Free tool · Loans
Credit card minimum payment calculator
Balance, rate, and a percentage-of-balance minimum → how many years it actually takes.
Runs in your browser · no account required · amounts use any currency unit
Use the purchase rate, not an expiring promotional one
On your statement or in the card terms
Results
The minimum does not cover the interest, so the balance grows. Pay a fixed amount above the interest to make progress.
In short
What is this?
Card minimums are typically a percentage of the balance subject to a floor, so the payment shrinks as the balance does. That shrinking is why minimum-only payoff stretches for years and why total interest can approach or exceed the original balance.
Why minimums take so long
A fixed payment clears a balance on a predictable schedule. A minimum payment is a moving target: as the balance falls, so does the required payment, so the balance falls more slowly, and the tail stretches out.
Compare the result here against the debt payoff calculator using the same first payment held fixed. The difference is usually years, and it is the clearest argument for paying a fixed amount rather than whatever is asked.
Finding your numbers
- The percentage and floor are on your card statement or in the terms — commonly a small percentage of the balance, with a fixed minimum.
- Use the purchase APR, not a promotional rate that will expire.
- Enter the balance you are actually carrying, excluding anything you clear each month.
The one change that matters most
Pay a fixed amount rather than the minimum. Even setting it at today's minimum and never reducing it shortens the payoff dramatically, because the payment stops shrinking.
The other change is stopping new spending on the card. Paying $300 a month while adding $200 of new spending is $100 of progress described as $300 of effort.
What it does not model
- New spending on the card, which this assumes is zero.
- Daily compounding, which many cards use and which makes the real cost slightly higher.
- Fees, promotional rates expiring, or interest-free grace periods on new purchases.
FAQ
- Why does paying the minimum take so many years?
- Because the minimum is a percentage of the balance, it shrinks as the balance shrinks. The payment falls just as fast as your progress, which stretches the tail out enormously.
- What is the single best change I can make?
- Pay a fixed amount instead of the minimum. Even freezing it at today's minimum shortens the payoff dramatically, because the payment stops shrinking with the balance.
- Does this include new spending on the card?
- No, it assumes none. If you keep using the card, the real payoff is longer — often much longer, since new spending directly offsets your payments.
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