Credit card payoff calculator

Minimum payments shrink as your balance shrinks, which is why a modest balance can take years to clear. This tool runs the honest monthly loop — interest first, then principal — for a fixed monthly payment and for a typical percentage-based minimum, and shows the difference in months and money. The interest mechanics behind it (daily compounding, grace periods) are in how credit card interest works; the strategy for choosing which card to attack first is in snowball vs avalanche. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent to BRYME.

The loop behind it. Each month: interest = balance × APR ÷ 12; the payment pays that interest first and the remainder cuts the principal. A fixed payment keeps attacking until the balance is zero; a percentage minimum shrinks with the balance, which is the trap this page exists to show. Real statements compound daily rather than monthly, so exact figures differ slightly — the shape of the comparison does not. If the maths says the minimum path runs beyond 30 years, the tool says so rather than pretending otherwise. This is arithmetic on your numbers, not credit advice.