$5,000 on a card at 24%: $150 a month takes 4 years 8 months

October 12, 2026 · 4 min read

Take a $5,000 balance on a card charging 24%. Pay $150 a month and stop using the card. It is cleared in 4 years and 8 months, and the interest along the way comes to $3,322. Pay $100 a month and it is never cleared at all.

Where the first payment goes

24% a year is 2% a month. On $5,000 that is $100 of interest in the first month, before any payment is made. So of a $150 payment, $100 pays the interest and $50 comes off the debt.

A payment of exactly $100 covers the interest and nothing else. The balance is $5,000 again next month, and the month after, for as long as you keep paying.

The balance and the rate are a round example, not any card’s terms. The credit card payoff calculator takes the figures off your own statement.

What a larger payment changes

Because the interest is fixed by the balance, every dollar paid above it goes straight at the debt. Small increases near the bottom make very large differences:

Interest paid on $5,000 at 24%, by monthly payment

$125 a month (6 yr 10 mo): $5,159
$150 a month (4 yr 8 mo): $3,322
$300 a month (1 yr 9 mo): $1,143
$500 a month (1 year): $635

At $125 a month the interest is more than the $5,000 that was borrowed. Going from $125 to $150, an extra $25 a month, takes more than two years off and saves $1,837.

Working backwards from a date

If you would sooner pick the finish and find the payment:

Cleared in two years: $264.36 a month.
Cleared in three years: $196.16 a month.
Cleared in five years: $143.84 a month.

The difference between three years and five is $52 a month. The calculator shows the same table for your own balance and rate.

What this leaves out

Daily interest. This charges interest once a month. Most cards work it out daily, which comes to a little more.
New spending. Every figure assumes the card is not used again. Anything added to it pushes the date back.
A changing rate, and fees. Card rates are usually variable, and a late fee is added to the balance.
The minimum payment. Issuers set their own formula and print the amount on the statement. It usually falls as the balance falls, which stretches the debt out much further than a fixed payment does.
Other ways to deal with the debt. Moving it, or borrowing elsewhere to clear it, are different sums with costs of their own. This article does not weigh them.

An estimate from example figures, not financial advice.