Credit Card Payoff Calculator
See how many months it takes to clear your credit card balance and how much interest you really pay at your current monthly payment.
Built & reviewed by Ankit Madia, Founder & Markets Trader
How credit card interest piles up
The moment you skip paying your full statement amount, the bank starts adding a finance charge to your balance every single month. On most Indian cards that charge is around 3 to 3.75% per month, which is roughly 36 to 45% a year. The catch is that the interest is added to your balance and then earns interest again the next month, so it compounds monthly. A modest looking balance can quietly turn into a much bigger number if you only pay a little each month.
A worked example
Say you owe ₹1,00,000 on a card at 42% per year (that is 3.5% per month) and you pay ₹5,000 every month. The first month's finance charge alone is ₹3,500, so only ₹1,500 of your payment actually reduces the balance. It takes roughly 27 to 30 months to clear the card, and you end up paying somewhere around ₹35,000 to ₹45,000 in interest on top of the original ₹1,00,000. Now drop that payment to ₹2,000 a month. The monthly interest of ₹3,500 is bigger than your payment, so the balance never comes down at all and the debt just keeps growing. That is exactly the situation this calculator warns you about.
Tips to get out faster
- Pay a fixed amount that is well above the 5% minimum due, and keep it steady.
- Stop swiping the card for new spends until the old balance is cleared.
- If you have several cards, kill the highest interest one first.
- Convert a large balance to a card EMI or move it to a personal loan or balance transfer at 12 to 20%, far cheaper than revolving at 40%.