Credit Card Payoff Calculator
See how many months a fixed payment takes to clear a card balance, and how much interest you’ll pay.
Paying $200.00 a month clears $5,000.00 in 34 months (about 2y 10m). Final payment: $149.88.
Each month a card charges interest of balance × APR ÷ 12; whatever your payment covers beyond that reduces the balance. A $5,000 balance at 22% APR paid at $200 a month clears in 34 months and costs about $1,750 in interest — roughly $6,750 paid in total.
How credit card payoff works
Unlike a fixed loan, a credit card has no set term — how fast it clears depends entirely on what you pay. Every month the card adds interest to the balance at the monthly rate (the APR split into twelve). Your payment first covers that interest; only the leftover chips away at the principal. Pay a bit more than the interest and the balance creeps down; pay a lot more and it drops fast. The calculator simulates this month by month until the balance reaches zero.
Each month: balance = balance + interest − payment. Repeat until the balance ≤ 0. If the payment is not larger than the interest, the balance never falls.
Worked example
You owe $5,000 at 22% APR and can pay $200 a month.
- 1 Find the monthly rate. i = 22 ÷ 100 ÷ 12 ≈ 0.018333 (about 1.83% per month).
- 2 Check the first month’s interest. 5,000 × 0.018333 ≈ $91.67. Your $200 payment covers it, so the balance will fall.
- 3 Subtract the leftover from the balance. After month 1: 5,000 + 91.67 − 200 = $4,891.67 remaining.
- 4 Repeat every month. Recompute interest on the new, smaller balance and subtract the payment again — the interest shrinks as the balance drops.
- 5 Count until zero. The balance reaches zero in 34 months; the last payment is only about $149.88.
- 6 Add up the interest. Total interest ≈ $1,749.88 and total paid ≈ $6,749.88.
How paying more each month cuts a $5,000 balance at 22% APR
Same balance and APR; a bigger monthly payment clears the card far sooner and slashes total interest. Small increases matter a lot near the minimum.
| Monthly payment | Months to clear | Total interest |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | 137 months | $8,678 |
| $150 | 52 months | $2,798 |
| $200 | 34 months | $1,750 |
| $300 | 21 months | $1,022 |
| $500 | 12 months | $574 |
The minimum-payment trap
Card issuers set a low minimum payment — often around 1–3% of the balance — because a smaller payment keeps you in debt longer and earns them more interest. At $100 a month the $5,000 balance above takes more than eleven years and costs over $8,600 in interest, nearly doubling what you borrowed. Doubling the payment to $200 cuts that to under three years and about $1,750. Because interest is charged on the remaining balance every month, it compounds: unpaid interest becomes part of next month’s balance and starts earning interest itself. The single most effective move is to pay well above the minimum, since every extra dollar goes straight to principal and stops future interest before it starts.