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A balance you are carrying from before — interest accruing, paid down over months — is different from spending you fund and pay each cycle. Budget Bandit treats it as debt with a plan: a monthly amount you commit to, tracked against your APR and projected payoff date.

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Set up a payoff plan

You can start a plan when you add the card, or any time after.
1

Enter the balance you owe

When you add a credit-card account with a starting balance, Budget Bandit asks how you want to handle it. To pay it down over time rather than in full, choose the pay-over- time option.
2

Set your planned monthly payment

Enter the amount you intend to put toward the card each month. Add the APR if you know it — it sharpens the interest and payoff-date estimates.
3

Confirm

The card’s Payment category gets a monthly debt target for that amount. From then on, funding the Payment category each month moves you along the plan.
Already added the card without a plan? You can add a debt target to its Payment category later from the budget, set to a monthly amount, marked as debt with the APR.

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Fund the plan each month

Each month, assign your planned payment into the card’s Payment category — by hand, or with Auto-assign. The “Fund My Goals” strategy fills the debt target along with your other targets. Then pay the card for that amount as a transfer.

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Track it in the Debt Payoff report

The Debt Payoff report turns your plan into a forecast. It projects how long the balance takes to clear at your current payment and estimates the interest along the way. When you have more than one debt, it helps you compare strategies:
  • Snowball — pay smallest balances first for quick wins.
  • Avalanche — pay highest-APR balances first to save the most on interest.
The more accurate your APR and monthly payment, the better the report’s payoff date and interest estimates. Update them on the card as your situation changes.

Debt Payoff report

Project your payoff date and interest.

Set up a card

Add the card and its starting balance.

Pay your card

Make the monthly payment.

Auto-assign

Fund the debt target automatically.