💳 Credit Card Repayment Calculator
Find out how many months to pay off your credit card and total interest charged.
Enter Your Values
The True Cost of Credit Card Debt — and How to Pay It Off Faster
Credit card interest is calculated on your average daily balance and accrues every day you carry a balance. credit cards typically charge between 15% and 28% per annum (1.25–2.3% per month). At 22% per annum, a $10,000 balance costs approximately $183 in interest in the first month alone. If you only make the minimum payment (typically 3% of the balance or $150, whichever is greater), you'll be paying for years and repaying far more than you originally spent.
Minimum payments are designed to keep you in debt. On a $10,000 balance at 22% annual interest, paying only the minimum of approximately $300 per month would take over 4 years to pay off and cost approximately $5,300 in total interest — more than 50% of the original debt. Paying $500 per month instead cuts the repayment to under 2 years and saves roughly $3,000 in interest. This calculator shows you exactly how your chosen monthly payment affects total cost and time to payoff.
The avalanche method: if you carry balances on multiple credit cards, pay minimums on all cards and direct any extra money to the card with the highest interest rate. Once that's paid off, redirect its full payment to the next highest-rate card. This minimises total interest paid. The snowball method (paying off the smallest balance first, regardless of interest rate) produces the same debt-free outcome but costs more in interest — its benefit is psychological, as seeing cards eliminated quickly provides motivation.
Balance transfer cards: some banks offer introductory 0% interest balance transfer deals for 6–12 months. If you can transfer your high-interest balance to a 0% card and pay it down aggressively during the promotional period, you can eliminate interest costs entirely. Read the terms carefully — balance transfer fees (typically 2–3%), what happens when the promotional period ends, and whether new purchases are treated differently.
Prevention is better than treatment: the best credit card strategy is to pay the full statement balance every month before the due date, eliminating interest entirely. Cards paid in full every month are essentially free short-term credit with added consumer protection. The problem only starts when you carry a balance beyond the interest-free period.
How Credit Card Repayment Works
Credit card interest compounds monthly on your outstanding balance. If you carry a balance, interest is charged on the previous balance plus any new purchases, which is why balances can grow quickly at high APRs. The minimum payment is designed to extend your repayment period and maximise interest collected.
This calculator shows how long it takes to clear a credit card balance, how much interest you will pay, and how different monthly payment amounts change the outcome dramatically. Paying just $50 more than the minimum on a $5,000 balance can save years of repayments and hundreds in interest.