Numbers from this site's public API on a 5-card $40,000 portfolio at 15-24% APR. Open the calculator with your own balances and rates and the same numbers come out in real time.
The example portfolio
$40,000 is the size where the minimum payments alone cross $1,000 a month. This page uses five US credit cards — the same five-card shape and the same 24 / 21 / 19 / 17 / 15 APR ladder as the $40K in 1 year and $40K in 6 months case studies. Card A carries $12,000 at 24% APR with a $300 minimum; Card B $9,000 at 21% with a $225 minimum; Card C $8,000 at 19% with a $200 minimum; Card D $6,500 at 17% with a $163 minimum; Card E $4,500 at 15% with a $112 minimum. The five minimums add up to $1,000 a month.
The rates run a ladder from 24% down to 15%, and the largest balance carries the highest rate. Weighted by balance, the portfolio's rate is 20.175% a year: $12,000 × 24%, $9,000 × 21%, $8,000 × 19%, $6,500 × 17% and $4,500 × 15% come to $8,070.00 of annual interest on a $40,000 balance. One twelfth of that is 1.68125%, which on the opening balance is $672.50 for the first month — $240.00 on Card A, $157.50 on Card B, $126.67 on Card C, $92.08 on Card D and $56.25 on Card E.
To clear all five in twenty-four months, the snowball method needs $2,388 a month, which is $1,388 above the minimums. Avalanche needs less — $2,319 — because it goes straight at the 24% card. Every figure on this page is for the snowball plan unless it says otherwise.
Twenty-four months for $48,884.86, or eighty-two for $68,678.10
A payoff plan has two prices, not one. The first is the monthly payment, which is the one everybody asks about. The second is the total that eventually leaves your account, and on a two-year deadline the second one is where the choice really shows up — because a monthly payment tells you what a plan asks of you, and the total tells you what it costs.
The plan. Twenty-four months at $2,388 sends $48,884.86 in total: the $40,000 balance plus $8,884.86 of interest. That is 1.222 times the balance. The interest is 22.21% of what you owed and 18.18% of everything you send.
The minimums. Paying the $1,000 minimum and nothing more takes 82 months — close to seven years — and sends $68,678.10 in total, of which $28,678.10 is interest. That is 40.5% more than the plan's bill, on a path that runs 3.417 times as long — $19,793.24 of extra interest, and 1.405 times the plan.
The twenty-four-month mark is the trap in the middle, and it is worth stopping on. Twenty-four months of minimums moves $24,000 out of your account, of which $14,502.17 is interest — 60.43% of what you sent — and only $9,497.83 reaches principal. You still owe $30,502.17, which is 76.26% of the balance you started with. The plan, over the same twenty-four months, sends $48,884.86 and ends at zero. Finishing the rest on the minimums takes another 58 months.
| The path | Months | Sent | Interest | Still owed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The $2,388 plan | 24 | $48,884.86 | $8,884.86 | $0.00 |
| The $1,000 minimums | 82 | $68,678.10 | $28,678.10 | $0.00 |
| The minimums, first 24 months | 24 | $24,000.00 | $14,502.17 | $30,502.17 |
Read the first two lines together and the whole page is there: the same $40,000, bought back for $48,884.86 in twenty-four months or $68,678.10 in eighty-two. The third line is why the second one is so expensive — two years in, the minimums have paid more interest than the plan pays in its whole life, and they have not finished a single card's worth of progress they can see.
What the two years cost
The twenty-four months cost $8,884.86 of interest, and the total that leaves your account is $48,884.86. The interest is 22.21% of the balance you started with and 18.18% of everything you send. The whole two years of interest is 8.885 of the $1,000 minimum payments, and the monthly charge falls from $672.50 in month 1 to $32.53 in month 24 — 20.67 times less.
Snowball is not the cheapest way to spend those twenty-four months. Avalanche, run at the same $2,388 a month, is charged $7,322.78 — $1,562.08 less, which is 17.58% of the snowball interest bill. Unlike the bigger portfolios, it does not finish a month earlier here: at this payment both methods land in month 24, so the entire difference between them is the interest. Avalanche can also clear the balance at its own lower threshold of $2,319, and at that smaller payment it costs $7,569.45; the $7,322.78 above is the equal-payment figure, so the two numbers differ by the payment they are measured at, not by the method.
The payments step down five times as cards close: $2,388 in months 1 to 4, $2,276 in months 5 to 8, $2,113 in months 9 to 13, $1,913 in months 14 to 18, $1,688 in months 19 to 23, and $1,658.86 in month 24. Each drop is exactly the minimum of the card that just cleared — $112 for Card E, $163 for Card D, $200 for Card C, $225 for Card B — and the fifth drop, Card A's $300, never arrives: the plan ends at $1,658.86 instead of $1,388. The balance path is $38,284.50, $36,546.41, $34,785.42, $33,001.22, $31,303.20, $29,580.38, $27,832.39, $26,058.86, $24,420.35, $22,755.48, $21,063.82, $19,344.94, $17,598.39, $16,021.16, $14,416.14, $12,782.83, $11,120.73, $9,429.34, $7,929.93, $6,400.53, $4,840.54, $3,249.35, $1,626.33 and zero.
The deadline itself is exact. $2,388 a month lands the payoff in twenty-four months; $2,387 adds a twenty-fifth and takes the interest to $8,890.50. Avalanche's own deadline sits lower: $2,319 finishes in twenty-four months, and $2,318 pushes it to twenty-five and $7,574.63. The first twelve months send $27,108.00 and the last twelve $21,776.86 — 19.67% less — and they retire $20,655.06 against $19,344.94. Twenty-four flat payments of $2,388 would come to $57,312; the plan sends $48,884.86, so $8,427.14 of those flat payments never happens.
