Credit Card Payoff Calculator

How minimum payments work

Most Canadian issuers set the minimum at the greater of a percentage of your balance (commonly around 3%) or a flat floor (often $10), plus any interest and fees. Because the percentage is applied to a shrinking balance, the minimum falls every month, which is why minimum-only payoff drags on for years. This tool recomputes the minimum each month as max(pct × balance, $10), so you see the real trajectory, not a fixed guess. Quebec's Consumer Protection Act has phased in a higher floor, reaching a required minimum of at least 5% of the balance in August 2025, flip the Quebec toggle to model it.

Interest: daily accrual and the grace period

Card issuers charge interest daily on your average daily balance at the daily rate APR ÷ 365, then post it once a month. New purchases are interest-free during the statement grace period only if you paid the previous statement in full; the moment you carry a balance, new purchases start accruing interest from the transaction date and the grace period is lost until you pay in full again. To keep the math transparent, this tool uses a monthly rate of APR ÷ 12, within a few dollars of the daily method over a typical payoff, and assumes no new purchases are added.

Payment strategies

Fixed $ applies the same amount each month; the final payment is trimmed so you never overpay. By a date solves the standard annuity formula for the payment that clears the balance in exactly N months: payment = B × i ÷ (1 − (1 + i)⁻ⁿ), where i = APR ÷ 12 ÷ 100. If a fixed payment is ≤ the first month's interest, the balance can never fall and the tool flags it instead of pretending it clears. A fixed payment (or a target-date payment) can also come out below this month's minimum: on a larger balance the minimum is the higher of the two at first, and the card requires at least the minimum. The tool then shows what you would really pay, max(your payment, the minimum) each month, which means the minimum until it falls to your amount and your amount after that, with its payoff date and interest.

The minimum-payment trap

Every result is shown next to the minimum-only scenario. Interest as a percent of your balance divides total interest by the original balance, carry a card long enough and you pay more in interest than you borrowed.

The charts

Balance over time plots the same month-by-month simulation as the result above, labelled by calendar month, with markers at the month each scenario is paid off. It runs to the later payoff. If a payment never clears the card it is drawn as it really moves: when the payment is at or below the interest, the balance changes each month by balance × i − payment, so it grows (or holds still when the payment exactly matches the interest); when the payment covers the interest but only just, the balance falls slowly across the full 50-year projection. When your own payment is below the interest, that balance grows without limit, so the chart shows the first 5 years.

What paying more saves runs the full payoff for a range of fixed monthly payments: from the first payment that cuts the balance by at least 0.5% a month (or $5), or from your payment if that is lower, up to three times your payment or the payment that clears the card in exactly 12 months, whichever is more, and never past the payment that clears it in one month. Your payment is one of the points, so its value equals the total interest above; point at any payment (or open View data) to see its interest and how long it takes. When minimum payments clear the card, the dashed line is their total interest. Payments below this month's minimum, max(pct × balance, $10), are shaded: the card would not accept them at first. At 0% APR there is no interest at any payment, so the chart shows months to pay off instead.

Where your money goes stacks the balance repaid and the total interest for your plan and for minimum payments only; each bar's length is the total paid. When a plan is still paying down the card after the 50-year projection, its bar shows those 50 years instead: the balance repaid, the interest paid along the way, and the balance still owing at the end, so its length is what was paid plus what is still owed. A payment that does not cover the interest only grows the debt, so it has no bar.

Lower rate or bigger payment? re-runs the same payoff at your APR and at reference rates for a low-rate card (12.99%), a typical purchase rate (20.99%) and a cash advance (22.99%), at your exact payment and at about 0.75×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 2× and 3× it (rounded). Each cell is total interest; a dash means that payment does not clear the card at that rate within the 50-year projection. On minimum payments the columns hold your first minimum fixed, since a falling minimum is not a single amount.

Cheaper alternatives

Turn on the balance transfer comparison to model moving your balance to a promo rate (often 0%–3.99% for 6–12 months). A one-time transfer fee of 1%–3% of the balance is added up front, and after the promo window the rate reverts to the high APR you set. Keeping the same monthly payment, the tool runs interest at the promo rate during the promo and the revert rate afterward, then compares the total paid, interest and fee together, against staying put; a transfer only wins if you clear most of the balance before the promo ends. The balance transfer timeline draws both balances month by month: the transfer starts higher by the fee, the shading turns green once it leaves you owing less, and while a balance is left a marker shows the month the promo rate ends. If your payment never clears your current card but does clear the transfer, the timeline runs to the transfer's payoff and draws your card's balance as it really moves, growing by balance × i − payment each month. A low-rate card at around 12.99% (versus 20.99% purchases or 22.99% cash advances) permanently cuts the interest on carried balances; drop your APR to that level to model it directly.

What this doesn't model

New purchases, annual fees, over-limit or late fees, cash-advance rates (typically 22.99% with no grace period), variable-rate changes, or the exact day-count of daily compounding. Fighting several debts at once? Try the debt consolidation calculator, or build the cushion that keeps you off the card with the emergency fund calculator.