Money

Credit Card Payoff Calculator

How long a card takes to clear, what the interest costs, and what paying only the minimum would cost instead.

Enter the balance, the APR and what you can pay each month.

Card balance

APR

The purchase APR on your statement.

What do you pay each month?

A set amount

The minimum

Monthly payment

Whatever you actually pay, not the minimum.

Minimum payment terms

Set by your cardholder agreement and printed on your statement. Most US issuers now charge the interest plus about 1% of the balance, with a floor near $35.

How the minimum is worked out

Percentage of balance

Minimum floor

Estimate. A real-world figure based on the assumptions listed below, which you can change.

How this calculator works

Card interest is charged on the balance you carry, month after month. The monthly rate is the APR divided by twelve, so a 22.99% card charges about 1.916% a month. That interest comes off your payment first, and only what is left reduces the balance — which is why a payment barely above the interest makes almost no progress.

There is no single minimum-payment formula. It is a term of your cardholder agreement, and two shapes are in wide use. Most major US issuers now charge the interest plus roughly 1% of the balance, with a floor of about $35. Older agreements use a flat percentage of the balance instead. You can pick either here, and the difference between them is much larger than it looks.

A flat percentage can fail to clear the card at all. On a $6,000 balance at 22.99%, a 2% minimum is $120 against $114.95 of interest — barely $5 of principal in the first month, less every month after, and it levels off entirely once the floor takes over. That is the reason issuers moved to the interest-plus rule, and this calculator says so plainly rather than showing a payoff date that does not exist.

Whichever you choose, the minimum-payment path is worked out alongside your own, because the gap between the two is the entire point.

The formula

Exactly what happens to your numbers, step by step.

Each month
```
interest  = balance × (APR ÷ 12)
principal = payment − interest
balance   = balance − principal
```
Repeated until the balance reaches zero. The final payment is trimmed to settle the account exactly.
Minimum payment — interest-plus (most issuers today)
```
minimum = max(interest + percent × balance, floor)
```
The interest is covered by construction, so the percentage is always real principal. This always clears the card.
Minimum payment — flat percentage (older agreements)
```
minimum = max(percent × balance, floor)
```
On a high-APR balance this can approach the interest and never clear the card at all.

A worked example

A $6,000 balance at 22.99% APR, paying $250 a month instead of the minimum.

What you enter

Balance: $6,000
APR: 22.99%
Monthly payment: $250
Minimum rule: Interest + 1%, $35 floor

The working

Monthly rate: 22.99% ÷ 12 = 1.9158%
First month of interest: $6,000 × 1.9158% = $114.95
First month of principal: $250 − $114.95 = $135.05
Paying $250: 33 months · $2,113 interest
Paying the minimum: 219 months · $9,969 interest

2 years 9 months and $2,113 of interest — against 18 years 3 months and $9,969

The extra $75 a month over the $174.95 minimum clears the card fifteen and a half years sooner and saves $7,856. Note also that paying the minimum costs more in interest than the $6,000 that was borrowed in the first place.

Assumptions

Every result here rests on these. Change your inputs and the result changes with them.

The APR is fixed and applies to the whole balance.
Interest is charged monthly at the APR divided by twelve, on the balance carried.
No further purchases are made on the card.
Payments are made in full and on time, so no late fees or penalty APR apply.
The minimum payment rule, percentage and floor are the ones you enter, taken from your own agreement.

What this cannot tell you

It cannot tell you your actual minimum payment. That is set by your cardholder agreement — check your statement, where the formula and the floor are printed.
Real issuers charge interest on the average daily balance, not on a single month-end figure. Where you carry a steady balance the difference is small; where the balance swings during the month it will not match your statement to the cent.
Cards with more than one APR — purchases, cash advances and balance transfers at different rates, each with its own payment allocation rules — are not modelled. This assumes a single rate.
Promotional 0% periods are not modelled directly. Enter 0% to see the promotional window alone, then run it again at the standard rate on whatever balance remains.
Fees, penalty rates, and interest on new purchases during a grace period are excluded.

Questions people ask

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

It depends almost entirely on how far your payment exceeds the monthly interest. Enter the balance, the APR and your payment above and the answer is exact. As a rough guide, paying double the minimum typically clears a card three to five times faster.

Why does paying the minimum take so long?

Because most of a minimum payment is interest. On a $6,000 balance at 22.99% the interest alone is $114.95 a month, so a $175 minimum repays about $60 of principal. As the balance falls the minimum falls with it, so progress slows rather than speeds up. That is what turns a two-year debt into an eighteen-year one.

What is my minimum payment?

Your cardholder agreement sets it, and the formula is printed on your statement. Most major US issuers now charge the interest and fees plus about 1% of the balance, with a floor of $25 to $40. Some older agreements use a flat 2% to 3% of the balance instead. Both options are available above.

Can paying the minimum ever fail to clear the card?

Yes — with a flat-percentage minimum on a high-APR balance. If 2% of the balance is only slightly more than the monthly interest, the principal repaid shrinks towards nothing as the balance falls, and the card effectively never clears. This calculator detects that and says so rather than printing a payoff date. Interest-plus minimums always clear the card, because the interest is covered before the percentage is applied.

Does the payoff date here match my statement?

It should be close. Card statements are required to show how long the balance would take to clear at the minimum payment, and this uses the same APR-divided-by-twelve convention. Small differences come from your issuer using the average daily balance rather than a single month-end figure, and from the exact terms of your minimum payment.

Sources and review

Sources

Methodology version 1.0.0 · Last reviewed September 6, 2026