Slash your interest and save tons!
Welcome to the magical and wonderful calculator!
If you have any questions, issues, or suggestions, please contact us!
What this calculator does
Balance transfers can be a wonderful tool to save you a bunch of money on your credit card debt. This calculator helps you realize just how much you can save in your situation.
A lot of cards have the ability to do balance transfers, you don't necessarily need a specific card for it. However, there are many cards that specialize in balance transfers. These cards usually give very low interest for a short period of time (for example, 0% interest for 12 months).
Additionally, this calculator allows you to compare different interest compounding periods and debt payment strategies.
We also have a calculator that shows you exactly how much to pay every month to minimize the amount of interest on your cards. It's valuable both if you do a balance transfer or if you don't. Check out our credit card pay off calculator.
Okay, how do I work it?
- Enter how much you are able to pay towards your credit card debt every month.
- Put in info about the card you're going to transfer the balance to.
- If there is no special introductory rate, just put the normal rate in the introductory rate box.
- If you don't have one in mind, check out Credit Card Insider's recommended balance transfer cards. Or just run with the default numbers.
- Put in the info about your credit cards.
- If you don't have an annual fee, simply put 0 in that box.
- Add or remove as many cards as needed to suit your situation.
- (Optionally) Click 'toggle options' and change options as you see fit. There is more info about them below.
- Hit calculate and check out the results!
- Rinse and repeat as needed, tweaking numbers and options to compare.
Helpful notes
This calculator assumes that you start out with a balance and it only goes down. In other words, it assumes you aren't charging anything on your credit cards. If you'd like a calculator that didn't assume this or had some other feature, please let us know.
This calculator assumes that when the balance is transferred, if it zeros out the balance of a card, that you will no longer pay an annual fee for that card. If you're interested, check out "is an annual fee worth it."
This calculator keeps the minimum payment the same for every month, regardless of balance. In reality, your minimum payment may change every month. Additionally, it assumes a minimum payment for the balance transfer card equalling 3% of the starting balance including fees.
This calculator uses daily compounding interest as default. This is how many credit cards charge you interest, check your statement or Terms and Conditions to confirm which method your card uses. You can change the compounding period in the options.
There are two popular debt payment methods when you have multiple debt accounts: debt avalanche and debt snowball. This calculator uses the debt avalanche by default. You can change the debt payment methods in the options.
- Debt avalanche
- This method leads to you paying the least money possible!
- It works by paying off the account with the HIGHEST INTEREST first.
- This minimizes the amount of interest you pay, which means more money in your pocket!
- You should use this method. The only reason to use snowball is purely psychological.
- Debt snowball
- This method leads to you paying more interest.
- It works by paying off the account with the HIGHEST BALANCE first.
- The only benefit of this method is it leads to you completely paying off an account faster.
- People choose this method to get a "quick win" and to feel like they are making progress paying down their debt.
- Only use this method if you feel crushed by your debt and think that you absolutely need to have the psychological boost of completely paying off an account.
- Just know that this method will LEAD TO YOU PAYING MORE MONEY. But the good news is, you can use this calculator to see exactly how much!
Use your credit cards instead of letting them use you
Yes, you can take back the power. Change from them making money off of you to you making money off of them! We have a comprehensive guide on credit cards. Whether you've never had a credit card or you've had them for 20 years, you will learn something new.
It's chock full with well-researched information covering everything from credit basics to carrying a large balance to maximizing your rewards. Best of all, there are multiple walkthroughs based on different possible situations you may be in.
Check out Swipe Right, the comprehensive guide to getting the most out of credit cards
Do you have other calculators?
Hecks yes, we do! We have calculators that help with credit card rewards, sign-up bonuses, and more!
Check them all out on our resources page.
Disclosure
This document is provided for informational purposes only. We are not licensed financial advisors. Neither Helpful For Life LLC nor its associated parties will be liable for any damage, expense, or other loss you may suffer based on your reliance on this document.