Debt Payoff Calculator

Each month, interest is charged on the remaining balance at your APR divided by 12, and your payment is applied — first to that interest, then to principal. The calculator repeats this month by month until the balance reaches zero, adding up the interest along the way. It then runs the same schedule again with your extra payment added, so you can see the difference side by side.

If your payment is less than or equal to the first month's interest, the balance never goes down. The calculator flags that case. On a high-APR credit card, the gap between "barely covering interest" and "making real progress" can be surprisingly small, which is why paying only the minimum can take decades.

If you have several debts, two popular strategies help you decide where the extra money goes. The avalanche method puts every spare dollar toward the debt with the highest interest rate while paying minimums on the rest; it minimizes total interest. The snowball method targets the smallest balance first, which produces quick wins and keeps many people motivated. Either works far better than spreading extra payments evenly.

You can use this calculator for each debt individually to see how long each one takes and what an extra payment does. Other levers include a 0% balance-transfer card (watch the transfer fee and promo end date), a lower-rate consolidation loan, or simply negotiating a lower APR with your card issuer. Once the debt is gone, redirecting the same payment into savings is a great way to build wealth — try it in the compound interest calculator.

An $8,000 credit card balance at 22% APR with a $250 monthly payment takes 49 months to pay off and costs about $4,160 in interest. Add $100 a month — $350 total — and it's paid off in 30 months with about $2,460 of interest: 19 months sooner and roughly $1,700 cheaper. Change the inputs to see the exact figures for your own balance.