![How Long Will It Take to Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt? — Dollars and Sense](http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/tsminteractive.com/files/2012/01/creditcards-300x225.jpg?w=980&q=75)
How Long Will It Take to Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt? — Dollars and Sense
Making minimum payments on your credit cards could cost you — big. And a new tool will show you just how much.
The website ReadyForZero created a calculator that assumes an annual interest rate of 15 percent, and then it totals up the final cost of your debt and how long it’ll take you to pay it off. The results can be not only eye-opening, but frightening.
Example: if you make minimum payments on a debt of $3,000, it’ll take you 17 years, four months and one day to zero it out. And along the way, you’ll pay $3,174 in interest — meaning you’re essentially paying more than twice what you originally owed.
Experts say making payments even slightly above the minimum due can dramatically reduce the payment duration and the final amount you end up shelling out in interest. Or, best of all, don’t charge anything you can’t pay off at the end of the month.
More From KSEN AM 1150
![Ron Paul: No Federal Money for Tornado Victims [VIDEO]](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/ronpaul.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Teenager Finds Winning Lottery Ticket After Mom Makes Him Clean Room](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/lottery-ticket.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Can You Guess Whose Tattoo This Is?](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/ucrtattoo2.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Massive Tornado Caught on Film in West Liberty, Kentucky](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/tornado-footage.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Ian Anderson ‘Would Never Say That It is the End of Jethro Tull’](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/JethroTull.Mark-Metcalfe.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Dee Snider Goes Under the Blade on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/Dee.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![This Day in History for March 5 – Boston Massacre and More](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/boston-massacre.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Celebrity Birthdays for March 5 – Penn Jillette, Eva Mendes and More](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/mar5.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Sammy Hagar Reacts to Passing of Ronnie Montrose](http://townsquare.media/site/126/files/2012/03/sammyhagar.jpg?w=980&q=75)