Debt Payoff Calculators
Credit Card Payoff Calculator
Enter your card balance, APR, and monthly payment, and the calculator shows how many months the balance takes to clear and the total interest — $5,000 at 24% APR with $200 a month takes 36 months and $2,000.56 in interest.
Credit card payoff
Debt-free in
3 yr
$2,000.56 total interest
Breakdown
A month-by-month amortization estimate from the balance, APR, and payment you enter. Card interest accrues daily in practice and issuers set their own minimum-payment formulas, so treat these totals as close estimates — not credit counseling or financial advice.
About this calculator
A free credit card payoff calculator that simulates a revolving balance month by month: interest accrues at the card's APR, your payment lands, and the balance falls until it hits zero. It reports the payoff time and total interest for a fixed payment, can solve the payment needed to be debt-free by a target date, and includes a minimum-payment view that shows what paying only the issuer's minimum really costs. The simulation is an amortization estimate from the numbers you enter — card issuers accrue interest daily and set their own minimum formulas — and it is not credit counseling, a consolidation offer, or financial advice.
Why payment size matters so much on a card
Card APRs are several times mortgage or auto rates, so the split between interest and principal is brutal at low payments. On a $5,000 balance at 24% APR, the first month's interest is $100 — a $200 payment retires only $100 of debt, while a $300 payment retires $200, twice as much. That is why moving from $200 to $300 a month cuts the payoff from 36 months and $2,000.56 of interest to 21 months and $1,143.34.
If the payment doesn't at least cover the monthly interest, the balance grows instead of shrinking and the debt never clears. The calculator flags that case explicitly and shows the smallest payment that makes progress, rather than pretending a payoff date exists.
What the simulation assumes
The model applies one twelfth of the APR to the balance each month and then subtracts your payment, with the final month capped at what's actually owed. Real issuers accrue interest daily on the average balance, so a real statement can differ by a few dollars — close enough for planning, not an exact payoff quote. New purchases on the card are not modeled; the payoff math assumes the balance is frozen while you pay it down.
For payoff strategy across multiple cards, the same simulation applies one card at a time: the highest-APR balance costs the most per dollar per month, which is the "avalanche" argument for clearing it first.
By variant
Questions
- Is the credit card payoff calculator free?
- Yes. It is free, needs no account, and simulates in your browser; nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.
- How long does $5,000 at 24% APR take to pay off at $200 a month?
- 36 months, with $2,000.56 of total interest — you pay $7,000.56 to clear a $5,000 balance. Raising the payment to $300 cuts that to 21 months and $1,143.34 of interest.
- Why does the calculator say my payment never pays off the card?
- Because it is less than or equal to one month's interest on the balance, so the balance doesn't fall. On $5,000 at 24% APR, anything at or under $100 a month makes no progress; the calculator shows the minimum that does.
- Does the simulation match my card statement exactly?
- Not to the penny. Issuers accrue interest daily and round differently, and the model assumes no new purchases. Treat results as a close planning estimate rather than a quoted payoff amount.
- Is this credit counseling or debt advice?
- No. It is arithmetic on the balance, APR, and payment you enter. For hardship options, consolidation, or counseling, a qualified nonprofit credit counselor is the right resource.