How Long Does It Take to Pay Off a Credit Card?

Credit card balances have a way of sticking around. You make a payment every month, but the balance barely moves. That's because a minimum payment mostly covers interest, so very little goes toward what you actually owe. The credit card payoff calculator shows how long that takes.

That's why we built the Savenello credit card payoff calculator. Enter your balance, your interest rate (APR), and either the monthly payment you can afford or how many months you want to be done in. You'll see how long payoff takes and how much interest you'll pay along the way.

A quick example

Say you owe $5,000 on a card with a 24% APR.

• At $200 a month, it takes about 36 months to pay off, and you'll pay roughly $2,000 in interest.
• At $300 a month, it takes about 21 months, and the interest drops to around $1,140.

That extra $100 a month saves more than a year and about $860. Anything you pay above the interest goes straight to the balance.

How Long Does It Take to Pay Off a Credit Card With Minimum Payments?

Paying only the minimum is the slowest way to clear a balance. That is because most minimums are figured as a small slice of your balance plus that month's interest. As the balance drops, the minimum drops too, so your payments keep shrinking and the balance lingers.

Here is an example using the same $5,000 balance at 24% APR. These are example numbers, rounded, using a minimum of 1% of the balance plus that month's interest, or $25, whichever is higher. Each card uses its own formula.

• Paying only the minimum: the first minimum is about $150. Because it shrinks as the balance drops, payoff takes about 234 months (about 19 and a half years), with roughly $8,890 in interest.
• Paying a fixed $150 each month: the same first payment, kept steady, pays the card off in about 56 months, with roughly $3,320 in interest.

The only difference is that the fixed payment does not shrink. That one change cuts the time by more than 14 years and saves about $5,560 in interest.

To see your own numbers, enter your balance and APR in the credit card calculator and compare your plan to the "Minimum only" column.

Your numbers stay yours

The calculator runs right on the page. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere, and you don't need an account.

Paying off a loan instead? Try the loan calculator.

Make the plan stick

Knowing your number is step one. Savenello helps with the next step by showing where your money goes each month, so you can find that extra $100. Connect your bank securely with Plaid, and your budget updates itself.

Example figures are estimates for illustration only. Your card's actual terms will vary.