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. Both modes run on the same amortization math, and both run free in your browser.
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.
- 04.A worked example, by payment. Take a $4,800 balance at 23.99% APR with a $150 monthly payment. The first month's interest is about $96, so only about $54 of that first payment reduces principal. Hold the payment steady and the card takes 52 months to clear, with roughly $2,900 of total interest — more than 60% of the starting balance.
- 05.Now raise the payment to $250. The payoff drops to about 25 months and the interest to roughly $1,300. The extra $100 per month did not just shorten the timeline; it cut the interest bill by more than half, because every additional dollar goes straight to principal once the month's interest is covered.
- 06.A worked example, by timeline. Same card, but you want it gone in 18 months. The calculator solves for the required payment: about $320 per month, with total interest near $960. Stretch the target to 24 months and the payment eases to about $254 while interest rises to roughly $1,290. That is the trade the timeline mode makes visible — months of breathing room, priced in interest dollars.
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, which is why the final third of a payoff moves so much faster than the first. In the worked example above, the first $150 payment splits roughly $96 to interest and $54 to principal; by the closing months, nearly the entire payment is principal. The same mechanics run in reverse for the timeline mode: instead of asking how long a payment takes, the calculator solves for the fixed payment whose amortization lands the balance at zero in your chosen month. 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 rather than show a misleading schedule.
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.
How much of my payment goes to interest?
In the first month, it is balance × APR / 12. On a $4,800 balance at 23.99% APR that is about $96, so a $150 payment reduces principal by only about $54. The split improves every month as the balance falls, which is why payoff accelerates toward the end of the schedule.
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.
Is paying biweekly better than paying monthly?
Slightly, if it increases your annual total. Twenty-six biweekly half-payments add up to thirteen months' worth of payments instead of twelve, and paying earlier in the cycle trims a little interest because most cards accrue on your average daily balance. The bigger lever is the amount, not the calendar: an extra $50 per month outperforms clever timing on nearly every 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 2026-07-23. This calculator runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to RealiPlan unless you create an account.