Credit Card Payoff Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Enter the monthly budget you can set aside for credit cards in total.
2. Add each card's balance, minimum payment and interest rate. Naming a card is optional, but it makes the plan easier to follow.
3. Press Calculate Payoff to see how long the whole plan takes and what it costs.
4. Read the per-card schedule to see exactly what to pay on each card, month by month.

Your budget has to cover every minimum payment before any plan is possible — that is the floor the card issuers set. Everything you can add above that floor is what actually clears the debt.

The debt avalanche method

With several cards you have one real decision to make: where does the spare money go? The avalanche answers it with arithmetic. Pay every card its minimum, then send every remaining dollar to the card with the highest interest rate — because that is the balance charging you the most for each additional month it survives.

When the top card clears, its entire payment rolls onto the next-highest rate, which is why the plan accelerates: the amount attacking your debt grows every time a card disappears, even though your budget never changes. No other payment order clears the same debt for less interest.

How credit card interest works

Card interest is quoted as an APR but charged on your balance, so carrying a balance costs money every month. Divide the APR by 12 for the monthly rate: a 22% APR is about 1.83% a month. Because the charge is based on what you owe, the interest shrinks as the balance falls — which is why extra payments compound in your favour. Paying the statement in full each month avoids interest entirely.

A worked example: three cards, $500 a month

Say you owe $4,600 at 18.99%, $3,900 at 19.99% and $6,000 at 15.99%, with minimums of $100, $90 and $120. That is $14,500 of debt and $310 of minimums. Putting $500 a month toward the cards clears all three in 38 months for $18,971.20 — of which $4,471.20 is interest.

The plan starts by paying $280 on the 19.99% card (its $90 minimum plus the whole $190 surplus), while the other two get their minimums. That card clears in month 16, and its $280 moves to the 18.99% card, which now gets $380 a month and clears in month 28. Everything then lands on the last card, which takes the full $500 until it is gone in month 38.

Watch what the extra money does: the same $500 budget pays off the first card in 16 months, the second 12 months later, and the third only 10 months after that. The debt clears faster and faster because the payment attacking it keeps growing.

Why the payment order matters so much

The minimums alone are a slow, expensive plan. Those same three cards charge $217.71 of interest in the first month, so paying the $310 of minimums leaves only about $92 attacking a $14,500 debt. It still clears — in 82 months, or nearly seven years, at a cost of $10,696 in interest.

Raising the budget to $500 — $190 a month more — cuts that to 38 months and $4,471 of interest. You pay more each month and less in total: $18,971 instead of $25,196, a saving of over $6,200, because every one of those extra dollars goes straight at the principal of the most expensive card instead of renting it for another year.

Strategies to clear it faster

• Avalanche — highest interest rate first. This is what the calculator plans, and it costs the least total interest.
• Snowball — smallest balance first for a quick, motivating win, then roll that payment into the next card. It costs a little more but is easier for some people to sustain.
• Balance transfer — a 0% intro-APR card pauses interest; clear the balance before the promo ends and mind the transfer fee (typically 3–5%).
• Pay biweekly — half-payments every two weeks make one extra monthly payment a year and cut the balance the interest is charged on.
• Stop adding charges — a plan only works on a balance that has stopped growing.

Why paying it down beats saving

If you carry a balance at 20% or more, clearing it is effectively a guaranteed, tax-free 20% return — more than almost any investment reliably earns. Prioritising high-interest debt is usually the highest-value thing you can do with a spare dollar. To see that same compounding working for you instead, use the compound interest calculator.

Limitations

• It assumes a fixed monthly budget and a fixed rate on each card; real minimum payments shrink as the balance falls, and real rates can change.
• It assumes you stop adding new charges — fresh purchases restart the cycle.
• Interest is applied monthly. Most issuers compound daily, which costs slightly more than shown.
• It does not model fees, penalty APRs, or the effect of a missed payment.

For a general fixed-rate debt with a set term, see the payment calculator; to work out the rate a quoted payment implies, use the interest rate calculator; and to grow savings once the cards are clear, try the savings calculator. This is general educational information, not financial advice.