Get yourself closer to being debt-free!
Welcome to the magical and wonderful calculator!
If you have any questions, issues, or suggestions, please contact us!
What this calculator does
If you are carrying a balance on multiple credit cards (not paying them off completely each month), this is the tool for you. This calculator tells you how much to pay on each card every month. It will also tell you how long it will take you to pay off each of your cards and how much interest you will pay on each of them.
Additionally, this calculator allows you to compare different interest compounding periods and debt payment strategies.
Okay, how do I work it?
- Enter how much you are able to pay towards your credit card debt every month.
- Put in the info about your credit cards.
- 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
If you're viewing this on your phone, the tables may look better if you hold your phone sideways (in landscape mode).
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 of a card is zeroed out, 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.
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!
Pay off your debt faster and pay less interest
Yes, this is a real possibility! It's one of the many things that we talk about in our 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.