Credit Card Payoff Calculator

The easiest way to determine how much interest you will pay on a credit card is to use WalletHub's credit card payoff calculator. It's a free tool that allows you to input the amount of debt you have (or will have) and your interest rate. From there, you can set a payoff date, and we'll tell you what monthly payments you'll need to make. Or you can set a fixed monthly payment, and we'll tell you how long it will take to pay off. We'll also tell you the total amount of interest you can expect to pay and even which credit cards can save you the most money. 

But before you use our tool, you should first understand the basics of how credit card interest works.

Here's how much interest you will pay on your credit card:

• If you pay off your balance in full by your due date, you won't owe any interest.
• If you carry a balance from month to month, the interest you'll owe depends on your Annual Percentage Rate (APR). That shows how much interest you'd pay in a year. But since credit card interest gets charged daily, your card's interest rate is its APR divided by 365.
• Credit card interest compounds daily, which means the interest rate applies to your whole balance at the end of each day, including unpaid interest charges from previous days.
• The average APR among new credit card offers is 17.87%. But credit card APRs vary widely based on the applicant's credit standing.
• Nearly all credit card APRs are variable, as opposed to fixed, meaning they're based on a particular benchmark interest rate. This usually is the prime rate, which banks use when lending to each other.
• Many cards offer lower introductory APRs on purchases and balance transfers for a limited time, often starting at 0%. Once the introductory period ends, the APR will change to the normal rate.

There's no way to tell you how much interest you'll owe without knowing your card's balance and APR as well as the monthly payment you can afford. But if you plug that info into WalletHub's calculator, you'll have your answer in no time.

To find the interest rate on your credit card, look at your cardmember agreement and your monthly credit card statements. Your interest rate will be there in the form of an annual percentage rate (APR). But as “annual” implies, an APR is the cumulative interest rate for a whole year, which isn't all that helpful for calculating actual interest charges from day to day or month to month.

You can figure your daily interest rate – or daily periodic rate – by dividing your APR by 365 (days in a year) because credit card interest compounds daily. (It's worth noting that some card issuers may divide by 360 rather than 365). This calculation will give you the actual daily rate at which you accrue interest on a card. If your APR is 19.99%, your daily periodic rate would be 0.0547%.

The terms APR and interest rate are often used interchangeably. For general purposes, they express the same idea, though you'll get a much better sense of your actual “interest rate” by using the daily periodic rate.

It's worth noting that most credit card rates change (indicated in terms by a V next to your APR). So if the so-called prime rate that credit card APRs are tied to goes up, your rate will rise, too. A credit card agreement may note that the account's APR is the prime rate plus a certain fixed percentage. Or, your rate might rise to a penalty APR (also found in credit card terms) if you miss a payment. Your card issuer must notify you of a rate change 45 days before it takes effect, unless you're 60 days or more past-due on payment.

Though it's good practice to keep an eye on your APR, interest rates don't matter if you pay your credit card bill in full every month. If you aim to pay no interest, you won't have to worry about crunching these numbers.

A variable interest rate on a credit card is an interest rate that goes up and down with the index rate it's tied to, which is most often the Prime Rate. The Prime Rate is the interest rate banks give to the most creditworthy borrowers. The Prime Rate goes up and down, too, usually based on adjustments to the Federal Funds Rate, which changes based on the economic climate. Most credit cards today have a variable interest rate. It's signified by a “(V)” next to the APR on a credit card statement.

Variable interest rates change as often as the Federal Funds Rate changes. In a growing and healthy economic climate, the Federal Reserve will usually raise rates. In an economic downturn, they'll lower rates. In normal economic periods, changes to the Federal Funds Rate happen in small increments - half a percent here and there - over a span of years.

When the economy is in trouble, however - such as during the 2008 financial crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 - the rate may be changed quickly and significantly. The Prime Rate will change according to the Federal Funds Rate, and that change will eventually reflect on any variable interest rate credit cards. Credit card companies have been known to raise the margin they add to the Prime Rate in order to keep rates high for new offers, however.

The alternative to a variable interest rate is a fixed interest rate - an interest rate that doesn't change with any index rates. But fixed interest rate credit cards are virtually nonexistent these days, mostly due to the rules set in place by the CARD Act, which stipulate that card issuers can't change their interest rates whenever they want. Because of the law, fixed interest rate credit cards wouldn't be very lucrative to credit card companies in a changing economy.

The best credit card calculators are the credit card payoff calculator, credit card interest savings calculator, and balance transfer calculator from WalletHub because they are free, easy to use, and capable of finding hidden savings. The key is to select the right type of credit card calculator for the objective at hand.

Best Credit Card Calculator to Use, by Situation

If you want to determine what it will take to become debt free: Use WalletHub's credit card payoff calculator.

This type of credit card payment calculator can tell you two things: 1) The monthly payments you'll need to make to rid yourself of credit card debt within a certain amount of time; and 2) How different monthly payment amounts affect the length of time it will take to pay down what you owe.

If you want to see how much you'd save with a lower interest rate: Use WalletHub's credit card interest savings calculator.

A credit card's interest charges stem from its introductory APR and regular interest rate as well as your balance and monthly payment. A credit card interest rate calculator takes all of those things into account and enables you to quickly determine whether getting a lower interest rate will save you a lot of money or not be worth the time and effort.

If you want to see the value of moving existing debt to a new credit card: Use WalletHub's balance transfer calculator.

The cost of a balance transfer depends on a variety of factors, including the size of your balance, the new credit card's transfer fee and 0% term, and how long it will take you to pay down what you owe. Figuring out if a given balance transfer offer will save you money necessitates comparing that cost to what you'd have to pay under the terms of your current account. It's certainly possible to do this by hand, but this type of credit card debt calculator makes it significantly easier.

