Credit Card Payoff Calculator

The Minimum Payment Trap

Credit card interest compounds monthly, and minimum payments are sized to stretch that compounding out for as long as possible. On a $5,000 balance at 18.99% APR, a 2% minimum payment starts around $100 a month, and because so little of it is principal, the payoff can stretch past 30 years and cost more in interest than the original balance. This calculator exists to make that math visible before you commit to a payment plan, not after.

Worked Example: $5,000 at 18.99% APR

Using this calculator's default numbers, a $5,000 balance, 18.99% APR, and a fixed $200 monthly payment with no extra, the simulation runs the balance down month by month, charging interest on whatever remains and applying the rest to principal:

• Monthly interest rate: 18.99% ÷ 12 = 1.5825%
• First month's interest charge: $5,000 × 1.5825% = $79.13, so $120.87 of the $200 payment goes to principal
• Payoff time: about 31 months (roughly 2 years, 7 months)
• Total interest paid: approximately $1,211
• Total amount paid: approximately $6,211

Raise that same payment to $300 and the payoff drops to about 19 months with roughly $704 in interest, a smaller monthly increase than most people expect, for a proportionally much bigger drop in total cost.

When This Calculator Isn't the Right Tool

This page answers one question well: how fast will this specific balance disappear at a given payment? It does not tell you whether you should restructure your debt. If you're carrying high-rate balances across multiple cards and wondering whether a single lower-rate personal loan would save money overall, use the Debt Consolidation Savings Calculator to compare the two paths directly, payoff speed on one card is not the same calculation as consolidation savings across several.

And if the real question underneath "can I pay this off faster" is actually "can I afford to take on more credit, or should I be paying down what I already have," that's a lending-side question. The Debt-to-Income Calculator measures your monthly debt payments against your income, the same ratio a lender checks, which is a very different number from how many months it takes to zero out one card.

Sticking Points People Run Into

My card's minimum payment is higher than what this calculator assumes, why?
Minimum payment formulas differ by issuer. Most use 1-3% of the balance or a flat floor (often $25-$35), whichever is larger, but some add the month's interest and fees on top of a smaller percentage. Check your statement for the exact formula rather than assuming one percentage fits every card.

I have balances on four different cards, should I calculate each one separately here?
Yes, this tool handles one balance and one payment plan at a time. If you're deciding whether to combine several cards into a single loan instead of paying each down individually, that's a different comparison, see the consolidation link above.

Why does it say my payment is too low, even though it's above my statement's minimum?
The check is against that month's interest charge on your current balance, not your card's stated minimum. If your fixed payment doesn't cover the interest accruing that month, typically a high balance combined with a high rate and a modest payment, the balance would grow indefinitely, so the calculator stops the simulation instead of showing a payoff date that will never arrive.