Balance transfer planner: will 0% clear your balance in time?
Enter your balance, transfer fee, promotional period and rates. See whether your payment clears the debt before the promotion ends and what the remaining balance would cost.
A 0% balance transfer can save interest, but only if the balance is repaid before the promotion ends. The transfer fee is charged upfront, and what is left afterwards accrues the follow-up rate.
Your assumptions
That balance then accrues 22.9% a year. At your payment it is repaid in month 21, around Jul 2028.
How the calculation works
Start = B × (1 + fee); Interest_m = balance × rate / 12 (promo rate, then follow-up rate); payment needed = Start × r / (1 − (1 + r)^−P), or Start / P at 0%The fee is added to the transferred balance. Each month the applicable rate is charged and your payment is deducted. The required payment is the installment that brings the balance to zero exactly at the end of the promotion.
Step by step
- Starting balance = balance + transfer fee (balance × fee %).
- During the promotion: interest = balance × promotional rate ÷ 12, then the payment is deducted.
- If a balance remains when the promotion ends, it is repaid at the follow-up rate with the same payment.
- Payment needed to clear in time = installment formula with the promotional rate over the promotional months; at 0% it is the starting balance ÷ months.
- Total cost = transfer fee + interest during and after the promotion.
Limitations
Assumes no new purchases, no missed payments and that payments apply to the transferred balance. Some offers, especially US retail cards with deferred interest, charge back-dated interest if the balance is not cleared in time; that is not modelled. Issuers may use daily interest. Default values are invented examples, not offers. Illustration, not advice or an offer.
Questions, answered.
Is 0% really free?
Not quite: the transfer fee is a cost, and any balance left after the promotion accrues the follow-up rate.
What is deferred interest?
A different kind of promotion where interest accrues in the background and is charged in full if the balance is not cleared by the deadline.
What happens if I miss a payment?
Many offers end the promotional rate after a missed payment. Check the terms of your card.
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