Balance transfer calculator
A transfer fee is a real cost added to the balance on day one. This finds the month that cost is earned back in interest saved, at the payment you actually plan to make, not a shortcut that assumes the payment changes.
Worked example — On the default scenario, the fee pays for itself by: month 2, 0.2 years in. $7,000 at 24.99% moved to 18 months at 0% with a 3% fee, paying $400 a month either way
Price your own transfer
Enter the balance, the offer, and the monthly payment you actually plan to make. The payment is held identical on both paths, which is what makes the comparison about interest rather than about a lower minimum due.
$7,000 at 18 months 0%, $400/mo: $7,000 at 24.99% moved to an 18-month 0% offer with a 3% fee, paying $400 a month either way.
Advanced options 1
The dashed gold line is the fee. Where the blue curve crosses it is the break-even month. The curve can bend downward after the marked intro-rate-ends point if a balance is still owed then, because that remainder starts paying the post-intro rate.
When does a balance transfer fee pay for itself?
On $7,000 moved from a 24.99% card to an 18-month 0% offer with a 3% fee ($210), paying $400 a month either way, the fee is earned back in interest saved by month 2, 0.2 years in. The month comes from adding up, month by month, how much less interest the transferred balance accrues than the original one would have, and finding where that running total first covers the fee. It is not closing costs divided by a payment saving, because the payment here never changes: both paths run the identical $400. The saving is entirely in interest, and it compounds differently on each side because the two balances shrink at different rates.
Does your payment clear the balance before the intro rate ends?
Not always, and a calculator that only shows the intro-rate savings hides exactly this case. At $7,350 (after a 5% fee) and $300 a month, a 12-month 0% offer only pays down $3,600, leaving $3,750 still owed the moment the promo ends. That remainder does not keep the intro rate: it starts paying the card's post-intro rate, 24.99% in this example, going forward. The calculator above flags this whenever it happens, with the exact dollar amount still on the balance at the boundary, whether that amount is large like this one or small enough to overlook, the way the default scenario leaves exactly $10 outstanding when its own 18-month window closes.
Transferring vs staying on your current card
Read the fee first: it is the one number a transfer adds that staying put never has to pay.
| Path | Starting balance | Total interest paid | Paid off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stay on the current card | $7,000 | $1,796 | Month 22 |
| Transfer, 3% fee | $7,210 | $0 | Month 19 |
Transferring wins here by $1,586 after the fee, and it also finishes 3 months sooner, on the identical payment. Neither result is guaranteed by transferring in general: a fee with no real rate discount behind it, or a payment too small to clear the balance before the intro window closes, can both make the fee-side worse than staying, which is exactly what the calculator above is for checking on your own numbers.
The next question after this one
Credit card minimum payment calculatorCalculatorThe path this page compares transferring against: what staying on the current card at the minimum, or a fixed higher payment, actually costs.Open nextOther questions
- Deferred interest payoff calculatorCalculatorA 0% balance transfer and a deferred-interest store promo look identical on the sticker but settle differently if you fall short. This prices the retroactive-charge version.
- Debt consolidation loan calculatorCalculatorMoving several balances into one loan instead of transferring one card to another: the other way to restructure the same debt.
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More calculators for the same balance
The credit card minimum payment calculator prices the path you would be on without a transfer, the deferred interest calculator covers store-card promos that charge retroactively instead of reverting to a standard rate, and the debt consolidation calculator compares a transfer against rolling several balances into one loan.