Numbers from this site's public API on a 3-card $10,000 portfolio at 18-26% APR. Open the calculator with your own balances and rates and the same numbers come out in real time.
The example portfolio
$10,000 is the size where the minimum payments alone come to $300 a month. This page uses three US credit cards — the same three-card shape and the same 26 / 21 / 18 APR set as the $10K in 1 year and $10K in 6 months case studies. Card A carries $4,000 at 26% APR with a $120 minimum; Card B $3,500 at 21% with a $100 minimum; Card C $2,500 at 18% with an $80 minimum. The three minimums add up to $300 a month. Card A pays 3.000% of its balance and Card B 2.857%; Card C pays 3.200%, so the smallest card is the one paying itself down hardest and the middle card the least.
Weighted by balance, the portfolio's rate is 22.25% a year: $4,000 × 26%, $3,500 × 21% and $2,500 × 18% come to $2,225.00 of annual interest on a $10,000 balance. One twelfth of that is 1.85417%, which on the opening balance is $185.42 for the first month — $86.67 on Card A, $61.25 on Card B and $37.50 on Card C.
To clear all three in twenty-four months, the snowball method needs $608 a month, which is $308 above the minimums. Avalanche needs less — $582 — because it goes straight at the 26% card. Every figure on this page is for the snowball plan unless it says otherwise.
What the two years cost, divided by how long they take
The plan runs twenty-four months and is charged $2,428.57. The $300 minimums run fifty-nine months and are charged $6,015.74. Side by side, those two bills look like the price of choosing badly. They are not a price at all: the interest is charged at a rate, so it scales with the length of the run and barely notices which route you took.
Divide each bill by its own number of months. $2,428.57 over twenty-four months is $101.19 a month. $6,015.74 over fifty-nine months is $101.96 a month. The two routes are 0.76% apart. The thirty-five months the minimums run longer than the plan are worth $3,587.17, which is $102.49 a month — the same figure a third time.
| The run | Payment | Months | Interest | A month of it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months | $1,868 | 6 | $686.83 | $114.47 |
| 12 months | $1,027 | 12 | $1,273.82 | $106.15 |
| 24 months | $608 | 24 | $2,428.57 | $101.19 |
| 36 months | $461 | 36 | $3,528.47 | $98.01 |
| The minimums | $300 | 59 | $6,015.74 | $101.96 |
That is the arithmetic of this page. The plan's bill is 2.477 times smaller than the minimums' bill, and its run is 2.458 times shorter — the same number twice. Across the five runs above, the bill spans 8.76 times and the price per month spans 1.168 times. Each of those payments is the lowest that clears $10,000 in that many months, so the only way to cut the bill is to cut the run, and the only way to cut the run is to pay more each month.
Those are the exact thresholds, which is worth saying out loud because a round number just above one buys the same deadline at a slightly different bill. The $10K in 1 year page runs these three cards at a round $1,050 a month, and that payment is charged $1,242.01 — the same twelve-month deadline, a slightly bigger payment, and the reason the two pages quote different numbers for it.
The two routes land level because two things move in opposite directions. The minimum route carries a bigger average balance — $5,213.13 against the plan's $4,691.76, about 11.1% more — but it keeps that balance spread across all three cards, while the plan closes Card C (18%) and Card B (21%) first and finishes with everything sitting on Card A at 26%. The bigger balance and the cheaper mix very nearly cancel.
One thing does move the price, and it is the order of the cards rather than the deadline. Run at the same $608, avalanche finishes in twenty-three months and is charged $2,012.47 — $87.50 a month of its run, 13.5% below the plan's $101.19. Over the whole run that 13.5% is worth $416.10.
What the plan does over the twenty-four months
The payments step down as each card closes: $608 in months 1 to 7, $528 in months 8 to 16, $428 in months 17 to 23, and $424.57 in month 24. Each drop is exactly the minimum of the card that just closed — $80 for Card C, $100 for Card B — and the third drop, Card A's $120, never arrives: the plan ends at $424.57 instead of $428.
