Credit Card Payoff Calculator
Plan a payoff date for your card balance and see the payment required to hit it.
About Credit Card Payoff Calculator
The required payment to clear a balance by a chosen date is exactly the PMT (payment) formula used for amortizing loans — your credit card balance behaves like a loan with the target payoff date as the term. Setting a concrete target date transforms an open-ended revolving balance into an actionable plan.
Formula
Required monthly payment
Payment = Balance × monthly_rate / (1 − (1 + monthly_rate)^−n)
- M
- Required monthly payment
- B
- Current balance
- r
- Monthly rate = APR / 12
- n
- Target payoff months
Worked example
With the default values below, Credit Card Payoff Calculator returns Required Monthly Payment of $233.43. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Current Balanceaccepts 1–500,000 $
- 4,500 $
- Annual Percentage Rate (APR)accepts 0–100 %
- 21.99 %
- Target Payoff Periodaccepts 1–600 months
- 24 months
Results
- Required Monthly Payment
- $233.43
- Total Interest Paid
- $1,102.31
- Total Amount Paid
- $5,602.31
- First Month's Interest
- $82.46
- Interest Saved vs. Double the TimeInterest you avoid by paying on the target schedule vs. taking twice as long.
- $1,201.83
Step by step
- 1Monthly rate= 1.8325%
- 2First month's interest= $82.46
- 3Required payment (PMT formula)= $233.43
- 4Total paid over period= $5,602.31
- 5Interest vs. paying over twice as long= $1,202 savedPaying off in 24 months costs $1,102 in interest vs. $2,304 over 48 months.
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 3 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or fees or charges into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- This is an estimate for general information and not professional financial, tax or legal advice. See the full disclaimer for the limits that apply to this kind of calculator.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Credit Card Payoff Calculator — full guide
Turning a revolving balance into a deadline
Credit card debt has no term. The statement shows a minimum, the minimum mostly covers interest, and the balance drifts. This calculator inverts the problem: you name the month you want to be clear, and it tells you the payment that gets you there. Inputs are the current balance, the APR, and the target payoff period in months.
Typical uses: clearing a holiday balance before a mortgage application, budgeting a fixed debt line for the next two years, or sanity-checking a balance transfer offer.
The formula is the loan payment formula
A card balance you stop charging to behaves exactly like an amortizing loan whose term is the deadline you chose.
Payment = Balance × r / (1 − (1 + r)^−n)
- r is the monthly rate, APR ÷ 12
- n is the target payoff period in months
The default case
$4,500 at 21.99% APR, cleared in 24 months.
- Monthly rate: 0.2199 ÷ 12 = 0.0183250
- (1.018325)^−24 = 0.646735
- 4,500 × 0.018325 = 82.4625
- 82.4625 ÷ 0.353265 = $233.43 a month
Twenty-four payments total $5,602.31, so the interest is $1,102.31 — you repay about 1.25 times what you borrowed. Month one's interest is $82.46, which means $150.97, roughly 65%, goes straight at the balance from the first payment.
The cost of a longer deadline
| Target period | Monthly payment | Total interest |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | $421.15 | $553.84 |
| 24 months | $233.43 | $1,102.31 |
| 36 months | $171.83 | $1,686.02 |
| 48 months | $141.75 | $2,304.14 |
Doubling 24 months to 48 saves $91.68 a month and costs an extra $1,201.83 in interest — that figure is the Interest Saved vs. Double the Time result. The payment drops by 39%; the interest more than doubles.
Interpreting your number
If the required payment is comfortable, lock it in as a fixed transfer rather than paying the minimum. If it is not, extend by three or six months rather than giving up on a deadline entirely: the relationship is non-linear, so the first few extra months buy most of the relief. For comparison, a typical 2% minimum on $4,500 is about $90 — barely above the $82 of first-month interest, which is how balances stay alive for years.
Assumptions
- No new purchases. One new charge invalidates the schedule.
- One constant APR, no promotional period, no penalty rate.
- No annual fee, late fee, or cash-advance rate.
- Equal payments arriving monthly.
Related: Debt Payoff Calculator, Personal Loan Calculator, Loan Calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if the required payment seems too high?
Extend your target period by a few months — the relationship is non-linear because interest costs fall faster than the payment drops. Alternatively, use the Debt Consolidation Calculator to check whether a personal loan at a lower rate could reduce the payment.
Does this account for ongoing purchases?
No. This calculator assumes you stop adding charges to the card during the payoff period. Every new purchase resets the math; tracking those separately is the most accurate approach.
How is this different from the Credit Card Calculator?
The Credit Card Calculator answers 'how long does it take to pay off if I pay $X/month?' This calculator answers the reverse: 'how much must I pay each month to be done by date Y?'
Can I model a 0% promotional APR period with this?
Not directly — the calculator applies one constant APR across the whole payoff period. For a 15-month 0% offer, divide the balance by 15 to get the payment that clears it before interest starts. If you expect to still owe something when the promotion ends, run that leftover amount here at the go-to APR to plan the rest.
What does the First Month's Interest result tell me?
It is the cost of carrying the balance for one more month: $82.46 on $4,500 at 21.99%. Compare it to your payment. At the required $233.43, about 65% attacks the principal. At a $90 minimum, only $7.54 would, which is why minimum payments stretch a two-year debt into decades.
How does this compare with my card's stated minimum payment?
The required payment is almost always far higher. Most issuers set the minimum at roughly 1–3% of the balance plus accrued interest, so around $90 here — and minimums shrink as the balance falls, extending the payoff indefinitely. A fixed $233.43 does not shrink, which is exactly why it reaches zero on schedule.
Can I use this to evaluate a balance transfer offer?
Partly. Enter the transfer card's APR and the months you want, then compare the total interest against staying put. The transfer fee, typically 3–5% of the amount moved, is not an input — add it to the balance before you calculate. On $4,500 a 3% fee is $135, which a drop from 21.99% to 14.99% would recover quickly.