If you want to know how much debt is truly costing you: Use WalletHub's credit card payoff calculator.

Credit card companies assess interest on a daily basis, which means interest accrues on interest and it is therefore difficult to appreciate the true cost of big-ticket purchases paid off over time. Credit card debt calculators tell you exactly how much interest to account for, making them a valuable tool to use when deciding whether or not you should make a significant purchase now or wait until you have the funds to cover it.

Regardless of your exact need, the best part about WalletHub's credit card calculators is the fact that in addition to crunching the numbers for you, they simultaneously scan more than 1,500 available credit card offers in real-time in order to provide custom money-saving recommendations.

A credit card finance charge is the interest charged on a credit card balance and any other fees associated with borrowing money. Typically, a finance charge that appears on a credit card bill is the interest accrued over the course of the last billing cycle. However, a finance charge can also refer to other fees, such as cash advance and balance transfer fees, and sometimes even annual fees. But generally speaking, finance charges in credit card terms refer to interest charges.

The interest included in a credit card finance charge is calculated based on the credit card's annual percentage rate, or APR. There are different APRs for different types of credit card transactions. A regular APR is for general purchases, while balance transfers and cash advances may have their own interest rates.

Having to pay interest on a credit card bill is expensive. But there are ways to avoid getting slapped with a finance charge. If you pay your bill in full every month by the due date - and you don't have any cash advances on your account - you won't accrue any interest due to the grace period that most credit cards give cardholders. That means no finance charges on your bill. However, the first time you carry a credit card balance from billing period to billing period, the balance turns into a revolving debt, and your grace period is forfeited. That means interest will accrue daily until you pay your bill in full two months in a row and get your grace period back.

If you already have a finance charge on your credit card bill and want to avoid paying it, consider calling your credit card company and asking them to waive the charge. Trying this won't cost you anything. And if you don't usually carry a balance on your card, reports online suggest card issuers may be more willing to waive a finance charge.

The most strategic way to use credit card calculators is to make them integral to your credit card decision-making process. In other words, before making any significant decisions relating to your credit card use or spending, first crunch the numbers with the appropriate credit card calculator. This will make it easier to pick the right credit card, set goals, evaluate the efficacy of taking on new debt, and manage your finances better.

For example, you could leverage a credit card interest calculator to determine if it's worth paying an annual fee in return for a lower APR. Similarly, a credit card debt calculator, also known as a payoff calculator, will give you a sense of whether a big-ticket purchase is worth it in light of how much time and money will be required for debt repayment.

The results may surprise you, too. Just consider the fact that it would it take around 10 years for someone with a $2,000 balance and a 15% interest rate to become debt free by only making their monthly minimum payment. And over the course of those 10 years, that person will pay roughly $1,200 in interest.

That, in a nutshell, showcases the utility of a credit card calculator. Too often, people find themselves unable to see the forest (i.e. their overall goals of saving money and providing for a stable financial future) for the trees (i.e. what is convenient or seemingly appropriate at the moment). Most people know that they should pay their credit card bills in full every month, for example, but many assume interest won't be that costly, or at least not worth as much as the purchases they'd like to make now. A credit card calculator, however, can easily translate guesswork into hard numbers, thereby pointing you toward the most cost-effective course of action.

“If you want to be credit card debt-free in X years, use a calculator to figure out how much your payment will be,” said David M. Cordell, a clinical professor of management with the University of Texas at Dallas. “If you can do it, do it! If the pill is too big to swallow, try a longer period of time.”

You can find the Capital One interest calculator here.

Enter your current card balance, APR and annual fee. You can choose to give a value for your monthly payment, or the amount of time to pay down your balance.

This way you can calculate your total interest costs, but also how much time will it take for your card to be paid off at this pace.

You could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars with a credit card's 0% intro APR offer. This is true for 0% APR offers on both balance transfers and new purchases, though the exact amount you'll save depends on the amount you're paying off and how much you can afford to pay each month.

The tables below use average credit card interest rates, fees, and intro periods to show how much you could save when repaying a debt over the course of three years.

Potential Savings with a 0% APR Offer for New Purchases

Potential Savings with a 0% APR Offer for Balance Transfers

Note: Finance charges assume a 3% balance transfer fee.

Find Out How Much You Could Save

To figure out if a 0% intro rate credit card would save you money, use WalletHub's credit card calculator. And if applying for a new card seems like the right move, check out our top 0% APR picks for 2021.

No, WalletHub's credit card calculators do not require any registration or personal information like your name, Social Security number, card number, or credit score. You will need to input data such as your interest rate, balance, and monthly payment for the calculators to work, but these values are anonymous and do not even need to be exact. As long as they're in the ballpark, you should be able to get insights applicable to your situation.

WalletHub offers a number of other tools that do not require personal information, too. That includes an anonymous free credit check tool and our CardAdvisor.

Yes, credit card calculators work for all types of credit cards, except for charge cards that require full repayment every billing period. As far as a credit card calculator is concerned, it generally makes no difference whether you have a regular credit card, a secured credit card, a store card, or even a gas card.

This will become obvious after a quick look at the credit card calculators themselves, too, as there is no place to input such distinctions. What's more, just think: Would the monthly payments required to pay off a $5,000 balance on a store credit card within 12 months be any different than those needed to pay off a Visa credit card under the same circumstances? Definitely not, assuming the cards have the same APR.

There is, of course, one exception: charge cards. You're not going to be able to calculate the cost of interest or the time it will take you to pay down debt for a card that does not allow you to revolve a balance, after all.