Credit Card Payoff Calculator

The minimum payment is estimated at 2% of the balance or $25, whichever is greater — a common formula used by U.S. credit card issuers. Your actual minimum may differ; check your statement.

No. It assumes you stop adding new charges and make fixed monthly payments until the balance reaches zero. If you continue using the card, your actual payoff will take longer.

The CFPB's Consumer Credit Card Market Report shows average APRs near 22–24% for accounts carrying a balance. APRs below 15% are considered competitive; secured or low-rate cards can go below 10%.

Any payment above the minimum reduces your principal. Common strategies are the avalanche (highest APR first) and snowball (smallest balance first) methods. A balance transfer to a 0% intro APR card can also eliminate interest during the promotional window.

No — it models principal and interest only, based on your starting balance, APR, and monthly payment. Annual fees, late fees, balance-transfer fees, and cash-advance fees aren't included. If your card carries an annual fee, add it to your effective annual cost separately when comparing payoff strategies or deciding whether to keep the card open.

Yes. Minimum-only payments are the single most common way a manageable balance turns into a multi-year problem — the CFPB's 2025 Consumer Response Annual Report (published March 2026) logged 6.6 million complaint submissions in a single year across consumer-finance products, credit cards among them, which is a reminder that billing and repayment problems are common enough to warrant a dedicated federal complaint pipeline. If a fixed payment isn't realistic on the card, consider a debt-consolidation personal loan instead: TransUnion counted 7.6 million loans originated nationally in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, up 21.7% year-over-year, so a fixed-rate installment payoff is a mainstream option, not a niche one.