Calculate Credit Card Payoff

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Credit Card Payoff Calculator

Strategic debt reduction planning tool

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Tip: Paying more than the minimum drastically reduces interest.
Time to Debt Free
Total Interest Paid
Total Cost of Debt

How Your Credit Card Payoff is Calculated

Credit card debt is particularly expensive because interest is compounded daily and applied monthly. This calculator uses the standard amortization formula for revolving credit to determine how long it will take to reach a zero balance based on fixed monthly payments.

The Mathematical Formula

N = -log(1 – (i * B) / P) / log(1 + i)

  • B: Total Current Balance
  • i: Monthly interest rate (Annual APR / 12)
  • P: Planned Monthly Payment
  • N: Total Number of Months to Payoff

Why the Monthly Payment Matters

If your monthly payment is not significantly higher than the interest accrued each month, your balance will barely move. For example, if you have a $10,000 balance at 24% APR, your monthly interest charge is roughly $200. If you only pay $210, only $10 goes toward the principal, meaning it would take decades to pay off the debt.

Realistic Example

Balance: $3,000 | APR: 22% | Payment: $150/mo

In this scenario, it would take 26 months to pay off the card. You would pay $791.73 in total interest over that time, making the true cost of those purchases $3,791.73.

function calculateCCPayoff() { var balance = parseFloat(document.getElementById("ccBalance").value); var apr = parseFloat(document.getElementById("ccApr").value); var payment = parseFloat(document.getElementById("ccMonthlyPay").value); var resultArea = document.getElementById("ccResultArea"); var errorArea = document.getElementById("ccErrorMessage"); resultArea.style.display = "none"; errorArea.style.display = "none"; if (isNaN(balance) || balance <= 0 || isNaN(apr) || isNaN(payment) || payment <= 0) { errorArea.innerHTML = "Please enter valid positive numbers for all fields."; errorArea.style.display = "block"; return; } var monthlyInterestRate = (apr / 100) / 12; var monthlyInterestAmount = balance * monthlyInterestRate; if (payment <= monthlyInterestAmount) { errorArea.innerHTML = "Your monthly payment of $" + payment.toFixed(2) + " is too low. It does not even cover the monthly interest of $" + monthlyInterestAmount.toFixed(2) + ". At this rate, the debt will never be paid off."; errorArea.style.display = "block"; return; } // Formula: n = -log(1 – (i*B)/P) / log(1 + i) var months = -Math.log(1 – (monthlyInterestRate * balance) / payment) / Math.log(1 + monthlyInterestRate); var totalMonths = Math.ceil(months); var totalPaid = 0; var currentBalance = balance; var totalInterest = 0; for (var i = 0; i < totalMonths; i++) { var interestForMonth = currentBalance * monthlyInterestRate; totalInterest += interestForMonth; var principalPaid = payment – interestForMonth; if (currentBalance 0) { timeString += years + (years === 1 ? " Year" : " Years"); if (remainingMonths > 0) { timeString += " and " + remainingMonths + (remainingMonths === 1 ? " Month" : " Months"); } } else { timeString = totalMonths + (totalMonths === 1 ? " Month" : " Months"); } document.getElementById("payoffMonths").innerHTML = timeString; document.getElementById("totalInterest").innerHTML = "$" + totalInterest.toLocaleString(undefined, {minimumFractionDigits: 2, maximumFractionDigits: 2}); document.getElementById("totalRepayment").innerHTML = "$" + totalPaid.toLocaleString(undefined, {minimumFractionDigits: 2, maximumFractionDigits: 2}); resultArea.style.display = "block"; }

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