Where the $1,388 comes from
This is the part that decides whether the plan happens, so it is worth stating plainly: you need $1,388 a month above the $1,000 you already pay — 1.388 times the minimums — and over the twenty-four months the new money alone is $33,312, which is 83.28% of the balance. The plan pays 2.388 times the minimums and finishes the job in 24 months instead of 82 — 3.417 times faster.
Two comparisons make the size of the ask concrete. The plan's $48,884.86 is 71.18% of the $68,678.10 the minimums-only path costs, so you spend about seventy-one cents on the dollar and save $19,793.24. And month 1 of the minimums is charged the same $672.50 the plan is, but of that $1,000 only $327.50 reaches principal — 32.75%, against 71.84% for the plan's first payment.
Stretching the same $40,000 across different deadlines is a separate trade, and it is worth naming. The six-month plan on this portfolio is $7,425 a month and $2,510.83 of interest; the twelve-month plan is $4,081 a month and $4,659.89; the twenty-four-month plan is $2,388 a month and $8,884.86; the thirty-six-month plan is $1,829 a month and $13,027.91. Going from one year to two cuts the payment by $1,693 a month and adds $4,224.97 of interest — 1.91 times the twelve-month bill. You are buying cash flow, and you are paying for it in interest.
Reproduce these numbers
Every figure on this page comes from this site's public API. Post the five balances, their rates, their minimums and extra: 1388 to /api/payoff and you get the same months, the same $8,884.86 and the same per-card breakdown — including the remaining on each month of the timeline, once with extra: 1388 and once with extra: 0. Two things that trip people up: APR goes in as a percentage (24, not 0.24), and extra is the amount above your total minimums, not your total payment — $1,388 here, which is what turns the $1,000 in minimums into $2,388 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 $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, $30K in 6 months, $20K in 6 months, $15K in 6 months, $10K in 6 months, $5K in 6 months, $5K in 1 year, $10K, $15K, $20K, $25K, $30K 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 $40,000 in two years?
On the five-card example here, $2,388 a month clears the $40,000 in twenty-four months on the snowball method, which is $1,388 above the $1,000 in minimums. Avalanche needs less — $2,319 — because it goes at the 24% card first.
How much interest do I pay on $40,000 over two years?
The snowball plan is charged $8,884.86 and the total that leaves your account is $48,884.86 — the $40,000 balance plus that interest. The interest is 22.21% of the balance you started with and 18.18% of everything you send, and it is 8.885 of the $1,000 minimum payments. Run at the same $2,388 a month, avalanche is charged $7,322.78, which is $1,562.08 less — 17.58% of the snowball interest bill — but it does not finish any earlier: at this payment both methods land in month 24.
What does $40,000 in 2 years cost in total?
Twenty-four months at $2,388 sends $48,884.86 — the $40,000 balance plus $8,884.86 of interest, which is 1.222 times the balance. The other price tag is what happens if you do not do this: paying the $1,000 minimum only takes 82 months and sends $68,678.10, of which $28,678.10 is interest. So the slow path takes 3.417 times as long and costs $19,793.24 more, 1.405 times the plan.
What do two years of the minimums actually retire?
Twenty-four months of minimums moves $24,000 out of your account. Of that, $14,502.17 is interest — 60.43% of what you sent — and only $9,497.83 reaches principal. So after two years you still owe $30,502.17, which is 76.26% of the balance you started with. The plan, over the same twenty-four months, sends $48,884.86 and ends at zero. Finishing the rest on the minimums takes another 58 months.
Does it matter which card I pay off first on a two-year plan?
It is worth $1,562.08 at the same $2,388 a month, which is 17.58% of the snowball interest bill. Snowball clears Card E in month 4, Card D in month 8, Card C in month 13, Card B in month 18 and Card A in month 24; avalanche clears Card A in month 8, Card B in month 14, Card C in month 18, Card D in month 22 and Card E in month 24. Card A is 30% of the balance but 53.85% of the snowball interest bill — $4,784.78 of the $8,884.86.
What if I only pay the minimums on $40,000?
The $1,000 in minimums clears the balance in 82 months — close to seven years — and costs $28,678.10 in interest, a total bill of $68,678.10. The twenty-four-month plan is charged $8,884.86, a saving of $19,793.24. The plan also finishes 3.417 times faster: 24 months against 82. Month 1 of the minimums is charged the same $672.50 the plan is, but only $327.50 of that $1,000 reaches principal, against $1,715.50 of the plan's first payment.
How long does it take to pay off $40,000 in 2 years?
Two years, by definition — but only if you send $2,388 a month, which is 2.388 times the $1,000 in minimums. The deadline is exact: $2,388 lands the payoff in twenty-four months and $2,387 adds a twenty-fifth. The minimums alone take 82 months on the same portfolio and cost $28,678.10 in interest.
What is the blended interest rate on this portfolio?
20.175% a year, weighted by balance: $12,000 at 24%, $9,000 at 21%, $8,000 at 19%, $6,500 at 17% and $4,500 at 15% work out to $8,070.00 of annual interest on $40,000. One twelfth of that is 1.68125%, which is $672.50 on the opening balance — $240.00 on Card A, $157.50 on Card B, $126.67 on Card C, $92.08 on Card D and $56.25 on Card E. By month 24, under the plan, the monthly interest is down to $32.53 — 20.67 times less than month 1.