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Credit Card Payoff Calculator

Updated · By the CalculatorDash editorial team · How we check our maths

Quick answer

Paying $200 a month on a $6,000 balance at 22.99% APR takes about 45 months and costs about $3,000 in interest. Raising the payment to $300 clears it in about 26 months and cuts the interest to roughly $1,640.

Card payoff

$
%
$

Time to pay off

45 months

Shows 0 if the payment doesn't cover the monthly interest; the balance would never fall.

In years
3.8 years
Total interest
$3,012
Interest charged in month one
$114.95

Your payment must be higher than this to make progress.

How this calculator works

Credit card interest compounds monthly at a high rate, so small payments mostly cover interest. This calculator finds how many months a fixed payment takes to clear the balance, assuming you stop using the card, and the total interest along the way.

The result shows why the minimum payment is a trap: card issuers set it so the balance falls very slowly. Even a modest increase in the monthly payment can halve the time and the interest.

The formula

Monthly rate
r = APR ÷ 12 ÷ 100
Months
n = −ln(1 − r × balance ÷ payment) ÷ ln(1 + r)
Interest
n × payment − balance

Worked example

A $6,000 balance at 22.99% APR builds about $115 of interest in the first month. Paying $200 a month clears it in about 45 months with roughly $3,010 of interest. At $300 a month it takes about 26 months and about $1,640 of interest.

Tips

  1. 01Pay more than the minimum, even by a little; it shortens the debt dramatically.
  2. 02A 0% balance-transfer card can help if you can clear the balance before the offer ends. Watch the transfer fee.
  3. 03With several cards, put extra money on the highest-APR card first (the avalanche method) to pay the least interest.

Frequently asked questions

How long will it take to pay off my credit card?

Enter your balance, APR and monthly payment above. The calculation assumes no new purchases and a fixed payment.

Why does my balance barely go down?

At around 23% APR, about 2% of your balance is added as interest every month. If your payment is close to that, most of it pays interest rather than the balance.

Is it better to pay off the highest interest card first?

Mathematically yes (the avalanche method). Paying the smallest balance first (the snowball method) can help motivation but costs a little more in interest.

Should I consolidate credit card debt?

A personal loan or balance transfer at a lower rate can save a lot, as long as you don't run the cards back up. Compare with the debt consolidation calculator.