Credit Card Payoff Calculator
Your numbers
Three fields from your statement: balance, APR, and what you can actually pay each month.
The purchase APR on your statement — the national average runs about 22%
What you'll actually pay — not the minimum the statement suggests
How we calculate this
Interest accrues monthly at your APR divided by twelve; each payment covers that month's interest first and principal with the rest — the same month-by-month engine as our avalanche/snowball tool, because two tools on one site should never disagree about one card. The minimum-payment comparison uses the same shared convention: 2% of your starting balance with a $25 floor, held fixed — real issuers vary between 1% and 3% and some recalculate monthly, which is why the minimum here is labeled a convention and your statement's figure wins.
The never-pays-off answer is a real answer. When your payment doesn't beat the monthly interest, no amount of patience retires the balance — and at some APRs the standard minimum does exactly that. At 24% APR, a 2% minimum on any balance equals that month's interest to the penny: the classic treadmill. When that happens this tool says so plainly and shows the smallest payment that makes real progress (one dollar past interest), instead of an infinite month count or a silent cap.
Not modeled: new charges, annual fees, and promo-rate expirations — a 0% teaser jumping to 24% transforms this math, so rerun when your rate changes.
Real scenarios
The treadmill, measured: $5,000 at 24%
The fixed 2% minimum is $100 — and monthly interest on $5,000 at 24% is exactly $100. Every payment vanishes into interest and the balance never falls. Paying $150 instead retires the card in 56 months at $8,322 all-in. The difference between forever and four-and-a-half years is $50 a month.
A modest card, killed quickly
$2,400 at 18% with $200 a month is gone in 14 months at $2,666 total — just $266 of interest. Small balances at big rates reward aggression disproportionately: the interest clock simply doesn't get time to run.
A $500 head start compounds backward
That same $5,000 card at $150 a month, but with a $500 tax refund applied up front: 47 months instead of 56, $7,441 instead of $8,322. The one-time payment saves $881 — every month after it charges interest on a smaller balance.