People type this into search every day: how long to pay off credit card.
The usual answer is “look at the minimum.” Your statement already prints a better one.
Card issuers have to show how long the current balance takes if you pay only the minimum and add no new charges. They also have to show the monthly amount that would clear that same balance in 36 months. The CFPB explains this in its note on the three-year payoff box. Those figures use the balance on that statement. They ignore future purchases.
Change the payment and the date moves.
Interest is added before the payment can cut principal
The CFPB’s interest calculation explainer says many issuers work from the average daily balance. They apply a daily periodic rate. Pay earlier in the cycle and you usually owe less, because interest is accruing by the day.
The credit card payoff calculator uses a monthly version of the same idea. It is close enough to plan with, and it will not match a statement to the penny.
The monthly rate is the APR divided by 12.
Each month it adds balance × monthly rate as interest, then subtracts the fixed payment. It repeats until the balance is gone.
A payment that does not cover that month’s interest leaves the balance higher than it started. The calculator stops and says the payment is too low.
This assumes no new charges. It also assumes the rate and the payment stay put.
What the defaults look like
Here are the calculator defaults:
- card balance: $6,200
- APR: 21.9%
- monthly payment: $250
That 21.9% sits in the range the Fed is publishing. The G.19 consumer credit release dated October 7, 2026 puts the latest commercial-bank card APR at 21.19% on all accounts. For accounts that were actually charged interest, the rate is 22.36%.
First month interest: 6200 × (0.219 ÷ 12) = $113.15
The $250 payment covers that $113.15. The leftover $136.85 is the first cut to principal. After that month the balance is $6,063.15.
Keep the $250 payment fixed and the calculator finishes in 2 years 10 months. Total interest: $2,130.04. Total paid: $8,330.04.
Raise the payment and both numbers move
Same $6,200 at 21.9%. Pay $350 instead of $250 and it finishes in 1 year 10 months, with $1,358.06 of interest.
That extra $100 a month removes 12 months and about $772 of interest.
The CFPB puts it the same way: the more you pay each month, the less interest you pay over time. You only have to pay the minimum to stay current. The 36-month figure is a comparison, not a required bill.
Drop the payment toward the interest line and the timeline stretches fast.
Same balance and APR, $130 a month: 9 years 5 months and $8,486.62 in interest. The interest alone is larger than the $6,200 you started with.
At $113 a month the first-month interest is still $113.15. The balance does not fall, so you need a higher payment or the debt grows.
If the payment you can make sits under that interest line, the CFPB’s guide for a bill you cannot pay says to call the issuer, explain the situation, and say what you can actually send.
New charges reset the clock
The calculator, and the box on your statement, both assume you stop using the card.
A grace period is the gap between the end of the billing cycle and the due date. The CFPB’s grace period explainer says issuers do not have to offer one. Most cards still give one on purchases. Pay the statement in full by the due date and those purchases usually carry no interest.
Carry a balance and that grace period is gone. New purchases start accruing interest from the purchase date. Cash advances usually have no grace period at all.
If you are paying this card down, keep new spending off it. A new charge makes the payoff date you just computed wrong.
One card or several
This calculator is for a single balance and a fixed payment.
If you have more than one debt, the debt snowball vs avalanche calculator compares two orders. Avalanche points extra money at the highest APR. Snowball points it at the smallest balance. Both keep paying the others. The published result is whichever order costs less interest.
The early loan payoff calculator is the same idea on an installment loan: scheduled payment plus extra, applied to principal.
My advice is to test the highest payment you can repeat every month. Then open the credit card payoff calculator with the real statement balance, the purchase APR, and that payment.