99% removes years from the schedule, since every dollar of principal removed removes its future interest too.
What does the target-months mode solve for?: The fixed monthly payment that clears the balance in exactly the number of months you choose. It is the amortisation formula rearranged for payment rather than term — the same relationship as the payoff-time mode, entered from the other end, and the honest way to find out whether a self-imposed deadline is affordable.
Does this account for new purchases on the card?: No — it models paying off a fixed balance. Spending while repaying changes the arithmetic completely, and on cards that have lost their grace period new purchases accrue interest immediately. The schedule assumes the card is not being used, which is also what makes the payoff date real.

Common errors and gotchas

Assuming the minimum payment is constant, when it is usually a percentage that falls as the balance does.
Ignoring that new spending on the card restarts the calculation.
Using the purchase rate for a balance that includes cash advances, which are usually charged more.
Overlooking a promotional rate's expiry date, after which the arithmetic changes sharply.
Forgetting that payments are often allocated to the lowest-rate balance first.