Fully revised.

gistfile1.txt

outbal= float(raw_input('enter the outstanding balance on your credit card:'))
annualrate= float(round(raw_input('Enter the annual credit card interest rate as a decimal:')), 2)
monthlyrate= round(annualrate/year, 2)
month=1
x = 1
while (remainder > 0):
    while (month <= 12):
        initialmonthlyballance = round(float(((annualrate /12)*outbal)+outbal, 2)
        remainder = round(float(initialmonthlyballance - x10))
        print "Outbal minus payment equals:" remainder
    if (y >= 0):
        month = month + 1
        outbal = remainder
if (remainder > 0):
    x = x + 1
Else:
    if (remainder <= 0):
        print 'Monthly payment to pay off debt in 1 year:', x10
        print 'number of months needed:', month
        print 'Balance:' remainder

Before going farther and look at the way to deal with loops, you should fix issues regarding your variables.

• Keep variable name short : for example, "initialmonthlyballance" is too long, and it is prone to typo error (see the way you wrote "ballance")
• Keep the same name. There is a variable called "y" coming from nowhere at line 11. Same remark apply for a variable "x10" at line 9 and 18. You probably renamed these variables somewhere, but forgot these places.
• Use existing variable. At line 3 you create "monthlyrate" but still, you recalculate the monthly rate at line 8. Why not using existing "monthlyrate" ?
• Generally, if you want to manipulate a variable, this variable must exist. Here, at line 6, you create a loop based on the value of a variable called "remainder", but such variable does not exist... How can Python check its value if its not stated elsewhere before ?