Numbers from this site's public API on a 5-card $80,000 portfolio at 15-25% APR. Open the calculator with your own balances and rates and the same numbers come out in real time.
The example portfolio
$80,000 is the size where the minimum payments alone cross $2,000 a month. This page uses five US credit cards — the same five-card shape and the same 25 / 22 / 20 / 17 / 15 APR ladder as the $70K and $60K two-year case studies, scaled to $80,000. Card A carries $25,000 at 25% APR with a $625 minimum; Card B $18,000 at 22% with a $450 minimum; Card C $16,000 at 20% with a $400 minimum; Card D $13,000 at 17% with a $325 minimum; Card E $8,000 at 15% with a $200 minimum. Every minimum is exactly 2.5% of its balance, and the five of them add up to $2,000 a month.
The rates run from 25% down to 15%, and the largest balance carries the highest rate. Weighted by balance, the portfolio's rate is 21.025% a year: $25,000 × 25%, $18,000 × 22%, $16,000 × 20%, $13,000 × 17% and $8,000 × 15% come to $16,820.00 of annual interest on an $80,000 balance. One twelfth of that is 1.7521%, which on the opening balance is $1,401.67 for the first month — $520.83 on Card A, $330.00 on Card B, $266.67 on Card C, $184.17 on Card D and $100.00 on Card E.
To clear all five in twenty-four months, the snowball method needs $4,850 a month, which is $2,850 above the minimums. Avalanche needs less — $4,649 — because it goes straight at the 25% card. Every figure on this page is for the snowball plan unless it says otherwise.
Twelve months of the plan, twenty-four months of the minimums
Twenty-four months is a long enough deadline that the interesting comparison is not the payment. It is what each path does with the same money over a span of time you can hold in your head. So put the plan's first twelve months beside the minimums' entire twenty-four, and read the four numbers side by side.
The plan's first year sends $54,775.00. The minimums, paying every card's own 2.5% for two full years, send $48,000. The plan sends $6,775 more — 1.141 times as much — in half the time.
Where that money goes is the real difference. The plan's first twelve months retire $41,235.66 of principal, which is 51.54% of the balance. The minimums' twenty-four months retire $17,445.17 — 2.364 times less, and only 36.34% of the $48,000 they sent. The rest of the minimums' money, $30,554.83, is interest.
So look at what is left owing. At month 12 the plan owes $38,764.34, which is 48.46% of the balance. At month 24 the minimums still owe $62,554.83, which is 78.19% of it. The plan's halfway mark is $23,790.49 lighter than the minimums' finish line — and the minimums paid $30,554.83 of interest to get there, which is $11,856.70 more than the plan's whole twenty-four months costs ($18,698.13). Two years of minimums cost more in interest than the entire plan does, and they do not finish the job.
| The stretch | Sent | Interest | Principal retired | Balance left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The plan, months 1-12 | $54,775.00 | $13,539.34 | $41,235.66 | $38,764.34 |
| The minimums, months 1-24 | $48,000.00 | $30,554.83 | $17,445.17 | $62,554.83 |
| The plan, months 1-24 | $98,698.13 | $18,698.13 | $80,000.00 | $0.00 |
The first line is the whole layer, and the third is the finish. The plan's first year carries 72.41% of all the interest the plan is charged while sending 55.50% of the money — the front of any payoff is where the interest lives, which is exactly why the minimums' money is so expensive: it arrives slowly, so more of it is spent before it touches the balance.
What the two years cost
The twenty-four months cost $18,698.13 of interest, and the total that leaves your account is $98,698.13 — the $80,000 balance plus that interest. The interest is 23.37% of the balance you started with and 18.94% of everything you send. The whole two years of interest is 9.349 of the $2,000 minimum payments, and the monthly charge falls from $1,401.67 in month 1 to $70.37 in month 24 — 19.92 times less.
Snowball is not the cheapest way to spend those twenty-four months. Avalanche, run at the same $4,850 a month, is charged $15,071.42 — $3,626.71 less, which is 19.40% of the snowball interest bill — and it finishes a month early, in 23 months. Avalanche can also clear the balance at its own lower threshold of $4,649, and at that smaller payment it costs $15,821.46; the $15,071.42 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: $4,850 in months 1 to 3, $4,650 in months 4 to 7, $4,325 in months 8 to 12, $3,925 in months 13 to 17, $3,475 in months 18 to 23, and $3,448.13 in month 24. Each drop is exactly the minimum of the card that just cleared — $200 for Card E, $325 for Card D, $400 for Card C, $450 for Card B — and the fifth drop, Card A's $625, never arrives: the plan ends at $3,448.13 instead of $2,850. The balance path is $76,551.67, $73,057.87, $69,518.00, $66,129.83, $62,692.05, $59,203.92, $55,664.69, $52,396.89, $49,073.90, $45,694.77, $42,258.58, $38,764.34, $35,609.01, $32,395.49, $29,122.73, $25,789.62, $22,395.04, $19,386.60, $16,315.49, $13,180.40, $9,979.99, $6,712.90, $3,377.76 and zero.
The deadline itself is exact. $4,850 a month lands the payoff in twenty-four months; $4,849 adds a twenty-fifth and takes the interest to $18,704.21. Avalanche's own deadline sits lower: $4,649 finishes in twenty-four months, and $4,648 pushes it to twenty-five and $15,826.97. The first twelve months send $54,775.00 and the last twelve $43,923.13 — 19.81% less — but they retire almost the same balance: $41,235.66 against $38,764.34. Twenty-four flat payments of $4,850 would come to $116,400; the plan sends $98,698.13, so $17,701.87 of those flat payments never happens.
