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Credit Card Payoff Calculator

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The current amount you owe on your credit card.
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The yearly interest rate your card issuer charges on unpaid balances.
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A set amount you commit to paying every month, regardless of your balance.
Time to Pay Off:2 years, 10 months
Total Paid: $6,749.88
Balance Paid
Interest

Escaping Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt is expensive because interest compounds monthly: your issuer divides your APR by twelve and charges that slice on whatever you still owe, so unpaid interest quietly becomes part of next month's balance. Minimum payments are designed around this math — they're usually just a small percentage of your balance, barely more than the interest itself, so each payment retires only a sliver of principal and the payoff can stretch across decades. Switching to a fixed monthly payment changes everything. Because the payment stays constant while the interest portion shrinks every month, an ever-growing share goes straight to principal. This calculator shows both paths side by side: how long minimum payments really take, and how many years and dollars a steady fixed payment saves.

Term Definitions

Card Balance

This is your current outstanding credit card balance — the total amount you owe right now. You can find it on your latest statement or in your card issuer's app. Interest is charged on this balance each month until it is paid off.

APR (Annual Percentage Rate)

The Annual Percentage Rate is the yearly cost of carrying a balance on your card, expressed as a percentage. Credit card APRs are typically much higher than other loans — often 18% to 30%. Your issuer divides this rate by 12 and charges that portion on your balance every month, which is why balances can grow so quickly.

Fixed Monthly Payment

Instead of paying the shrinking minimum, you choose one steady amount to pay every month. Because the payment stays the same while the interest portion falls each month, more of every payment goes toward your balance over time — cutting years off the payoff and saving a substantial amount of interest.

Minimum Payment (% of Balance)

Most card issuers set the minimum payment as a small percentage of your current balance, commonly 1% to 3%. Because the payment shrinks as your balance shrinks, paying only the minimum stretches the payoff over many years and dramatically increases the total interest you pay.

Minimum Payment Floor

When the percentage-based minimum payment falls below a set dollar amount — often $25 or $35 — your issuer charges this fixed floor instead. The floor is what finally finishes off a small remaining balance, since a pure percentage payment would shrink forever without reaching zero.