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Free Printable Credit Card Payoff Tracker

Every card, its rate and its credit limit, with a monthly log to watch the balances and the utilization fall.

Credit cards are the debts that fight back. The rate is high, the minimum is designed to keep you paying for years, and the balance creeps up again if the card stays in your wallet. This tracker is built for them: every card with its limit, APR, balance, minimum payment and the percentage of the limit you are using, then a twelve-month log of balances and utilization.

Utilization is the extra column you will not find on a general debt tracker. It is the balance divided by the limit, and it matters twice: it is a large part of your credit score, and it is the number that tells you which card is closest to being a problem. Under 30 percent on every card is the usual target; under 10 is better.

Order the cards the way you plan to pay them, smallest balance first for a snowball or highest APR first for an avalanche, and write the first target in the box at the bottom. With cards, the avalanche saves real money, because the rates are high and they differ a lot from card to card.

Credit Card Payoff Tracker: page one of the free printable PDF

Download the free PDF

Free, no signup, no email address. Pick your paper size; every version is one page and prints on any home printer.

Download PDF (US Letter) A4 Ink saver

The ink saver version is the same sheet in black and gray for cheap printing. Print at 100 percent, not "fit to page", so the rows stay a comfortable height for handwriting.

Rather have the numbers filled in for you? Undebt.it members can open Printables in the member menu and get this sheet built from their own plan. A free Undebt.it account is all it takes.

What it looks like filled in

The same sheet completed with a sample plan: eight made-up debts totalling $24,520, paid down at $850 a month in snowball order. Demo numbers, just enough to show how the page is meant to be used.

Credit Card Payoff Tracker filled in with sample data

Open the filled-in example as a PDF. The download buttons above give you the blank sheet.

How to use it

  1. List every card, including store cards and any card with a zero balance you still use. Limit, APR and minimum come straight from the statement.
  2. Work out utilization for each card and for the total: balance divided by limit, as a percentage. Circle any card over 30 percent.
  3. Log monthly. After the statements close, write each balance into that month's column, total the column and work out the overall utilization.
  4. Pick the first card to attack and write it in the box, with the total you will send to cards each month and the date you expect them all to be cleared.

Tips that make it stick

  • Pay before the statement closes, not just before the due date.The balance reported to the credit bureaus is the statement balance, so an earlier payment lowers your reported utilization.
  • Do not close a card the moment it is paid off; the limit still helps your utilization.Cut it up if you must, but leave the account open unless it carries a fee.
  • A 0% balance transfer can be a good move.Write the date the promotion ends on the sheet and plan to be clear before then.
Debt Avalanche Worksheet filled in with sample data Debt Avalanche Worksheet Order your debts by interest rate, highest first, and pay the least interest possible.
Debt Tracker filled in with sample data Debt Tracker List every debt on one page, then log each balance month by month.
Debt Payment Log filled in with sample data Debt Payment Log A running record of every payment you make, so the proof of progress is always in your hands.

See all the free printables

Common questions

Utilization is how much of your available credit you are using: balance divided by limit. On a card with a $3,500 limit and a $1,850 balance it is 53 percent. It is a large factor in credit scores, and paying cards down improves it quickly, which is one reason people see their score rise within a few months of starting a payoff plan.

For the least interest, the highest APR. For the fastest win, the smallest balance. With credit cards the rates are high and vary a lot, so the highest-APR order usually saves a meaningful amount; if two cards have similar rates, take the smaller balance first. The snowball vs avalanche calculator will show the difference for your cards.

Yes, in the cards table, because its limit counts toward your total utilization and its balance shows up on your credit report. You can skip it in the monthly log if it never carries a balance, or log it anyway as a reminder to keep it that way.

Yes. Undebt.it members can open Printables in the member menu and download this tracker filled in with their cards: every debt with a credit limit on file, with its rate, balance, minimum and used %, plus the monthly amount the plan sends to cards and the month the last card is paid off. Members who connect a bank through SimpleFIN or YNAB get the balances updated automatically.