Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculator
Paying only the minimum on a credit card usually takes 15 to 30 years and costs more in interest than the original balance. The reason is the formula: most issuers set the minimum at the month's interest plus 1% of the balance, with a floor around $25. Each month the balance drops a little, so the minimum drops too, and the payoff stretches out.
This calculator recomputes the minimum every month exactly as an issuer would, so you see the real number of years and the real total interest for your balance and APR. It then shows what happens if you simply freeze your payment at the first month's amount instead of letting it fall: the payoff typically collapses from decades to a few years.
Results
Paying only the minimum takes
19 years 8 months
You would pay $9,278 in interest on a $5,000 balance, more than the balance itself. Debt-free May 2046.
At minimum payments only, this $5,000 balance takes 19 years 8 months and costs $9,278 in interest.
Freezing the payment at the first month's minimum, $154, clears it in 4 years 7 months and costs $3,418 instead.
Enable JavaScript to edit the numbers above and see your own plan, charts, and month-by-month schedule.
Frequently asked questions
How is a credit card minimum payment calculated?
The most common formula is the month's interest plus 1% of the balance, with a floor of $25 to $35. Some issuers use a flat 2% to 4% of the balance instead. Either way the minimum is recalculated every month on the current balance, which is why it keeps shrinking and why the payoff takes so long.
Why does paying the minimum take so long?
Because the minimum barely exceeds the interest. On $5,000 at 24.99%, interest is about $104 in the first month and the minimum is about $154, so only $50 goes to principal. As the balance falls the minimum falls with it, so the principal portion stays tiny for years. The balance decays slowly rather than dropping steadily.
What does a flat 2% minimum do at a 24% APR?
Almost nothing. A 24% APR is 2% per month, so a 2% minimum covers the interest and no more; the balance would effectively never fall. That is the extreme version of the trap and the reason regulators pushed issuers toward the interest-plus-1% formula, which at least guarantees some principal is repaid each month.
What is the fastest fix if I can only afford the minimum right now?
Freeze the payment at this month's minimum and never let it drop. That single change turns a 20-plus-year payoff into roughly four to six years without paying a cent more per month than you pay today. Set it as a fixed automatic payment so the issuer's shrinking minimum never becomes your payment again.
Does the minimum payment cover interest?
Usually yes, by a small margin, under the interest-plus-1% formula. It can fail to cover interest when penalty APRs of 29% or more apply, or under a flat percentage rule at a high rate. In that case the balance grows even though you pay every month; the calculator flags this as never paying off.