Intro APR offers last 6 to 21 months. When the clock runs out, your standard APR — typically 20 to 29% — applies to any remaining balance. Here is how to find the exact date and plan the payoff.
The end date is not a guess. It is a specific calendar date written in your cardmember agreement. Four places to look, in order of reliability:
If the intro period is described as "15 months from account opening," the end date is 15 months after the approval date printed on the first statement. Approval date matters — not the date you activated the card or made the first purchase.
Once you know the end date, set a reminder 30 days out — enough time to plan the final payments.
Done in seconds. No sign-up required.
The standard purchase APR on your card — the rate listed in the Schumer box under "APR for Purchases" — applies to any remaining balance starting the next billing cycle. Interest begins accruing daily on the unpaid amount. There is no grace period extension, no warning email from the issuer on the day, and no retroactive forgiveness if you pay it off a week late.
For most general-purpose cards in 2026, the standard APR is between 20% and 29%. A $3,000 balance at 25% APR generates about $62 in interest the first month alone. If you only pay the minimum, you will still be paying off the same balance years later — and interest capitalizes into the principal.
| Remaining balance | At 19.99% APR | At 24.99% APR | At 29.99% APR |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $17/mo | $21/mo | $25/mo |
| $3,000 | $50/mo | $62/mo | $75/mo |
| $5,000 | $83/mo | $104/mo | $125/mo |
| $10,000 | $167/mo | $208/mo | $250/mo |
Interest figures shown are the first-month finance charge on the balance, assuming no new purchases and minimum payments. Actual accrual is daily and compounds as interest capitalizes.
The goal is zero balance on the statement that closes on or before the promo end date. Work backward: take your current balance, divide by the number of full billing cycles left, round up. That is the monthly payment needed to clear the card before interest kicks in.
Confirmed in the cardmember agreement or on a recent statement. Write it down as an actual calendar date.
$4,800 balance with 12 full cycles remaining = $400 a month. New purchases add to the required payment.
Plan to finish paying 2 cycles before the deadline. Payments take 1 to 3 business days to post — do not leave it to the last week.
One detail most people miss: new purchases on the card still accrue interest at the standard APR if the intro offer only covers balance transfers — not purchases. Check whether your offer is for purchases, balance transfers, or both before assuming a new charge is interest-free.
Knowing the end date is worth nothing if you forget it. A scheduled reminder 30 days before expiration is enough lead time to transfer a remaining balance to a new card, make a large final payment, or at minimum contact retention to ask about an extension.
See the full set of credit card offer expiration reminders, or if you are juggling a balance transfer promo too, read balance transfer promo expiration — the deferred interest rules are different and stricter.
Check the cardmember agreement you received at approval — the intro APR end date is written in the Schumer box. It also appears in the promo or rates section of each monthly statement, and most issuers display it inside the account details screen of their online portal or app. If none of those are clear, call the issuer and ask them to confirm the exact end date in writing.
By federal law, intro APR offers must last a minimum of 6 months. In practice, 12 to 21 months is common on purchase and balance transfer offers. A handful of premium cards run 24 months. The specific length is locked in on the day you are approved — it does not extend automatically.
The standard APR on the card applies to any remaining balance starting the next billing cycle. That rate is typically 20 to 29%. Going forward, interest accrues daily on the unpaid balance. The interest is not retroactive on a standard purchase-APR offer — but any balance you still carry starts generating finance charges immediately.
Not usually. Intro APR terms are fixed at approval. A small number of issuers occasionally offer extensions as a retention bonus if you ask customer service, but this is rare. The reliable path is to pay the balance down before the promo ends, or transfer the remaining balance to a new card with a fresh intro APR.
Take your current balance, divide by the number of months remaining in the promo period, and make that your minimum monthly payment. For a $3,600 balance with 12 months left, that is $300 a month. Round up to give yourself a buffer in case of an unexpected expense. Any balance still left on the last statement gets hit with standard APR.
It depends on the offer. Some cards run 0% APR on purchases only. Some run it on balance transfers only. Some cards offer both, often with different end dates. Read the offer terms carefully — the intro APR end date for purchases and balance transfers is disclosed separately in the cardmember agreement.
A free reminder 30 days before your intro APR ends. No account, no app — just an email that gives you time to pay the balance down first.
Set My 0% APR ReminderLast modified: