Credit Card Payoff Calculator

How Interest Actually Destroys You

I didn't understand credit card interest until I sat down with a $5,127.43 balance on my Chase card at 23.99% APR and ran the numbers. If I only paid the $154 minimum every month, it would take me over 15 years to pay it off. Fifteen years. And I'd pay $8,764 in interest alone—almost double what I borrowed. That number hit me like a punch.

Here's what they don't tell you when you swipe: your minimum payment is designed to keep you in debt forever. Out of that $154 payment, only about $26 went toward the actual balance. The rest? Pure interest straight into the bank's pocket. Month after month, I was running in place, and the credit card companies loved it.

It gets worse. Cards with bad credit can charge 29.99% or higher. Some store cards push past 27%. At those rates, you're basically paying for the same purchase twice. When I finally broke down the math on all four of my cards—Chase at 23.99%, Capital One at 18.74%, a Citi card at 21.24%, and that awful Best Buy card at 27.99%—I felt sick. The interest was eating me alive.

The "oh shit" moment came when I plugged my balances into a calculator and saw the payoff timelines. My smallest card would take 7 years if I stuck with minimums. My biggest would take 22 years. I'd be in my 50s still paying for dinners I ate in my 20s. That's when I stopped making excuses and started actually fighting back.

Mistakes I Made (So You Don't Have To)

I want to be brutally honest about where I screwed up because if I'd read something like this five years ago, I might've saved myself tens of thousands of dollars and a lot of shame.

• Only paying minimums. I thought I was being responsible by "staying current" on my accounts. Wrong. I was hemorrhaging money. Those minimum payments kept me trapped for years and cost me an extra $11,347.82 in interest compared to just paying $100 more per month.
• Balance transfers without a real plan. I did a 0% balance transfer twice. The first time I used the "breathing room" to rack up more debt. The second time I actually had a payoff plan and it worked, but the 3% transfer fee plus the $95 annual fee ate into my savings. If you do this, have a written payoff schedule or you'll just dig deeper.
• Opening new cards to pay old cards. This is how I ended up with four cards. I opened a new one to "consolidate" and then kept using the old ones. All I did was spread the disease.
• Taking a cash advance. Absolute worst decision. I needed $400 fast and took a cash advance at 29.99% APR with a $15 fee. That $400 cost me over $500 by the time I paid it off eight months later. Never again.
• Ignoring statements. For about six months I just auto-paid minimums without looking. Big mistake. My APRs went up, fees appeared, and I had no idea where my money was going. You have to face the numbers head-on.
• Keeping cards "for emergencies." This is a trap. If you keep them, you'll use them. I kept one card "just in case" and used it for three "emergencies" in four months (new headphones, concert tickets, and a weekend trip—none actual emergencies). Cut them up or freeze them in ice.
• Lifestyle inflation. Every time I got a raise, I upgraded my life instead of attacking the debt. New apartment, nicer car lease, eating out more. The debt stayed while my income grew. That's backwards.
• Not tracking spending. I had no budget and no idea where my money went. Once I started using YNAB and tracking every dollar, I found $380/month in waste—subscriptions I forgot, impulse buys, late fees. That money went straight to debt payoff.

I'm not saying this to beat myself up—I'm saying it so you recognize the traps. The credit card companies want you to make these mistakes. It's literally their business model. Don't give them what they want.

I'm Tyler—paid off $24K in credit card debt over 31 months. Built this calculator during the payoff process because I was obsessed with tracking every dollar of progress. Not a financial advisor, just someone who spent way too much time in r/personalfinance and r/DaveRamsey.

Payoff Strategies That Actually Work

Avalanche vs snowball—you've probably heard this debate a million times. Avalanche means attacking the highest APR first (saves the most money). Snowball means smallest balance first (quick psychological wins). I tried both.

Snowball got me my first win in three months when I killed a $1,847 Best Buy card. That feeling of closing an account was huge. It kept me going when I wanted to quit. But mathematically, avalanche saved me about $1,200 in interest over the long haul because I switched after that first win and went after my 23.99% Chase card next.

Here's my take: if you're burnt out, start with snowball and get that first card gone fast. If you can stay disciplined, go avalanche and save the money. Either way, pick one and stick to it. Don't keep switching—that's just another form of procrastination.

