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Disclaimer
This calculator provides estimates for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, medical, legal, or tax advice. Always consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.
How This Calculator Works
A credit card charges interest on whatever balance you’re still carrying, every single
month — so a bigger monthly payment doesn’t just reduce your balance faster, it also
shrinks how much interest you’re charged along the way. This calculator answers whichever
of two questions you’re actually asking about a single card: how long will it take to pay
off at the payment you’re making now, or what payment do you need to make to hit a payoff
goal by a certain date?
This is deliberately a simpler, single-card tool — if you’re juggling several debts at once and want to compare payoff strategies across all of them, the Debt Payoff Calculator does that instead.
The Formula
Credit card interest compounds monthly on whatever balance remains: each month’s interest
charge is Balance×(APR÷12), added to the balance
before that month’s payment is subtracted.
How long to pay it off: simulated month by month, since there’s no clean formula for
“how many months” once the final, smaller cleanup payment is accounted for.
What payment do I need: solved with the standard fixed-payment loan formula:
Payment=Balance×(1+r)n−1r(1+r)n
where r is the monthly rate (APR ÷ 12) and n is your target number of months.
Worked Example
A $5,000 balance at 20% APR:
Paying $200/month: paid off in 33 months, with $1,522.10 total interest paid
(total paid: $6,522.10).
To pay it off in exactly 24 months instead: you’d need a $254.48/month payment,
paying $1,107.50 total interest — less interest than the $200/month plan above,
because the balance is cleared faster.
Common Mistakes
Only ever making the minimum payment. Credit card minimums are often calculated to keep a
balance outstanding for a very long time — this calculator’s whole point is showing what a real,
specific payment amount actually accomplishes instead.
Ignoring a promotional 0% APR period’s expiration. A balance transfer or promotional rate
that reverts to a much higher standard APR after a set period changes the real payoff math
significantly once that period ends — use the promotional rate only for as long as it actually
applies.
Adding new charges while trying to pay off a balance. This calculator assumes no new
purchases are added to the balance during payoff — continuing to charge the card works against
the payoff timeline shown here.
Cómo funciona esta calculadora
Una tarjeta de crédito cobra intereses sobre el saldo que aún tienes pendiente, cada mes — así
que un pago mensual más grande no solo reduce tu saldo más rápido, también disminuye cuánto interés
se te cobra en el camino. Esta calculadora responde a cualquiera de las dos preguntas que
realmente te estás haciendo sobre una sola tarjeta: ¿cuánto tardará en pagarse por completo con el
pago que estás haciendo ahora, o qué pago necesitas hacer para alcanzar una meta de pago en una
fecha determinada?
Esta es deliberadamente una herramienta más simple, para una sola tarjeta — si estás manejando varias deudas a la vez y quieres comparar estrategias de pago entre todas ellas, la Debt Payoff Calculator hace eso en su lugar.
La fórmula
Los intereses de la tarjeta de crédito se capitalizan mensualmente sobre el saldo restante: el
cargo de interés de cada mes es Saldo×(TAE÷12),
sumado al saldo antes de restar el pago de ese mes.
Cuánto tardará en pagarse: simulado mes a mes, ya que no existe una fórmula limpia para
“cuántos meses” una vez que se toma en cuenta el pago final, más pequeño, de liquidación.
Qué pago necesito: resuelto con la fórmula estándar de préstamo con pago fijo:
Pago=Saldo×(1+r)n−1r(1+r)n
donde r es la tasa mensual (TAE ÷ 12) y n es tu número objetivo de meses.
Ejemplo resuelto
Un saldo de $5,000 con una TAE del 20%:
Pagando $200/mes: se liquida en 33 meses, con $1,522.10 de interés total pagado
(total pagado: $6,522.10).
Para liquidarlo en exactamente 24 meses en cambio: necesitarías un pago de $254.48/mes,
pagando $1,107.50 de interés total — menos interés que el plan de $200/mes de arriba,
porque el saldo se salda más rápido.
Errores comunes
Hacer siempre solo el pago mínimo. Los mínimos de las tarjetas de crédito suelen calcularse
para mantener un saldo pendiente durante mucho tiempo — todo el propósito de esta calculadora es
mostrar qué logra realmente un monto de pago específico en su lugar.
Ignorar el vencimiento de un período promocional de TAE del 0%. Una transferencia de saldo o
una tasa promocional que vuelve a una TAE estándar mucho más alta después de un período
determinado cambia significativamente las matemáticas reales de liquidación una vez que ese
período termina — usa la tasa promocional solo mientras realmente aplique.
Añadir cargos nuevos mientras intentas liquidar un saldo. Esta calculadora asume que no se
añaden compras nuevas al saldo durante la liquidación — seguir usando la tarjeta va en contra del
cronograma de liquidación mostrado aquí.
Why does paying off my card faster save more than just the extra payment amount?
Because credit card interest compounds monthly on whatever balance remains — a smaller balance next month means a smaller interest charge next month too. Paying it off sooner doesn't just clear the debt faster, it also shrinks the total interest paid over the life of the balance, sometimes substantially.
What if my payment barely covers the interest?
If your monthly payment doesn't exceed the interest charged on your current balance, the balance will never shrink — you'd be paying interest forever without making progress. This calculator flags that case directly rather than showing a payoff time that would never actually arrive.
How is this different from the Debt Payoff Calculator?
This calculator focuses on one card at a time — the how-long or what-payment questions for a single balance. Debt Payoff Calculator instead compares payoff strategies (avalanche vs. snowball) across multiple debts at once, which is a different, more involved question if you're juggling several balances.
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