Credit Card Payoff Calculator
Two ways to use this. Tell us your monthly payment and we will tell you when the card is paid off and what it costs in interest. Or tell us when you want to be done and we will tell you what monthly payment you need.
How to use it
- 01.Pick the mode. 'By payment' tells you how long a given monthly payment takes. 'By timeline' tells you the payment required to hit a deadline.
- 02.Enter the current balance and the APR shown on your most recent statement. APR is the percent rate (for example 22.99% becomes 22.99).
- 03.For 'by payment', enter your planned monthly amount. For 'by timeline', enter how many months you want to be free of this card.
The method, briefly
Credit card payoff math is amortization with a fixed payment. Each month, the balance accrues interest at one-twelfth of the APR (the monthly periodic rate). Your payment first covers that month's interest, then reduces the principal. As the balance shrinks, the interest portion shrinks too and more of each payment goes to principal. If your monthly payment does not cover the first month's interest, the balance grows and the card is unpayable at that payment level — the calculator will flag this case.
Frequently asked questions
What if my payment does not cover the interest?
The calculator will tell you. If your monthly payment is less than balance × APR / 12, the balance grows every month and the card never pays off. You need a higher payment, a lower APR (via balance transfer or rate negotiation), or both.
Does this account for new charges?
No. The calculator assumes you stop using the card. If you keep charging while paying it down, the payoff math becomes unstable because the balance does not strictly decrease. RealiPlan's Pro tier handles ongoing usage patterns; this free tool does not.
What about 0% intro APR?
If you are inside a 0% intro window, set APR to 0 to see what the card costs you while the promo is active. Then re-run with the post-promo APR to see what happens if you still have a balance when the rate kicks in. For automatic promo expiration modeling in one schedule, RealiPlan Pro handles this natively.
Why does the answer change so much when I change the payment?
Compounding. A small increase in monthly payment moves more dollars from interest to principal each month, which compounds across the payoff timeline. The same is true in reverse — paying $10 less per month can extend payoff by years on a high-APR balance.
Should I focus on this one card or my whole portfolio?
If this is your only debt, focus here. If you have multiple debts, the math gets more interesting — different cards at different APRs change which one to pay off first. The snowball-vs-avalanche calculator at /tools/snowball-vs-avalanche-calculator handles portfolios.
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Track your real debts in RealiPlan — freeLast updated 2026-05-26. This calculator runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to RealiPlan unless you create an account.