Balance transfers can help but only if you have a payoff plan before you swipe. I did one for my $8,200 Citi balance to a Chase Slate card at 0% for 18 months. I divided the balance by 18 and paid $456/month like clockwork. Paid it off in 17 months with zero interest. But if I'd kept spending or missed the deadline, I'd have been screwed with back interest.

Debt consolidation loans sound great until you see the rates. I got quoted 11.5% for a $20K loan, which was better than my credit cards but not by much. The real risk is you pay off the cards and then start using them again. I skipped it and stayed focused on the cards directly.

The nuclear option: stop using the cards entirely. I cut up three and froze one in a block of ice. Deleted all my saved payment info from Amazon, Uber Eats, everywhere. If I didn't have cash or money in my checking account, I didn't buy it. This was the single most effective thing I did. The friction saved me hundreds in impulse buys.

People ask about the "extra $50/month" strategy. Here's the truth: $50 extra helps, but you need to find bigger chunks. I found $380/month by cutting subscriptions, meal planning, and selling stuff I didn't use. That's what made the real difference. Find your waste and redirect it.

The Brutal Reality of Timelines

I'm going to be real with you: this takes longer than you want it to. My $23,847 took 31 months to pay off even though I was throwing $770/month at it. That's two and a half years of saying no to trips, new clothes, and nights out. It sucked.

If you've got $15,000 in debt at 21% APR and you pay $400/month, you're looking at about 4.5 years and $6,200 in interest. Bump that to $600/month and you're at 2.5 years and $3,400 in interest. Bump it to $800/month and you're at under 2 years with $2,400 in interest. Every extra dollar cuts time exponentially.

The "I want this gone NOW" impatience is real. I felt it hard around month 8 when progress felt slow. But here's the thing: you didn't get into this overnight, and you won't get out overnight. What matters is that you're moving in the right direction.

The emergency fund debate comes up a lot. Dave Ramsey says $1,000 first, then attack debt. r/personalfinance says 3-6 months of expenses before anything. I split the difference: I saved $1,000, then went aggressive on debt, then rebuilt the fund after. That $1,000 saved me twice when my car needed repairs and I didn't have to use the cards.

Life will punch you during payoff. My transmission died in month 14 ($1,900). I got laid off in month 22 and had to pause payments for two months. My cat needed emergency surgery in month 27 ($780). All of this slowed me down but didn't stop me. Build buffer room into your timeline and keep going.

Motivation will crash. Around month 12 I almost gave up. I was exhausted from being broke all the time. What kept me going was recalculating my payoff date every month and seeing it move closer. And the people on r/personalfinance who shared their debt-free posts. Find your fuel.

What Changed After I Was Debt-Free

The day I made my final $184.37 payment, I sat in my car and cried. Not because I was happy (though I was)—because I was free. That $770/month that had been going to credit cards was suddenly mine again.

I split that freed-up money three ways: $400 to rebuild my emergency fund, $250 to retirement (I'd paused contributions during payoff), and $120 to a "fun" fund so I didn't feel deprived. Within six months I had $5,000 saved. Within a year, $12,000. The momentum was wild.

My relationship with credit cards is different now. I kept one card open with a $500 limit that I use for gas and pay off in full every month. The other three I closed. Some people say keep them open for credit score—I don't care. I wanted them gone.

There's this weird guilt that comes with spending money even when you're debt-free. I still feel anxiety buying anything over $50 even though I can afford it now. It's like debt PTSD. I'm working on it. But honestly, I'd rather be overly cautious than back in that hole.

My credit score recovered faster than I expected. It dropped about 30 points when I closed three accounts but bounced back within four months as my utilization stayed at zero. Now it's 758, higher than it ever was when I had debt.

If I could go back and tell myself one thing at the start, it would be this: the pain of discipline is temporary, but the pain of debt is permanent until you fix it. You can do this. It will suck. But you can do it.

Resources That Actually Helped

• r/personalfinance: Read the wiki and the daily threads. Best free advice online.
• YNAB (You Need A Budget): $99/year but worth every penny. Taught me to budget for real.
• EveryDollar: Free version works if you can't afford YNAB.
• "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey: Snowball method and Baby Steps. Changed my mindset.
• "Your Money or Your Life" by Vicki Robin: Made me think about the real cost of purchases.
• Chase Slate (balance transfer): 0% for 18 months helped when I had a plan.
• Undebt.it: Free debt payoff planner. Great for tracking avalanche/snowball.
• Credit counseling (NFCC.org): Legit nonprofit help if you're overwhelmed. Avoid "debt settlement" scams.

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