How Long Will It Take To Pay Off My Credit Cards?

Have you ever wondered how long it will take to pay off your credit card accounts?

Well, there is an easy way to figure this out using a credit card amortization table. Remember, when you use the table, it does not account for any service fees, late fees or over limit fees.

Example: Balance on the credit card - $5000 with an interest rate of 15%

If you make payments of $65 each month on the above example, it will take you almost TWENTY ONE years to pay off the balance. The total you will pay in twenty one years is over $16,000 (on a $5000 balance).

Any late fee, service fee or over limit fee amounts will be taken from the $65 payment first, lowering the amount going to the principal balance.

My sister had an account and after she made a payment where the "fees" were taken from it first, she was paying $1 towards her principal balance. She owed $1000 on her card which means it would have taken her over EIGHTY THREE years to pay it in full.

You can Google "credit card amortization table" and there are many on the Internet for you to use. I personally like http://www.bankrate.com/.

Once you understand the length of time it takes to pay an account in full and the total amount you will pay over the term of the loan, you'll see that making the minimum monthly payment on credit card accounts is hurting you in the long run.