Credit Card Payoff Calculator

Why card debt is so hard to clear

Credit cards charge interest daily on the balance carried past the due date, and the minimum payment is deliberately set low — often around 2% of the balance. At that level most of what you pay covers interest, the principal barely moves, and a balance can survive for well over a decade. This calculator makes that timeline visible, which is usually the moment the arithmetic stops being abstract.

The formula behind it

The number of months is −log(1 − B × r ÷ P) ÷ log(1 + r), where B is the balance, r the monthly rate (APR ÷ 12) and P your monthly payment. There is a hard limit built into that expression: if your payment is less than B × r, it does not even cover the month's interest and the balance grows no matter how long you keep paying.

How to use this calculator

Enter your card balance, the APR and the monthly payment you intend to make. The result shows how many months until the card is clear and the total interest you will pay along the way. Then raise the payment by a modest amount and run it again — the drop in both months and interest is usually dramatic.

Clearing it faster

Pay more than the minimum, always, and keep the payment fixed rather than letting it shrink with the balance. With several cards, the avalanche method — throwing everything spare at the highest APR first — costs the least, while the snowball method of clearing the smallest balance first sustains momentum better for some people. A 0% balance transfer can help substantially, but only if you clear the balance before the promotional period ends and you account for the transfer fee.