Find out exactly how long it takes to pay off your balance — and how much interest you'll burn through along the way.
| Monthly Payment | Months | Time | Total Interest | Interest Saved | Months Saved |
|---|
Credit cards charge interest daily. Your APR is divided by 365 to get a daily periodic rate, then multiplied by your balance each day. At the end of the billing cycle, that accumulated interest gets added to your balance — and if you don't pay it off, next month's interest accrues on a larger number.
This calculator uses monthly compounding (APR / 12) for simplicity, which closely approximates the real-world result for most cards.
Most card issuers set the minimum payment at roughly 1–2% of the balance, or a flat $25, whichever is greater. On a $8,000 balance at 22.99% APR, paying only the minimum could take over 25 years and cost more in interest than the original balance.
If you have multiple cards: the avalanche method pays the highest-APR card first (mathematically optimal — saves the most interest). The snowball method pays the smallest balance first (psychologically motivating — builds momentum). Both beat minimum payments by a wide margin.
Because of compounding, every additional dollar you pay toward principal reduces all future interest charges. Paying an extra $100/month doesn't just save you $100 — it eliminates the interest that $100 would have accumulated over the remaining payoff period. The savings are multiplicative.