Credit card payoff calculator

The calculator assumes you stop using the card while you pay it off, and that the APR stays the same. Each month it adds the APR ÷ 12 in interest, rounded to the cent, then takes off your payment.

For paying only the minimum, it takes each month's new balance (what you owe plus that month's interest and fees), works out the percent of it to the cent, adds the interest and fees if that box is ticked, raises it to the lowest minimum if it's less, and never asks for more than the balance. Card issuers round and count fees in their own ways, so this is an estimate of your statement's figure, not a copy of it.

The minimum payment trap

Your minimum payment isn't a fixed amount. It's worked out again on every statement from the balance, so as the balance falls, the minimum falls with it. Pay only the minimum and each month you pay off a little less, while interest keeps running on everything that's left. Chase, for example, says it usually asks for 1% of the statement balance plus that cycle's interest and late fees, or $40, whichever is more.

Here's what that means for $5,000 at 22% APR, with no new purchases. The first statement adds $91.67 of interest, so the balance is $5,091.67, and the first minimum is $142.59: $50.92, which is 1% of that balance, plus the $91.67 of interest.

Keeping the payment at the first minimum, instead of letting it shrink, gets you out 10 years 4 months sooner and saves $4,259.05 in interest. All four rows are what the calculator above shows for these numbers.

Your statement shows the same thing for your own card: a minimum payment warning with how long paying only the minimum would take, and the monthly payment that would clear the balance in three years. Like the table, those figures assume no new purchases.

The 22% in the example is close to the average. In August 2026, bank card accounts that were charged interest paid an average APR of 22.36%, according to the Federal Reserve.

APR, daily interest and why this is an estimate

Your card quotes an annual rate, the APR, but most cards charge interest by the day. The daily rate is the APR divided by 365, or by 360 at some issuers, and each day's interest is added to the balance, so it compounds daily. Your card agreement says exactly which balance the daily rate is charged on, such as the average daily balance over the billing cycle.

This calculator charges the APR ÷ 12 once a month instead. That's close, but daily compounding makes real interest a little higher, and when in the cycle you pay and spend changes the balance the interest is charged on. Treat the results as an estimate; your statement has the exact figures.

New spending matters too. Once you carry a balance from one month to the next, you lose the grace period, and new purchases are charged interest from the day you make them. Put the card away while you pay it down, or add your new spending on top of the payment.

Ways to pay it off sooner

• Pay a fixed amount. Pick a payment here and pay it every month, however low the minimum falls.
• Find the extra in your budget. In the example, $100 more a month gets the card paid off 26 months sooner and saves $1,512.38. A budget shows where that $100 can come from.
• With several cards, pay the minimum on each and put everything extra on one. Highest APR first (the avalanche) costs the least interest; smallest balance first (the snowball) gets a card to zero sooner.
• Consider a lower rate. A balance transfer to a card with a 0% promotion can help if you clear it before the promotion ends. Check the transfer fee and the rate that applies afterwards.

In UrBudget

UrBudget is built so a card balance doesn't creep up on you.

• Every credit card gets a payment category. When you buy something on the card, the money moves from the spending category into the card's payment category, so the payment is covered when the bill comes.
• Spend more on a card than a category holds and it's flagged: that overspending becomes card debt unless you cover it.
• For a balance you already carry, assign the payment you picked here to the card's payment category each month, and pay it from checking. The card's balance comes down with every payment you record.
• Loans, like a car loan or a mortgage, get the loan planner: payoff date, interest and what extra payments save, worked out the same way as the loan payoff calculator.

• Loan payoff calculator
• Debt payoff calculator: snowball vs avalanche
• Envelope budget template
• Getting started with envelope budgeting