At $12,000 of credit-card debt, a 24 percent APR, and a $300 monthly payment, you’ll be debt-free in 6y 10mo and pay about $12,383 in interest — more than the balance itself. Drag the sliders to your own numbers to see your payoff date and what each option changes. The calculator runs entirely in your browser; nothing you enter is stored or sent.
Your Payoff Timeline
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At this pace you’ll pay $12,383 in interest alone. A settlement check takes 60 seconds and won’t touch your credit.
See if you qualifyYour payment doesn’t cover this month’s interest — the balance grows even while you pay. This is exactly the situation relief programs exist for.
See if you qualify Call a debt specialistAt this balance, a steady payoff plan or a nonprofit debt management plan may cost less than settlement fees and the credit damage settlement brings. A nonprofit credit counselor can review your budget and payoff options for free.
Talk to a nonprofit credit counselor (NFCC)How the Payoff Math Works
This calculator charges your APR divided by 12 on whatever balance remains each month (many card issuers instead charge a daily rate on the average daily balance, CFPB), your payment covers that interest first, and only the remainder touches the principal. On the default numbers above, the first $240 of the $300 payment is interest — just $60 reduces the debt. That is why the timeline reads 6y 10mo instead of the 40 months you might expect from dividing $12,000 by $300.
The lever is the gap between payment and monthly interest. Add $100 a month to the default scenario and the timeline drops from 6y 10mo to 3y 11mo, and total interest falls from $12,383 to $6,509 — $5,874 kept, 35 months returned, from one budget change. Move the payment slider and watch the same effect on your own numbers.
The Average Card Balance Where You Live
Average credit-card balances per consumer differ from state to state. Here is what the calculator’s default payment ($300 at a 24% APR) does to each state’s average balance per consumer with a credit report, from the New York Fed’s state data for Q4 2025:
| State | Avg. card balance per consumer (NY Fed, Q4 2025) | Debt-free in | Interest paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $4,530 | 1y 7mo | $917 |
| California | $5,000 | 1y 9mo | $1,143 |
| Florida | $5,050 | 1y 9mo | $1,169 |
| Georgia | $4,610 | 1y 7mo | $954 |
| North Carolina | $4,160 | 1y 5mo | $761 |
| Texas | $4,620 | 1y 7mo | $958 |
Every state and metro we track — balances, garnishment caps, statutes of limitations — is in the Financial Data Explorer.
See What You’d Actually Qualify For
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Three Ways to Shorten the Timeline
Pay more than the minimum, every month. As the math above shows, every dollar past the monthly interest goes straight to principal, and the effect compounds in your favor. Even $50 more per month meaningfully moves the date.
Cut the APR with consolidation. Rolling card balances into a fixed-rate consolidation loan or personal loan replaces a mid-20s APR with something lower and adds a fixed end date. Your credit profile decides the rate, so check where you stand first.
If the payoff takes years, compare relief programs. When the calculator shows years of payments going mostly to interest — or a payment that never reaches zero — credit-card debt relief options like settlement exist for exactly that situation. Our 60-second check below shows which options fit your numbers, free and with no effect on your credit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the payoff date calculated?
The calculator uses the standard amortization formula: your APR divided by 12 is charged on the remaining balance each month, your payment covers that interest first, and whatever is left reduces the balance. It assumes a fixed payment and no new charges, a simplification: many issuers charge interest daily on the average daily balance (CFPB).
Why does my minimum payment barely move the balance?
Minimum payments are often the interest plus a small share of the balance (the CFPB's worked example uses interest plus 1%, or $35), so at today's card rates most of the payment is interest. If your payment only slightly exceeds the monthly interest, almost none of it reaches the principal, so the timeline stretches to decades. The fastest fix is any amount above the minimum, every month.
Is anything I enter saved or shared?
No. The sliders run entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored, sent to us, or shared with anyone, and using the calculator never affects your credit.
When is debt settlement worth considering?
Settlement is worth comparing when the math above shows years of payments going mostly to interest. It is a serious step: the FTC warns it can take years to complete and is likely to damage your credit, and fees apply, so compare it against consolidation before you commit.
What APR should I enter?
Use the purchase APR from your latest card statement, not an average. If you carry balances on several cards, enter the rate on the card with the largest balance, or run the calculator once per card. The CFPB reports that average APRs on general purpose cards reached 25.2 percent in 2024, the highest since at least 2015.
Data & tools used in this analysis
Sources
- Federal Reserve — G.19 Consumer Credit (current release)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Minimum payments and the three-year payoff disclosure
- Federal Trade Commission — How To Get Out of Debt
- CFPB — The Consumer Credit Card Market: Report to Congress (December 2025)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — How does my credit card company calculate the amount of interest I owe?
