Balance transfer and 0% APR payoff calculator
How much do I need to pay each month to clear a 0% balance before the promo ends?
Divide the balance, including any transfer fee, by the number of payments before the promo ends. A $1,200 transfer with a 3% fee is $1,236; over 6 months that is $206 a month. At $150 a month, $336 is left when the promo ends. On a deferred-interest card, leaving anything means all the back interest is added at once.
Two offers look the same and work very differently. A true 0% intro APR charges nothing during the promo. A deferred-interest offer ("no interest if paid in full in 12 months") works interest out in the background and adds all of it if even a small balance is left on the end date.
Enter the balance, the fee, the promo months and your monthly payment to see what is left when the promo ends and the payment that clears it in time.
Built by Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. The rules come from the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Regulation Z, linked at the bottom of the page; the numbers are worked month by month in your browser.
Check your promo balance
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True 0% vs deferred interest
With a true 0% intro APR ("0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months"), no interest builds up during the promo. Whatever is left when it ends starts paying the standard APR from then on.
With deferred interest ("no interest if paid in full in 12 months"), interest is worked out every month at the purchase rate. Pay the whole promo balance by the end date and it is wiped. Leave any of it and the interest going back to the purchase date is added. The CFPB's own example: a $400 TV paid at $25 a month for 12 months leaves $100; under a 0% offer you owe $100, under deferred interest at 25% you owe $165. The CFPB also notes that the minimum payment alone usually won't clear a deferred-interest purchase in time.
A worked example
A $1,200 store-card purchase on a 6-month deferred-interest offer at 26.99%, paid at $160 a month from January. After six payments $240 is left. The interest worked out in the background each month was $26.99, $23.39, $19.79, $16.19, $12.60 and $9.00: $107.96. In month 7 that is added along with $5.40 of normal interest. The card is paid off in month 9 with $118.56 of interest in all. The same purchase on a true 0% offer costs $7.32 and is paid off a month sooner, and $200 a month would have cleared it with no interest at all.
Where your extra payment goes
Under Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026.53), a US card issuer must apply any amount above the minimum to the balance with the highest APR first. A 0% promo balance on the same card as normal purchases is usually paid last, so the promo balance can still be there when the offer ends. There is one exception: for a deferred-interest balance, the extra goes to that balance first in the two billing cycles just before the promo expires. If you have both kinds of balance on one card, it helps to look at them as two debts.
Mistakes that cost people
- Forgetting the transfer fee. A 3% to 5% fee is added to the balance, so the amount to clear is bigger than the amount moved.
- Counting months wrong. Count the payments you will make before the end date. If your due date in the last month falls after the end date, that payment is too late.
- Paying only the minimum. On a deferred-interest offer this usually leaves a balance on the end date.
- A late payment. Some offers end early after a late or missed payment; check your agreement.
What this will not tell you
This works one promo balance at a time with a fixed monthly payment and monthly interest (APR divided by 12), rounded to the cent. Card issuers often use a daily rate, so statements can differ by a few cents. It does not model new spending, penalty rates, a promo that ends early, or several debts at once. Estimates for planning only, not financial advice. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Questions people actually ask
What happens when a 0% balance transfer ends?
Whatever is left starts paying the card's standard APR from the end of the promo. On a true 0% offer there is no back interest.
What is deferred interest?
An offer where interest is worked out during the promo and waived only if the whole promotional balance is paid by the end date. If any is left, the interest back to the purchase date is added. It is common on US store cards.
Is a balance transfer fee worth it?
Compare the fee (often 3% to 5% of the amount moved) with the interest you would pay at your current rate over the same months. This calculator shows the fee and the payment that clears the balance before the promo ends.
How do I calculate the monthly payment to pay off a 0% balance?
Add the transfer fee to the balance, then divide by the number of payments before the promo ends. $1,236 over 6 payments is $206 a month.
Does paying the minimum clear a 0% balance in time?
Usually not. A minimum of about 1% of the balance plus interest takes years to clear a balance, far longer than most promos.
Where does my payment go if I have a 0% balance and a purchase balance?
In the US, any amount above the minimum must go to the highest-APR balance first, so the 0% balance is paid last. In the two billing cycles before a deferred-interest promo ends, extra payments go to that balance first.
Sources
Checked against these official pages on 2 November 2026. If a source below has changed since, the source wins over this page.
- CFPB, How to understand special promotional financing offers on credit cards: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/archive/blog/how-understand-special-promotional-financing-offers-credit-cards/
- CFPB, What is a deferred interest plan?: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-deferred-interest-plan-en-40/
- Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.53 (allocation of payments): https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/53/
- FCA Handbook, CONC 6.7 (UK card minimum repayments): https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/6/7.html
Cite this tool
Free to use and free to quote. If a figure here is useful in something you are writing, a link back is all that is asked.
Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Balance Transfer 0% APR Payoff Calculator. Shahzeb Speaks. https://www.shahzebspeaks.com/balance-transfer-0-apr-payoff-calculator/
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More than one debt, or more than one promo?
The Debt Payoff Planner kit runs up to 10 debts month by month three ways (avalanche, snowball and promo deadline first) in Excel and in an offline web tool, with a red warning for every promo that will not be cleared in time, the debt-free month, total interest and fees for each, and a payment log. Works in Excel, Google Sheets and your browser.