Card C is the first target. It is paid $388 a month — the $308 of new money plus its own $80 minimum — and it is gone in month 7. Card B takes the money from month 8 at $408 a month and finishes in month 16 on a final payment of $147.43. Card A pays its own $120 minimum for the first fifteen months, picks up $380.57 in month 16 when Card B closes, and then takes every payment from month 17 on: it enters that stretch owing $3,110.01, and the last eight payments send $3,420.57 at it, $310.56 of which is interest.
Card by card the plan charges Card A $1,601.14, Card B $678.14 and Card C $149.29 — 65.93%, 27.92% and 6.15% of the bill, against balance shares of 40%, 35% and 25%. The monthly charge falls from $185.42 in month 1 to $9.01 in month 24, 20.58 times less, and by the last payment 97.88% of the $424.57 reaches principal against 30.50% of the first one.
Avalanche is cheaper and faster here. At the same $608 a month it is charged $2,012.47 — $416.10 less, so the snowball bill is 1.207 times the avalanche bill — and it lands in twenty-three months, one short of the plan. Avalanche can clear the balance at its own lower threshold of $582, and at that smaller payment it is charged $2,122.89; the $2,012.47 above is the equal-payment figure, so the two numbers differ by the payment they are measured at, not by the method.
The deadline itself is exact. $608 a month lands the payoff in twenty-four months; $607 adds a twenty-fifth and takes the interest to $2,435.41. Avalanche's own deadline sits lower: $582 finishes in twenty-four months, and $581 pushes it to twenty-five and $2,128.89. The first twelve months send $6,896.00 and the last twelve $5,532.57 — 19.77% less — and they retire $5,131.36 against $4,868.64, so the balance crosses the halfway mark in month 12.
The same twenty-four months on the minimums
Leave the plan and pay the $300 instead, and the same twenty-four months go very differently. You send $7,200 and are charged $3,804.58 of interest — 52.84% of everything you send — so only $3,395.42 reaches the balance and you still owe $6,604.58, 66.05% of what you started with. The balance path is $9,281.18 at month 6, $8,481.99 at month 12, $7,593.22 at month 18 and $6,604.58 at month 24.
Not one of the three cards is cleared in those twenty-four months. Card C is the first to go, in month 43; Card B follows in month 55 and Card A in month 59. The whole minimums-only run is fifty-nine months and $6,015.74 of interest, a total bill of $16,015.74 — 60.16% of the balance you started with. Card by card the minimums charge Card A $3,161.60, Card B $1,955.31 and Card C $898.84. Avalanche on the same $300 takes the same fifty-nine months and is charged $6,012.97, so on this portfolio the two methods are $2.77 apart when the payment is only the minimums.
Where the $308 comes from
This is the part that decides whether the plan happens, so it is worth stating plainly: you need $308 a month above the $300 you already pay — 1.027 times the minimums — and over the twenty-four months the new money is $7,388.57, which is 73.89% of the balance. The plan pays 2.027 times the minimums and finishes the job in 24 months instead of 59 — 2.458 times faster.
It is worth seeing what the two halves of that payment buy. The $5,040 of minimums you still pay during the plan covers the entire $2,428.57 interest bill and still retires $2,611.43 of the balance; the $7,388.57 of new money retires the other $7,388.57 of it. And the plan's $12,428.57 is 77.60% of the $16,015.74 the minimums-only path costs, so you spend about three quarters of the money and save $3,587.17.
Two comparisons make the size of the ask concrete. Month 1 of the minimums is charged the same $185.42 the plan is, but of that $300 only $114.58 reaches principal — 38.19%. And the whole two years of interest is 8.095 of the $300 minimum payments, while the same two years of the minimums, at $7,200, is charged $3,804.58 — more than the plan's entire bill.
Reproduce these numbers
Every figure on this page comes from this site's public API. Post the three balances, their rates, their minimums and extra: 308 to /api/payoff and you get the same months, the same $2,428.57 and the same per-card breakdown — including the remaining on each month of the timeline, once with extra: 308 and once with extra: 0. Two things that trip people up: APR goes in as a percentage (26, not 0.26), and extra is the amount above your total minimums, not your total payment — $308 here, which is what turns the $300 in minimums into $608 a month. Or just open the calculator and type your balances in — same engine, no payload.
