Credit Card Payoff Calculator (Months to Pay Off or Payment Needed)
How long a credit card balance takes to clear at a fixed payment, or the payment that clears it by a date — with total interest and the 36-month payment.
Inputs
- Principal$5,000(78%)
- Total interest$1,449(22%)
| Year | Interest paid so far | Balance left |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $988 | $2,988 |
| 2 | $1,437 | $437 |
| 3 | $1,449 | $0.00 |
- Time to pay off
- 26 months (2 yr 2 mo)
- Total interest
- $1,449
- Total paid
- $6,449
- Interest in the first month
- $100
- Monthly rate
- 24% ÷ 12 = 2%
- Payment to clear it in 36 months
- $196
Use this calculator on your own site
Free embed
- Two lines of HTML, unlimited views
- Shows a small CalculateEveryday bar, with a credit link under the calculator
What each Credit Card Payoff input means
- Work out
- Either enter the payment you can afford and see how long it takes, or enter a deadline and see the payment it needs.
- Outstanding balance
- The current balance on your statement. Stop adding new purchases, or the payoff date moves.
- APR
- The purchase APR on your statement. If part of the balance is on a promotional rate, run that part separately.
- Monthly payment
- The fixed amount you will pay each month. It must be more than the first month's interest (balance × APR ÷ 12).
- Pay off in
- When you want the balance gone, in months: 12 for a year, 36 for three.
Credit Card Payoff formula
Each month: interest = balance × APR ÷ 12; balance = balance + interest − payment · Payment to clear in n months = B × r × (1 + r)^n / ((1 + r)^n − 1)
A credit card charges interest on the balance you carry each month, at a monthly rate of the APR divided by 12 — OpenStax's Contemporary Mathematics uses the same periodic rate in its credit-card section. Your payment covers that month's interest first, and only the rest reduces the balance, which is why small payments barely move it. The page runs the balance forward month by month with no new purchases and counts how many months it takes to reach zero, adding up the interest on the way. Run the other way, it uses the loan formula to find the fixed payment that clears the balance in the number of months you choose. Under the CARD Act, US statements must show how long the balance would take at the minimum payment and what monthly payment would clear it in 36 months; the page shows that 36-month payment for your balance too, so you can compare it with what you pay now.
Credit Card Payoff worked example
A $5,000 balance at 24% APR is charged 2% a month — $100 in the first month — so a $250 payment takes only $150 off the balance at first. Paying $250 every month clears it in 26 months, costing roughly $1,449 in interest ($6,449 total paid). To clear it in 36 months instead, the payment would be about $196.
More Credit Card Payoff examples
Halve the payment to $125 and the same balance takes 82 months — almost seven years — and the interest more than triples to about $5,159, because only $25 of the first payment reduces the balance.
To clear $8,000 at 22% APR in two years, the payment needed is $415 a month; interest over the two years comes to about $1,961.
Where the Credit Card Payoff calculator can give the wrong answer
- If the payment doesn't exceed the first month's interest, the balance never falls and the page says so — this is the minimum-payment trap in numeric form.
- New purchases, annual fees and late-payment penalties aren't added. Interest is worked at APR ÷ 12 on the month's balance; issuers actually use a daily rate on the average daily balance, which gives a slightly different figure.
- Minimum payments on real cards fall as the balance falls (often 1–3% of the balance plus interest), so paying 'the minimum' takes far longer than any fixed payment shown here.
- A 0% balance-transfer offer changes everything until it expires; model the time after the promotion with the rate that applies then, and add the transfer fee to the balance.
- The 600-month cap (50 years) prevents infinite loops; if you hit it, your payment is far too low for the APR.
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Credit Card Payoff reference table
| Monthly payment | Months | Total interest |
|---|---|---|
| 125 | 82 | 5,159 |
| 150 | 56 | 3,322 |
| 200 | 36 | 2,001 |
| 250 | 26 | 1,449 |
| 400 | 15 | 812 |
Credit Card Payoff FAQ
- It depends on the payment more than anything. At 24% APR, a 5,000 balance takes 26 months at 250 a month, 56 months at 150 and 82 months at 125. Enter your own balance, APR and payment above.
- Divide the APR by 12 and multiply by the balance. At 21% APR on a $3,000 balance: 0.21 ÷ 12 = 1.75%, and 3,000 × 0.0175 = $52.50. Issuers actually apply a daily rate to the average daily balance, which comes out close to this.
- Credit cards are unsecured revolving credit with no fixed term, and issuers price in higher losses. Card APRs above 20% are common in the US, while personal loans for good credit often cost much less, which is why paying cards off quickly saves disproportionate interest.
- Enormously. On 5,000 at 24%, going from 125 to 250 a month cuts the time from 82 months to 26 and the interest from about 5,159 to 1,449. Every amount above the month's interest goes straight to the balance.
- US card statements must show the monthly payment that would clear the current balance in three years, alongside how long the minimum payment would take. The page shows the same 36-month figure for your balance, worked with the loan formula at your APR.