How long will it take for me to repay my credit card?

[splodge24]

Does anyone know of a site where i can work out how long it will take to repay my credit card bill?

[Oneeyedvic]

It is fairly simple to work this out on excel - if you know your way round excel -give me a shout and I will walk you through it.

Credit cards are a very expensive way to borrow - if you had a �1000.00 balance and only paid off the minimum (lets say 5% of the balance OR �10) and if the APR is 19.9% - it will take you 54 months to clear it!!!!

[splodge24]

walk me through it please!!!

[Oneeyedvic]

well, since you said please....

 

In A1, put in your balance (eg �1000.00).

In B1 put in the following formula: =MAX(A1*x%,y)

where x is the minimum percentage payment you plan on making eg 5%

y is the physical minimum payment eg �10.00

The answer in B1 (if you follow the above example) is 50. This is your minimum payment

Now in column A2 you need to add the interest.Put in the following:

=SUM(A1-B1)+(A1-B1)*(z%/12)

where z% is your APR (APR is the yearly iterest rate - if you know the monthly interest rate you can put this in instead of z/12)

Now extend the formulas down, and you will see how many months it will take you to pay it off.

If you follow the above example, it month 60 there will be a balance of �103.08

Hope this helps - any problems, repost

[frugalmummy]

Cheapskate Monthly site has calculators for this & lots of other stuff. Great site, well worth a look.