If your target is a different size or a different deadline, the same analysis is in the $10K in 1 year, $10K in 6 months, $5K in 1 year, $5K in 6 months, $15K in 2 years, $15K in 1 year, $15K in 6 months, $20K in 2 years, $20K in 1 year, $20K in 6 months, $25K in 2 years, $25K in 1 year, $30K in 2 years, $30K in 1 year, $30K in 6 months, $40K in 2 years, $40K in 1 year, $40K in 6 months, $80K in 2 years, $80K in 12 months, $80K in 6 months, $70K in 2 years, $70K in 12 months, $70K in 6 months, $60K in 2 years, $60K in 12 months, $60K in 6 months, $50K in 2 years, $50K in 12 months, $50K in 6 months and $100K case studies, plus a 36-second walkthrough of the $25K case on YouTube. Shorter answers to the most common payoff questions live in the payoff questions hub.
Frequently asked
How much do I have to pay a month to clear $10,000 in two years?
On the three-card example here, $608 a month clears the $10,000 in twenty-four months on the snowball method, which is $308 above the $300 in minimums. Avalanche needs less — $582 — because it goes at the 26% card first.
How much interest does $10,000 cost over two years?
The snowball plan is charged $2,428.57 and the total that leaves your account is $12,428.57 — the $10,000 balance plus that interest. The interest is 24.29% of the balance you started with and 19.54% of everything you send, and it is 8.095 of the $300 minimum payments. Run at the same $608 a month, avalanche finishes in twenty-three months and is charged $2,012.47, which is $416.10 less.
Why do the plan and the minimums cost the same per month?
Because the interest is charged at a rate, not sold at a price, so it scales with the length of the run. $2,428.57 over the plan's twenty-four months is $101.19 a month; $6,015.74 over the minimums' fifty-nine months is $101.96 a month — 0.76% apart. The thirty-five months the minimums run longer are worth $3,587.17, which is $102.49 a month. The same portfolio at other deadlines stays in the same band: $114.47 a month of the run in six months, $106.15 in twelve and $98.01 in thirty-six. The one thing that does move the price is the order of the cards — at the same $608, avalanche runs at $87.50 a month, 13.5% below the plan's, which is $416.10 over the run.
Does it matter which card I pay off first on a two-year plan?
It is worth $416.10 at the same $608 a month, and one month of time: snowball lands in twenty-four months and avalanche in twenty-three. Snowball clears Card C in month 7, Card B in month 16 and Card A in month 24; avalanche clears Card A in month 11, Card B in month 19 and Card C in month 23.
What if I only pay the minimums on $10,000?
The $300 in minimums clears the balance in 59 months — nearly five years — and costs $6,015.74 in interest, a total bill of $16,015.74. The twenty-four-month plan is charged $2,428.57, a saving of $3,587.17. The plan also finishes 2.458 times faster: 24 months against 59. Not one of the three cards is cleared inside the first twenty-four months of minimums — Card C is the first to go, in month 43. Avalanche on the minimums takes the same 59 months and costs $6,012.97 — just $2.77 less.
How long does it take to pay off $10,000 in 2 years?
Two years, by definition — but only if you send $608 a month, which is 2.027 times the $300 in minimums. The deadline is exact: $608 lands the payoff in twenty-four months and $607 adds a twenty-fifth and takes the interest to $2,435.41. Avalanche's own deadline sits lower, at $582, and $581 pushes it to twenty-five months. The minimums alone take 59 months on the same portfolio and cost $6,015.74 in interest.
What is the blended interest rate on this portfolio?
22.25% a year, weighted by balance: $4,000 at 26%, $3,500 at 21% and $2,500 at 18% work out to $2,225.00 of annual interest on $10,000. One twelfth of that is 1.85417%, which is $185.42 on the opening balance — $86.67 on Card A, $61.25 on Card B and $37.50 on Card C. By month 24, under the plan, the monthly interest is down to $9.01 — 20.58 times less than month 1.
What happens in the last month of the plan?
Month 24 is the only payment that is not a round step. The plan's twenty-three full payments are $608, $528 and $428, and the last one is $424.57, because the balance runs out partway through the month — Card A's $120 minimum would have taken the payment to $428, and $3.43 of that is never needed. Of that final $424.57, $415.56 reaches principal and $9.01 is interest, which is 2.12% of the payment against 30.50% in month 1.