When will you be debt free?
A free debt payoff calculator for credit cards and lines of credit. See the month you’re done, what the interest actually costs you, and what one more $100 a month would change. No signup.
At 22.99%, this balance costs $238 a month in interest before a single dollar goes to the debt. Your lender’s minimum payment on it is about $238, which is the interest and nothing more. Pay only that and this balance never gets smaller.
At 9.45%, this balance costs $68 a month in interest before a single dollar goes to the debt. Your lender’s minimum payment on it is about $68, which is the interest and nothing more. Pay only that and this balance never gets smaller.
Everything you send across all of these, minimums included. The plan’s slider starts here, and pushing it higher is the whole exercise. Add the minimums above together and your lenders want $305 this month. Every dollar of that is interest: paying only the minimum would leave what you owe exactly where it is.
Assumptionsdefaults you can edit ▾
This is the cheaper order: switching to smallest balance first would cost you $3,370 more in interest, though it would clear your first balance 5 months sooner. Some people need the win more than the math.
Applies to Card debts only. Canadian issuers outside Quebec typically ask a small flat amount plus the interest, so this starts at 0% with a $10 floor. Quebec is regulated separately at 5% of the balance with the interest inside it, which is a different shape, so set the percent by hand if that is you. Every agreement differs by card, so check yours.
The dollar floor on a minimum payment, usually $10 to $35. It only bites once a balance gets small, where it speeds the last few months up.
That is what today’s payment gets you. Change any lever below and the date moves with it.
Every lever here moves the date above. Nothing is assumed about when you want to be done.
✓ $650/month clears $21,000 by in 3 years 6 months. You’ll pay $6,075 in interest getting there.
Could you actually put $650 a month toward this?
You already do, so the question is whether it is really the most you could do. Finally reads your bank statement and shows what else is quietly competing for that money.
Interest compounds monthly at the rates you enter. Each debt’s minimum is that month’s interest, never below $10, and everything above the minimums goes to whichever debt charges the most first, moving to the next as each one clears. A payment you could make each year lands on every twelfth month from today. Rates are assumed to hold and no new debt is added. At this plan, another $100 a month would finish 7 months sooner. This is information, not financial advice.
Knowing the number is easy. Finding it is the hard part.
The calculator tells you what an extra $200 a month would do. It cannot tell you where that $200 is. Finally can: upload a bank statement and it shows your real monthly surplus, the subscriptions and fees quietly draining it, and a free financial health score so you know where you stand before you commit to a plan.
How this debt payoff calculator works
It runs your debts month by month, the same way your lenders do. Each month interest accrues at the rate you entered, each debt’s minimum comes due (for a card, a percent of the balance plus that month’s interest, with a dollar floor; for a line of credit, the interest alone), and every dollar you pay above the minimums goes to one debt at a time: the highest rate first, or the smallest balance first if you prefer the momentum. As each debt clears, its payment cascades onto the next one, which is what makes the last few months move so fast. If your payment does not cover the minimums, the calculator says so rather than quietly pretending otherwise.
The number worth looking at twice
It is not the payoff date. It is the second figure beside it: what the minimums alone would cost you. On a typical $21,000 of card and line of credit debt, the minimums alone never finish at all: a line of credit’s minimum is just the interest, so the balance sits still forever. The same debt at $650 a month is done in under four years for about $6,100. Nothing else in personal finance offers a return like closing that gap, which is why paying down a debt at this kind of rate usually beats investing the same dollar.
What this calculator leaves out
Deliberately: loans with a fixed term and a set payment (a car loan has a set payment and end date, so it belongs in its own calculator), balance transfers and consolidation offers, rate changes, late fees, annual fees, and any new spending you put on the card while paying it down. That last one is the real variable, and it is the one a calculator cannot see. If your balance never seems to move despite paying every month, the answer is usually in the spending, not the math: where does your money go is the better question to start with.
Frequently asked questions
How long will it take to pay off my debt?
It depends on three things: your balances and rates, how much you pay each month, and which debt the extra money goes to. As an example, $21,000 split across a card at 22.99% and a line of credit at 9.45%, paid at $650 a month with the extra going to the card first, clears in about 42 months and costs roughly $6,100 in interest. Paying only the minimums on the same balances never clears them at all, because a line of credit’s minimum is just the interest, and it never touches the balance.
What happens if I pay an extra $100 a month?
Far more than most people expect, because the extra dollar skips the interest entirely and lands on the principal. On the example above, another $100 a month cuts 7 months off the payoff date and saves roughly $1,100 in interest. The effect compounds: the smaller the balance gets, the less interest accrues, so more of every future payment goes to principal too.
Should I pay off the highest interest debt first?
Mathematically, yes. Sending every spare dollar to your most expensive debt (the avalanche method) always costs the least total interest, because you are killing the most expensive dollar of debt you own. The alternative, paying the smallest balance first (the snowball method), costs more but clears your first debt sooner, which some people need in order to keep going. This calculator shows both, with the exact dollar difference for your numbers.
What is the difference between the debt snowball and debt avalanche?
Both pay the minimums on everything and put all spare money into one debt. Avalanche picks the highest interest rate; snowball picks the smallest balance. Avalanche always wins on total interest. Snowball usually delivers the first cleared debt sooner, which is a motivation strategy rather than a math one. If the debt charging you the most also happens to be your smallest, the two are identical.
Why does paying the minimum take so long?
Because a minimum payment is designed to cover the interest plus, at most, a sliver of principal. On a $12,400 card at 22.99%, the interest alone is about $238 a month. A US-style minimum of 1% plus interest asks for about $362, of which only $124 touches the balance; a Canadian-style minimum of a small flat amount plus interest asks for about $248, of which only $10 does. Either way the balance barely moves, and as it falls the required payment falls with it, stretching the tail out for years. That is the trap: it feels like paying, and it is mostly renting.
Does this debt calculator work for Canada and the US?
Yes. Interest works identically in both countries: card and line of credit interest compounds monthly on the rate you were quoted. What differs is the minimum payment, which is why the calculator has a country toggle. US issuers typically ask a percent of the balance plus interest and fees (Chase publishes the greater of $40 or 1% of the balance), Canadian issuers outside Quebec typically ask a small flat amount plus interest (Amex Canada publishes $10 plus interest and fees), and Quebec regulates its own minimum, 5% of the balance since August 2025. The toggle sets honest defaults for each, and both stay editable so you can match your own statement exactly.
Finally provides information to help you understand your finances. It is not personalized financial advice, and this calculator’s results depend entirely on the assumptions you choose.