Credit Card Payoff Calculator

Last updated: August 5, 2026

One card, two questions. Enter a payment and get your payoff date and total interest, or enter a deadline and get the exact monthly payment that meets it, verified against the full month by month schedule.

How to use this calculator

Choose which question you are asking with the radio buttons at the top, then fill in your balance and APR. In the first mode, add the payment you plan to make and see the payoff date. In the second, add the deadline you are working toward and see the payment it takes to hit it.

Two solvers, one card

Most card payoff questions are one of two directions. Either you know what you can pay and want the date: that is the fixed payment mode. Or you have a date, a wedding, a lease ending, a zero percent window closing, and want the payment: that is the deadline mode. Both run the same monthly schedule underneath; the deadline mode additionally verifies its formula answer by simulation before showing it.

Worked example, both directions

Take a $5,000.00 balance at 22.15% APR, the Federal Reserve's May 2026 average rate for card accounts assessed interest. Paying $200.00 a month clears it in 2 years and 10 months (34 months) at a cost of $1,767.79 in interest. Flip the question and ask to be done in 24 months, and the answer is $259.77 per month, with interest falling to $1,234.23. Ten months faster, $533.56 cheaper: that is what raising the payment buys.

Paying off multiple credit cards

If you are juggling several cards, solving them one at a time hides the real decision, which is the order. The debt payoff calculator takes all your cards at once with rolling payments, and the snowball vs avalanche comparison shows in dollars which order clears them cheapest.

The interest assumption, stated plainly

This calculator applies a monthly periodic rate, your annual rate divided by twelve, to each balance at the start of each month. Many card issuers instead apply a daily periodic rate, the APR divided by 365 or 360, to an average daily balance, which compounds daily. Your real statement will therefore differ from these results. Treat everything here as a planning estimate, not a payoff quote, and confirm figures with your lender. The full method and its sources are documented on the About page. Every figure on this page is generated by a Python engine, independently cross-checked against a JavaScript version before publishing, so the arithmetic itself has been verified even though it cannot capture your lender's exact billing cycle.

Frequently asked questions

How is credit card interest calculated in this tool?

The calculator applies a monthly periodic rate, your APR divided by twelve, to the balance at the start of each month. Real card issuers usually apply a daily periodic rate, the APR divided by 365 or 360, to an average daily balance, which compounds daily, so your statement will differ slightly. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau documents the daily method, and the About page explains the difference in full.

What does the fixed payment mode tell me?

How long a payment you choose will take, and what it costs. For example, a $5,000.00 balance at 22.15% APR with a $200.00 monthly payment takes 2 years and 10 months (34 months) to clear and costs $1,767.79 in interest, for $6,767.79 paid in total.

What does the deadline mode tell me?

The monthly payment that clears the balance by your date. The same $5,000.00 balance at 22.15% APR needs $259.77 per month to be gone in 24 months, costing $1,234.23 in interest. The formula result is rounded up to the next cent and then verified by running the full schedule.

Why does the tool say my payment never pays off the card?

Because the payment is less than or equal to the interest the balance generates in a month. When that happens the balance grows instead of shrinking, forever. The error message shows the first month's interest so you can see the floor your payment must clear.

I have more than one credit card. Which calculator should I use?

This page solves one card at a time. For several cards together, the debt payoff calculator handles any number of debts with rolling payments, and the snowball vs avalanche comparison shows which order clears them cheapest.

Sources

• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Consumer Credit G.19, current release. Release date July 8, 2026, covering May 2026: 22.15% average on card accounts assessed interest, 11.86% average on 24-month personal loans. Checked 2026-08-03.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How does my credit card company calculate the amount of interest I owe? Checked 2026-08-03.