Multiple Credit Cards Payoff Calculator — when each card is gone

How it works

Each month the simulation does three things: adds balance × APR ÷ 12 to every open card, pays each card's minimum, and sends whatever budget remains to the open card with the highest APR — CFPB's highest-interest-rate method, which CFPB says "can save you money in the long run" and which, on a fixed budget, is the ordering that minimizes total interest. A retired card's minimum payment rolls into the extra rather than leaving the plan. The per-card table is the point: which card dies first, which carries to the end, and how the months move when the budget changes. For the strategy question itself — rate-first versus the snowball's smallest-balance-first — the debt-payoff calculator runs both; this page fixes the optimal ordering and shows the schedule it produces.

Worked example

With a single card the simulation is a published loan: $146.89 a month on a $3,000 balance at 16% clears it in exactly 24 months (LibreTexts' worked pair, read as a payoff). On the default three-card scenario — $3,000 at 24%, $6,000 at 19%, and $1,500 at 27%, with $215 of minimums inside a $450 budget — this calculator's simulation retires the small 27% card first within the first year, then the 24% card, and reaches all-zero in roughly two and a half years; the exact months in the table are its own computation for these inputs and shift with every dollar of budget.

Frequently asked questions

Which card gets paid off first?

Under the rate-first ordering, the highest-APR card receives every extra dollar, so it usually dies first — though a very large high-APR balance can outlast a small cheaper one that its minimum alone retires. The table answers the question exactly for your cards rather than by rule of thumb.

Why send extra money to the highest APR instead of the smallest balance?

Because each dollar there cancels the most interest per month — CFPB's highest-interest-rate method. On a fixed budget it is the ordering that minimizes total interest (a property of the model, not a CFPB claim; CFPB says only that it "can save you money in the long run"). The smallest-balance-first snowball trades some interest for earlier account closures; the debt-payoff calculator prices that trade if you want to see it.

What happens to a card's minimum payment when it hits zero?

It stays in the plan: the freed minimum joins the extra against the next highest-APR card. That rollover is why the later cards fall faster than the first — the attacking payment grows every time an account closes.

Why does it say the cards are never paid off?

Because the balances never fall to zero at this budget — either it is below the sum of the minimum payments, or a card's minimum is at or under its own monthly interest, so that card's balance holds or grows no matter the ordering. The minimums-only preset shows the edge of that cliff; real progress starts with the first dollar above the minimums.

Should I close a card once it's paid off?

That is a credit-scoring and habits question this page doesn't compute — closing a card changes utilization and account age, and keeping it open risks new balances. The math here only says when the balance reaches zero; what to do with the empty card is yours.

How is this different from the credit-card-payoff calculator?

That page takes ONE balance and asks how a payment size changes the months and interest. This page takes up to three cards and one budget and produces the schedule — which card dies when. Use that one to size the budget, this one to see the order.

How accurate is this, and what does it exclude?

Exact for fixed APRs, fixed minimums, and no new charges. Real cards recompute minimums as balances fall, promotional rates expire, and new spending adds principal — so the months are close estimates, and the per-card ORDER, which depends mostly on rates and balances, is the sturdier conclusion.