To see how long it will take to pay off your credit card debt — and how much it will cost you — simply share a few details:
Card balance: The total amount you currently owe on your credit card.
Annual Percentage Rate: The APR charged on your outstanding credit card balance.
Payoff plan: Select whether you want to pay off your balance according to a specific target date, fixed monthly payment, or by paying the minimum due only. Depending on which plan you choose, you'll need to enter a couple of related details:
Target date: Enter your desired payoff month and year.
Fixed payment: Enter your desired fixed monthly payment amount.
Minimum payment rate: Enter the minimum percentage of your closing balance that your card issuer requires you to pay each month.
Minimum payment floor: Enter the minimum dollar amount you are required to pay your credit card issuer each month to avoid penalties.
Once you've entered the required information, you'll get your credit card payoff results.
Payoff date: The month and year of your final credit card payment. Your balance will be zero after this date (assuming you don't charge additional purchases to the card). You'll also see the total number of months it will take to reach this date.
Total interest: The total amount in interest charges you will have paid on top of the principal balance.
Total paid: The total amount of money you will have paid toward your credit card, including principal and interest.
Interest share of total paid: The percentage of total paid that is made up of interest charges.
Final payment: The dollar amount of the last payment you'll make to bring your balance to zero.
Some of the factors that could impact your credit card balance include:
New purchases: Every purchase you make with your credit card increases your balance and reduces your available credit.
APR: If you carry a balance past your grace period, your card issuer charges interest on the unpaid amount. The higher your annual percentage rate (APR) and the longer you carry the balance, the more interest accrues.
Payments: Making payments reduces your balance. Paying only the minimum payment may cover little more than interest, while larger payments reduce the principal faster and lower future interest charges.
Fees: Cash advance fees, late fees, returned payment fees, annual fees, balance transfer fees, and foreign transaction fees can all increase your overall credit card balance.
Missed or late payments: Missing a payment can cause your balance to increase because of late fees and additional interest. Depending on your card agreement, your issuer may also increase your APR after repeated late payments.
If you're struggling to pay down your balance, here are a few effective strategies that can help you get rid of your debt faster:
Paying only the minimum due on your credit card bill each month extends the amount of time it takes to pay it off. Your remaining balance will continue to accrue interest charges, making it even tougher to pay it down as time goes on.
To make a significant dent in what you owe, it's important to pay as much as possible toward the balance. If you can, pay off the entire statement balance each month, which prevents you from accumulating more interest. If that's not possible, try making an extra mid-month payment to keep your average daily balance lower.
If you have multiple cards, continue making minimum payments on all of them while putting any extra money toward the card with the highest APR. This minimizes the total interest you'll pay.
If you're serious about eliminating credit card debt, it's important to have a plan of action. Following a tried-and-true debt repayment strategy such as the "debt snowball" or "debt avalanche" method can help you tackle your credit debt more effectively.
If you have good credit, you may qualify for a credit card offering a 0% introductory APR on balance transfers. This can give you 12 to 21 months to pay down the balance without accruing new interest. Just factor in any balance transfer fee and make sure you can pay off the debt before the promotional period ends.
With this strategy, you take out a personal loan and use the funds to pay off one or more credit card balances. This not only reduces your effective interest rate, but allows you to make a single, fixed monthly payment each month. Just keep in mind that some personal loans come with additional fees such as origination fees, prepayment penalties, and more. You also need to have good credit to qualify for a personal loan with favorable terms.
Using our credit card debt calculator can help you on your mission to become debt-free by determining a strategy for tackling interest and monthly payments.
Learn how to avoid interest on a credit card — or at least reduce interest costs — by paying more than the minimum, using balance transfers, and other tips.
Find out how to tackle $10K in credit card debt with a personal loan and other proven payoff methods.
Consolidating your credit card debt is a straightforward way to organize your debt and lower your interest rate, paving the way to get out of debt completely.
While it's generally easiest to use an online calculator, learning how to calculate credit card interest can give you more insight into how your card works.
Once you understand how credit card interest works, you can take steps to reduce or eliminate those charges and save money.