Calculating the Number of Periods Your Christmas ski vacation was great, but it unfortunately ran a bit over budget. All is not lost: You just received an offer in the mail to transfer your $10,000 balance from your current credit card, which charges an annual rate of 18.6 percent, to a new credit card charging a rate of 8.2 percent. How much faster could you pay the loan off by making your planned monthly payments of $225 with the new card? What if there was a 2 percent fee charged on any balances transferred?