How to calculate time left to pay credit card?

martinbsp

Hi

does anyone have a formula for use in Excel (or any other method) that would allow me to work out how long it would take me to pay off my credit card with varying payment amounts? I've called Egg about this three times and they've never given me an answer, just fobbed me off with excuses.

Thanks

Martin

P.S.

Only three months until I've paid off my student loan, then that £120 is going to be added straight on to paying off my card (£2,953). Don't need to tell you all how good that feels! I was £10,000 in debt three years ago.

After that I'm essentially debt free (aside from the mortgage and overdraft).

This board has been absolutely fantastic. Good luck to all you debt reducers, keep those payments going.

ZoeMarie_2

Hi Martin,

My way of calculating payments and interest in excel is as follows. It sounds a bit complicated to explain, but its quite simple once you have done it once.

In field A1 - Your current balance
In field B1 - The formula =SUM(Interest rate/12*A1/100)
In field C1 - The amount you pay off

In field A2 - The formula =SUM(A1+B1-C1) (i.e. previous balance plus monthly interest minus payment)
In field B2 - Copy the formula from B1 (it should automatically change A1 to A2)
In field C2 - The amount you pay off.

Copy and paste the entire second line until the balance becomes 0, or you decide you have been paying it for long enough! Adding up the interest column will tell you how much extra you will pay. You can change the levels of repayment, or the interest to find out how much you will end up paying off and for how long with different options.

I hope this makes sense.

Zoe

martinbsp

Zoe/Ian

thanks, this really helps with the motivation.

Martin

lilrowan

That Excel sheet has really helped me. Thanks very much MSEs

in*the*red_6

Thanks everyone for this - have been using the snowball calculator to work out what my repayments should be but this is excellent as I can now see exactly what interest I will be paying each month on both my credit card and flex loan.
Cheers!