Credit Card Payoff Calculator

Walk a credit-card balance month by month under a fixed payment. Type the balance, the APR, and what you can afford each month — the months to payoff, total interest, and a payoff date appear live. Add an extra monthly payment or a one-time payment at any month to see how it changes the schedule side by side. The tool also flags the minimum-payment trap — when the monthly payment is at or below the first month's interest, the balance grows instead of shrinking. Pure client-side math, no upload, no tracking.

Months to payoff — —
Total interest —
Total paid —
Effective monthly rate —

What if you pay more?

Side-by-side comparison of the base scenario (monthly payment only) versus the with extras scenario (monthly payment + extra monthly + one-time). The delta shows how much sooner you finish and how much interest you save.

Base (monthly payment only) —
With extras —
Saved —
Year-by-year schedule

Closing balance at the end of each calendar year, with the year's interest and principal portions of the payment.

Year Interest paid Principal paid Total paid Closing balance

How the math works

Each month, interest is charged on the previous month's closing balance at a rate of APR ÷ 12 (the standard bank-statement approximation). The monthly payment is then applied — first to interest, then to principal. The final month is clamped so you never pay more than the remaining interest + principal.

The minimum-payment trap fires when your monthly payment is at or below the first month's interest charge: the balance grows instead of shrinks, and the schedule hits the 50-year cap. A safe target is to pay at least the monthly interest plus 1–2% of the original balance each month.

We deliberately do not model APR changes (introductory / penalty / variable), cash-advance fees, balance-transfer fees, annual fees, or compounding-within-month. This is a planning tool, not a statement generator.