Credit Card Payoff Calculator

Who this is for

One card, several fixed payments, side by side. Enter the balance and the rate from your statement, then each monthly amount you could pay, and the sheet works out how many months each takes to clear the card, the total paid and the interest. The summary shows what the highest payment saves against the lowest.

Anyone clearing a credit card balance and deciding how much to pay each month, and people who have been paying the minimum and want to see what a larger fixed payment changes.

What this helps you track

• How many months each fixed payment takes to clear the card
• The same figure in years, and the date it would be clear
• The total paid and the interest at each payment
• What paying more each month saves against the lowest option
• Whether a payment covers the interest at all

How to use it

1. Write the card name and copy the balance, the interest rate and the current minimum payment from your latest statement.
2. Give each payment you could afford its own row, starting with the current minimum as the lowest.
3. Months to clear, years, total paid and interest are worked out in the browser and the workbook.
4. Write the month you would be clear in the clear-by column, counting on from your next payment date.
5. Read the summary for the interest saved, then choose an amount you can keep up every month.
6. Stop new spending on the card while you pay it down, or the figures will not hold.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How is the interest worked out?

Each month adds your yearly rate divided by twelve to the balance before the payment comes off. Card providers usually charge daily and on their own terms, so treat the figures as a close estimate rather than a statement.

My minimum payment changes each month. Can I use it?

The sheet works on fixed payments, which is the point: a fixed amount clears the card on a known date. Enter your current minimum as one row to see what keeping to that same amount would take.

Why does a row show a dash?

That payment does not cover a month's interest on the balance, so the card would never clear at that amount. Any payment has to be larger than that to make headway.

What about a promotional or balance transfer rate?

The sheet uses one rate throughout. If a lower rate ends partway, fill a second sheet from the balance and the new rate on the month it ends.