Credit Card Payoff Calculator
How long to pay off a credit card at a fixed monthly payment, or the payment needed to clear it by a target month, with total interest and a monthly table.
Credit Card Payoff Calculator: with the default inputs, time to pay off is 4 years, 2 months.
The purchase APR on your statement.
Used when you know the payment.
Used when you know the target date.
- Monthly payment
- $150.00What you pay each month (the required amount in target-date mode).
- Total interest
- $2,359.09
- Total paid
- $7,359.09
- Number of payments
- 50
- Interest in the first month
- $83.33
Assumptions
- Interest is charged monthly at APR ÷ 12 on the remaining balance; issuers' daily-balance method differs by a few cents.
- No new charges, annual fees, late fees or rate changes during the payoff.
- Payments are the same each month; the final payment is whatever clears the balance.
- Balance paid$5,00068%
- Interest$2,35932%
| Month | Payment | Interest | Principal | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150.00 | $83.33 | $66.67 | $4,933.33 |
| 2 | $150.00 | $82.22 | $67.78 | $4,865.56 |
| 3 | $150.00 | $81.09 | $68.91 | $4,796.65 |
| 4 | $150.00 | $79.94 | $70.06 | $4,726.59 |
| 5 | $150.00 | $78.78 | $71.22 | $4,655.37 |
| 6 | $150.00 | $77.59 | $72.41 | $4,582.96 |
| 7 | $150.00 | $76.38 | $73.62 | $4,509.34 |
| 8 | $150.00 | $75.16 | $74.84 | $4,434.50 |
| 9 | $150.00 | $73.91 | $76.09 | $4,358.40 |
| 10 | $150.00 | $72.64 | $77.36 | $4,281.04 |
| 11 | $150.00 | $71.35 | $78.65 | $4,202.40 |
| 12 | $150.00 | $70.04 | $79.96 | $4,122.44 |
5 years of payments.
How this is worked out
The formula
Months to pay off: n = −ln(1 − B·r ÷ A) ÷ ln(1 + r) Payment for a target: A = B × r(1 + r)^n ÷ ((1 + r)^n − 1) B = balance, r = APR ÷ 12, A = monthly payment If A ≤ B·r the balance never falls.
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- What do you know?
- Choose one of 2 options.My monthly payment — how long will it take? · My target date — what must I pay each month?
- Card balance
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 5000
- APR
- The purchase APR on your statement.a percentage · from 0 to 100 · defaults to 20
- Monthly payment
- Used when you know the payment.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 150
- Months to pay off
- Used when you know the target date.from 1 to 600 · whole numbers only · defaults to 24
What you get back
- Time to pay offmain answer
- Monthly payment
- What you pay each month (the required amount in target-date mode).
- Total interest
- Total paid
- Number of payments
- Interest in the first month
What this assumes
- Interest is charged monthly at APR ÷ 12 on the remaining balance; issuers' daily-balance method differs by a few cents.
- No new charges, annual fees, late fees or rate changes during the payoff.
- Payments are the same each month; the final payment is whatever clears the balance.
About this calculator
Credit cards charge interest monthly on whatever you still owe, so a fixed payment splits into a shrinking interest piece and a growing principal piece — the same arithmetic as a loan, only at a much higher rate. This calculator works in both directions: give it your payment and it tells you when you'll be done and what the interest will total; give it a deadline and it tells you the payment that gets you there.
How to use it
Pick the question. Enter the balance and the purchase APR from your statement. In payment mode, enter what you'll actually pay each month (not the minimum the issuer suggests, unless that's really all you can do). In target date mode, enter the number of months you're giving yourself. The month-by-month table shows how each payment splits.
Reading the results
- Time to pay off counts full monthly payments; the last one is usually smaller.
- Total interest is the cost of carrying the balance. At 20% APR, paying $150 a month on $5,000 costs about $2,400 in interest over a little more than four years.
- Interest in the first month is the number to beat: any payment below it means the balance grows. Paying just a little above it means decades of payments.
Why the minimum payment is a trap
Issuers typically set the minimum at 1–3% of the balance plus interest, so it shrinks as you pay and stretches the loan out. On $5,000 at 20% APR, minimum payments can take well over 15 years and more than double the cost. Your statement's "minimum payment warning" box shows the issuer's own version of this math. A fixed payment — the same dollar amount every month — is the single biggest improvement you can make.
Faster ways out
- Balance transfer to a 0% introductory card: the transfer fee (3–5%) is almost always cheaper than months of 20%+ interest, as long as you pay it down before the promo ends.
- Personal loan at 8–15% to consolidate, turning revolving debt into a fixed schedule.
- Avalanche across several cards: put every spare dollar on the highest APR first — see the debt payoff calculator.
Assumptions
Interest is applied monthly at APR ÷ 12 on the outstanding balance, with no new purchases, fees or rate changes. Real issuers compute interest daily on the average daily balance, which shifts totals by a few dollars but not the picture.
Frequently asked questions
▸How long will it take to pay off my credit card?
Solve n = −ln(1 − B·r/A) ÷ ln(1 + r) with B the balance, r the monthly rate (APR ÷ 12) and A your payment. For $5,000 at 20% APR and $150 a month, that's about 49 months — 50 payments with a small final one.
▸How much interest does a credit card charge per month?
Roughly APR ÷ 12 of the balance: 20% APR on $5,000 is about $83 in the first month. Issuers actually apply a daily rate to the average daily balance, which comes out within a few cents of that.
▸Why does paying only the minimum take so long?
Minimums are set at a few percent of the balance plus interest, so they shrink as the balance shrinks and mostly cover interest. Paying a fixed amount instead — even the same dollar figure as your first minimum — cuts years off.
▸Should I pay off the card or save?
Keep a small emergency cushion, then attack the card. Paying down 20% debt is a guaranteed 20% return; no savings account or typical investment comes close.
▸Does a balance transfer make sense?
Usually, if you can pay off most of the balance during the 0% period. A 3% transfer fee on $5,000 is $150 — less than two months of interest at 20% — but new purchases on the card often accrue interest at the full rate.
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