How to use the credit cards payoff calculator
Enter the total you can pay toward your credit cards each month, then the balance, minimum payment and APR of each card. Up to twelve cards fit; click Show more cards for rows seven to twelve. The calculator shows when you will be debt free, the total interest, a month-by-month plan for each card and a graph of the balances.
How the payoff plan works
When you owe money on more than one card, the order you pay them in decides how much interest you pay. This calculator uses the avalanche method: every card gets its minimum payment, and everything left in the budget goes to the card with the highest interest rate. Once that card is paid off, its whole payment goes to the card with the next highest rate, and so on until every card is clear. Each month a card is charged its APR ÷ 12 on its balance.
Credit cards payoff example
Three cards: $4,600 at 18.99% with a $100 minimum, $3,900 at 19.99% with a $90 minimum, $6,000 at 15.99% with a $120 minimum. Together they owe $14,500, with $217.71 of interest in the first month. With a budget of $500 a month, the 19.99% card gets $280.00 a month and is paid off after 16 months, the 18.99% card gets $380.00 a month and is paid off after 28 months, and the 15.99% card gets $500.00 a month and is paid off after 38 months. All the cards are clear in 3 years and 2 months, and the total interest is $4,471.20.
Payoff time by monthly budget
| Monthly budget | Debt free in | Total interest | Interest as share of the debt |
|---|---|---|---|
| $310 (minimums only) | 6 years and 10 months | $10,696.02 | 74% |
| $400 | 4 years and 5 months | $6,346.58 | 44% |
| $500 | 3 years and 2 months | $4,471.20 | 31% |
| $750 | 1 year and 11 months | $2,625.05 | 18% |
| $1,000 | 1 year and 5 months | $1,882.77 | 13% |
For the three cards of the example. Paying $1,000 a month instead of only the minimums of $310 saves $8,813.25 of interest and clears the cards 5 years and 5 months sooner.
Avalanche or snowball?
- Avalanche: highest interest rate first. It always costs the least interest and is the fastest way out of debt with a fixed budget.
- Snowball: smallest balance first. It usually costs a little more, but the first card is gone sooner, which keeps some people motivated.
Ways to get out of debt faster
- Raise the monthly budget, even a little. Every extra dollar goes straight to the most expensive card.
- Ask your card issuers for a lower rate. A good payment history often helps.
- Move a balance to a card with a 0% intro APR. The transfer fee is usually 3% to 5% of the amount.
- A personal loan at a lower rate can replace several card balances with one fixed payment.
- Stop using the cards while you pay them down, or pay new purchases in full each month.
Related calculators
For a single card, the credit card calculator finds the payoff time or the payment to be debt free by a date. To add loans and a mortgage to the plan, or extra yearly and one-time payments, use the debt payoff calculator, and to check whether one lower-rate loan beats your cards, the debt consolidation calculator.