Where the $2,850 comes from
This is the part that decides whether the plan happens, so it is worth stating plainly: you need $2,850 a month above the $2,000 you already pay — 1.425 times the minimums — and over the twenty-four months the new money alone is $68,400, which is 85.50% of the balance. The plan pays 2.425 times the minimums and finishes the job in 24 months instead of 87.
Two comparisons make the size of the ask concrete. The whole two-year plan, at $98,698.13, is 68.53% of the $144,021.79 the minimums-only path would cost over 87 months: about two-thirds of the money, in a quarter of the time, and a saving of $45,323.66 in interest. And the minimums themselves are worth reading closely: month 1 of the minimums is charged the same $1,401.67 the plan is, but of that $2,000 only $598.33 reaches principal — 29.92%, against 71.10% for the plan's first payment.
Stretching the same $80,000 across different deadlines is a separate trade, and it is worth naming. The six-month plan on this portfolio is $14,868 a month and $5,257.39 of interest; the twelve-month plan is $8,178 a month and $9,774.99; the twenty-four-month plan is $4,850 a month and $18,698.13; the thirty-six-month plan is $3,708 a month and $27,417.21. Going from one year to two cuts the payment by $3,328 a month and adds $8,923.14 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: 2850 to /api/payoff and you get the same months, the same $18,698.13 and the same per-card breakdown — including the remaining on each month of the timeline that the twelve-month and twenty-four-month lines in the table above are read from, once with extra: 2850 and once with extra: 0. Two things that trip people up: APR goes in as a percentage (25, not 0.25), and extra is the amount above your total minimums, not your total payment — $2,850 here, which is what turns the $2,000 in minimums into $4,850 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 $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, $40K in 1 year, $40K 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 $80,000 in two years?
On the five-card example here, $4,850 a month clears the $80,000 in twenty-four months on the snowball method, which is $2,850 above the $2,000 in minimums. Avalanche needs less — $4,649 — because it goes at the 25% card first.
How much interest do I pay on $80,000 over two years?
The snowball plan is charged $18,698.13 and the total that leaves your account is $98,698.13 — the $80,000 balance plus that interest. The interest is 23.37% of the balance you started with and 18.94% of everything you send, and it is 9.349 of the $2,000 minimum payments. Run at the same $4,850 a month, avalanche is charged $15,071.42, which is $3,626.71 less — 19.40% of the snowball interest bill — and it finishes a month early, in 23 months.
Does twelve months of the plan really beat twenty-four months of the minimums?
Yes, on three of the four measures that matter. The plan's first twelve months send $54,775.00, which is $6,775 more than the $48,000 the minimums send in all twenty-four months. They retire $41,235.66 of principal against the minimums' $17,445.17 — 2.364 times as much, and 51.54% of the balance against 21.81%. And they leave $38,764.34 owing, against the $62,554.83 the minimums still owe after two full years, a $23,790.49 gap. The one measure the minimums win is interest sent, and only because they send less: $30,554.83 against $13,539.34.
What do two years of the minimums actually retire?
Twenty-four months of minimums moves $48,000 out of your account. Of that, $30,554.83 is interest and only $17,445.17 reaches principal — 36.34% of what you sent — so after two years you still owe $62,554.83, which is 78.19% of the balance you started with. The plan's first twelve months alone retire more principal than that, and the plan's whole twenty-four months cost $18,698.13 of interest — $11,856.70 less than the minimums' two years — and end at zero.
Does it matter which card I pay off first on a two-year plan?
It is worth $3,626.71 at the same $4,850 a month, which is 19.40% of the snowball interest bill — and avalanche also finishes a month early, in 23 months. Snowball clears Card E in month 3, Card D in month 7, Card C in month 12, Card B in month 17 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 21 and Card E in month 23. Card A is 31.25% of the balance but 55.78% of the snowball interest bill — $10,429.00 of the $18,698.13.
What if I only pay the minimums on $80,000?
The $2,000 in minimums clears the balance in 87 months — more than seven years — and costs $64,021.79 in interest, a total bill of $144,021.79. The twenty-four-month plan is charged $18,698.13, a saving of $45,323.66. The plan also finishes 3.625 times faster: 24 months against 87. Month 1 of the minimums is charged the same $1,401.67 the plan is, but only $598.33 of that $2,000 reaches principal, against $3,448.33 of the plan's first payment.
How long does it take to pay off $80,000 in 2 years?
Two years, by definition — but only if you send $4,850 a month, which is 2.425 times the $2,000 in minimums. The deadline is exact: $4,850 lands the payoff in twenty-four months and $4,849 adds a twenty-fifth. The minimums alone take 87 months on the same portfolio and cost $64,021.79 in interest.
What is the blended interest rate on this portfolio?
21.025% a year, weighted by balance: $25,000 at 25%, $18,000 at 22%, $16,000 at 20%, $13,000 at 17% and $8,000 at 15% work out to $16,820.00 of annual interest on $80,000. One twelfth of that is 1.7521%, which is $1,401.67 on the opening balance — $520.83 on Card A, $330.00 on Card B, $266.67 on Card C, $184.17 on Card D and $100.00 on Card E. By month 24, under the plan, the monthly interest is down to $70.37 — 19.92 times less than month 1.