A balance transfer offer is three numbers wearing a costume: the promo APR, how long it lasts, and the transfer fee. The costume is designed so you compare the wrong number — the headline 0% — and never the one that matters: what the offer actually costs you, in total, at the payment you can really make. This optimizer strips the costume off. Type in your balance, your current APR and your monthly payment, enter up to five real offers, and every offer is priced month by month — promo APR until it ends, go-to APR after — until the balance is gone.
What it does for you:
– Start Here — 5-minute setup: the balance you could move, the APR on the card it sits on now, and the monthly payment you can honestly make. Everything keys off those three numbers.
– Offer Comparison — promo APR, promo months, transfer fee % and go-to APR for five offers; Fee $, the payment that would clear the balance inside the promo, Total Interest, TRUE COST (fee + all interest), Months to Clear, You Save vs Staying, the Break-Even Month and a Rank (1 = cheapest way out) all calculate themselves.
– Payoff Schedule — 60 months, six ways at once: staying put and all five offers, interest rounded to the cent each month exactly as a statement would, plus a running “saved vs staying” line per offer.
– Break-even, honestly — the month where the interest you have saved first covers the transfer fee. If an offer never gets there at your payment, the sheet says “None in 60 mo” instead of selling you the transfer.
– Dashboard — the cost of staying ($5,316.26 of interest over 54 months in the samples), the best offer by name, its true cost ($678.81 for the sample 0%-for-21-months offer — a $4,637.45 saving) and your biggest saving at a glance.
– Expense Log & Monthly Budget — a zero-based budget with a Card Payments category, so the payment behind the plan stays funded.
– Sample rows pre-filled ($8,000 at 24.99%, $250/month, five real-shaped offers) so every formula works the moment you open it; formula cells are locked (password disclosed in Start Here) and every formula is error-wrapped. Issuers’ terms differ — some charge interest on the fee or end a promo after a missed payment; this sheet models the fee as added to the balance on day one and interest estimated monthly. A planning tool, not financial advice.
What’s inside (.xlsx, works in Excel AND Google Sheets): Start Here · Offer Comparison (5 offers, ranked) · Payoff Schedule (60 months × 6 ways) · Expense Log · Monthly Budget (zero-based) · Dashboard · Monthly Summary (12 months).
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