See exactly when a card is paid off, what the interest costs you, and how much a little extra each month saves.
Time to payoff
2 years, 9 months
Paying $250 a month.
Portion of your payments lost to interest.
Paying $250 a month clears the $6,000 balance in 2 years, 9 months. Along the way you pay $2,101 in interest — that's 26% of everything you hand over. At 22.90% APR, the card is charging you roughly $114 in the first month alone.
Bumping the payment to $350 would clear the card in 1 year, 9 months instead of 2 years, 9 months and cut interest from $2,101 to $1,336. On high-APR debt, small extra payments are worth far more than the same money invested, because you're earning a guaranteed 22.90%.
At 22.90% APR, most of your early payments fight interest rather than principal. A balance-transfer card with a 0% introductory period (commonly 15–21 months, for a 3–5% transfer fee) routes 100% of your payment to principal during the promo. It only works with a concrete plan to clear the balance before the promo ends — and without running the old card back up. It also requires good credit to qualify.
If this is one of several balances, the order you attack them in matters. The avalanche method (highest APR first) minimizes interest; the snowball method (smallest balance first) builds momentum. The debt payoff calculator models all your cards together and shows the real dollar difference between the two.
Plan all your debts togetherWorked scenarios with the full analysis, so you can see how the numbers move before entering your own.
A common carried balance on a rewards card at a typical purchase APR, with a steady fixed payment.
Time to payoff
2 years, 9 months
Paying $250 a month clears the $6,000 balance in 2 years, 9 months. Along the way you pay $2,101 in interest — that's 26% of everything you hand over. At 22.90% APR, the card is charging you roughly $114 in the first month alone.
Bumping the payment to $350 would clear the card in 1 year, 9 months instead of 2 years, 9 months and cut interest from $2,101 to $1,336. On high-APR debt, small extra payments are worth far more than the same money invested, because you're earning a guaranteed 22.90%.
At 22.90% APR, most of your early payments fight interest rather than principal. A balance-transfer card with a 0% introductory period (commonly 15–21 months, for a 3–5% transfer fee) routes 100% of your payment to principal during the promo. It only works with a concrete plan to clear the balance before the promo ends — and without running the old card back up. It also requires good credit to qualify.
The same balance and APR, showing how a modest extra payment compresses the payoff timeline and interest.
Time to payoff
1 year, 6 months
Paying $400 a month clears the $6,000 balance in 1 year, 6 months. Along the way you pay $1,136 in interest — that's 16% of everything you hand over. At 22.90% APR, the card is charging you roughly $114 in the first month alone.
Without the extra, this balance would take 2 years, 9 months and cost $2,101 in interest. Adding $150 clears it 1 year, 3 months sooner and saves $965. Because the payment is fixed, every extra dollar goes straight to principal — a guaranteed return equal to your 22.90% APR, which no savings account can match.
At 22.90% APR, most of your early payments fight interest rather than principal. A balance-transfer card with a 0% introductory period (commonly 15–21 months, for a 3–5% transfer fee) routes 100% of your payment to principal during the promo. It only works with a concrete plan to clear the balance before the promo ends — and without running the old card back up. It also requires good credit to qualify.
A smaller balance at a high APR with a low payment — close to the point where interest overwhelms progress.
Time to payoff
7 years, 10 months
Paying $90 a month clears the $3,500 balance in 7 years, 10 months. Along the way you pay $4,904 in interest — that's 58% of everything you hand over. At 26.99% APR, the card is charging you roughly $79 in the first month alone.
Bumping the payment to $190 would clear the card in 2 years, 1 month instead of 7 years, 10 months and cut interest from $4,904 to $1,070. On high-APR debt, small extra payments are worth far more than the same money invested, because you're earning a guaranteed 26.99%.
At 26.99% APR, most of your early payments fight interest rather than principal. A balance-transfer card with a 0% introductory period (commonly 15–21 months, for a 3–5% transfer fee) routes 100% of your payment to principal during the promo. It only works with a concrete plan to clear the balance before the promo ends — and without running the old card back up. It also requires good credit to qualify.
A larger balance at a slightly lower APR, the kind often carried across two or three cards after a big expense.
Time to payoff
3 years, 6 months
Paying $400 a month clears the $12,000 balance in 3 years, 6 months. Along the way you pay $4,737 in interest — that's 28% of everything you hand over. At 19.90% APR, the card is charging you roughly $199 in the first month alone.
Bumping the payment to $500 would clear the card in 2 years, 7 months instead of 3 years, 6 months and cut interest from $4,737 to $3,428. On high-APR debt, small extra payments are worth far more than the same money invested, because you're earning a guaranteed 19.90%.
At 19.90% APR, most of your early payments fight interest rather than principal. A balance-transfer card with a 0% introductory period (commonly 15–21 months, for a 3–5% transfer fee) routes 100% of your payment to principal during the promo. It only works with a concrete plan to clear the balance before the promo ends — and without running the old card back up. It also requires good credit to qualify.
Credit cards compound interest on the balance every month, and at today's average purchase APR of around 22%, that interest is large relative to a typical payment. If you owe $6,000 at 22.9%, the first month's interest is roughly $115 — so a $250 payment only reduces the balance by about $135. That's why balances feel stuck.
The calculator models this exactly: interest is charged on the outstanding balance each month, your payment covers that interest first, and only what's left reduces the principal. Early in a payoff, most of your money fights interest; late in the payoff, almost all of it reduces the balance.
Card issuers set the minimum payment at roughly 1–3% of the balance, which is engineered to keep you in debt for as long as possible. Because the minimum falls as the balance falls, paying only the minimum on a $6,000 balance can take well over a decade and more than double what you originally owed.
The single most powerful move is to pay a fixed dollar amount every month rather than the shrinking minimum. A fixed payment means each month a larger share goes to principal, which snowballs your progress. Even paying $50–100 above the minimum dramatically shortens the timeline.
A 0% balance-transfer card moves your balance to a new card with no interest for an introductory period, usually 15–21 months, in exchange for a one-time transfer fee of 3–5%. During the promo, every dollar you pay reduces principal, which can save hundreds or thousands on a high-APR balance.
Transfers only work under two conditions: you have a realistic plan to clear the balance before the promotional period ends (after which the rate jumps, often above 20%), and you don't treat the freed-up original card as new spending room. They also require good credit to qualify, and the transfer fee should be weighed against the interest you'd otherwise pay — this calculator's interest total is exactly that comparison.
The minimum is designed to keep you in debt. It shrinks as the balance shrinks, stretching a payoff over a decade or more. Always pay a fixed amount above the minimum.
New purchases reset progress and keep utilization high. Pause the card — or use cash — until the balance is cleared.
A 2% cashback reward is meaningless against a 22% APR. Rewards cards only pay off when you clear the balance in full each month.
Closing removes the card's limit from your utilization calculation, which can lower your score. Keep it open with a small recurring charge.
When you have good credit and a clear payoff plan, skipping a 0% balance transfer can leave hundreds or thousands of dollars of avoidable interest on the table.
It depends on your balance, APR and monthly payment. Enter all three and the calculator returns an exact payoff time and date. As a benchmark, a $6,000 balance at 22.9% APR takes about 32 months at $250 a month, and you'd pay roughly $1,900 in interest along the way. Increasing the payment shortens both figures substantially.
Total interest depends on how fast you pay the balance down. The calculator shows it for your exact plan. In general, the higher your APR and the smaller your payment, the more interest you pay — and on high-APR cards, interest can easily reach 30–50% of everything you hand over if you pay slowly.
Minimum payments are set at roughly 1–3% of the balance, and they shrink as the balance shrinks, so progress slows to a crawl. On a $6,000 balance, paying only the minimum can take over a decade and cost more in interest than the original balance. Paying a fixed dollar amount each month instead of the declining minimum is the fix.
Pay off the card first, after keeping a small emergency buffer. Credit card APRs of 18–29% are far higher than any savings account or expected investment return, so clearing the balance is a guaranteed, tax-free return at that rate. The exception is capturing an employer 401(k) match, which is free money worth taking even while carrying card debt.
Yes, often quickly. Credit utilization — your balances divided by your limits — is about 30% of a FICO score, so paying down a card lowers utilization and can lift your score within a statement cycle or two. Keep the card open after paying it off; closing it removes its limit and can raise your utilization on remaining cards.
It can save a lot on a high-APR balance, but only if you clear the balance before the 0% promotional period ends and don't run the old card back up. Weigh the 3–5% transfer fee against the interest you'd otherwise pay — which this calculator shows. Transfers also require good credit to qualify for a meaningful limit and promo length.
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