Minimum Payment Calculator
How long a card takes to clear paying only the minimum — and what happens when you simply stop letting the payment shrink.
The address carries whatever you changed, so anyone opening it sees these numbers. Nothing is saved on our side.
Paying only the minimum takes
18 years
Starting at $150.00 and falling with the balance, ending at the $35 floor. It costs $9,546 in interest — 191% of what you borrowed.
- $150.00
- 69% of it is interest
- $104.13
- $9,546
- $3,622
- 13 years 2 months
- $5,924
Why a shrinking payment costs so much
The minimum is recalculated from the balance every month, so as you make progress the payment shrinks and the progress slows.
Freezing the payment at today’s minimum of $150.00 — not paying a cent more, just refusing to let it fall — is usually most of the benefit. The table below starts with exactly that.
The effect is real even with no interest at all. A $1,000 balance at 0%, on a 10% minimum with a $25 floor, takes 24 months to clear. The same $1,000 at a fixed $100 takes 10. The shape of the payment costs fourteen months on its own, before any interest is charged.
Where your minimum goes
What fixing the payment is worth
Each row holds the payment constant at a multiple of today's minimum, rather than letting it decline.
| Fixed payment | Total interest | Total paid | vs yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| $150 — the minimum, fixedyoursCleared in 4 years 10 months | $3,622 | — | |
| $225 — 1.5×Cleared in 2 years 7 months | $1,783 | −$1,839 less in total | |
| $300 — 2×Cleared in 1 year 9 months | $1,206 | −$2,417 less in total | |
| $450 — 3×Cleared in 1 year 1 month | $747 | −$2,876 less in total |
How this calculator works
A month-by-month simulation in which the payment itself changes, which is the whole point.
Each month the balance accrues interest at the APR divided by twelve. The minimum is then recalculated: max(floor, balance × percent), or the month’s interest plus a percentage of principal if your issuer uses that formula — never more than the full amount owed. That payment is applied, and the loop runs again on the new, smaller balance.
The fixed-payment comparison runs through the identical loop with the payment held constant, so the only difference between the two paths is whether the payment is allowed to fall. That isolates the effect this page is about.
A payment that does not exceed the month’s interest is reported as never clearing the balance rather than simulated for a century. The first month’s interest is computed the same way the simulation computes it, so the headline figure and the schedule always agree to the cent.
What is assumed
- One APR on the whole balance, unchanged throughout.
- No new spending, and every payment made on time.
- The minimum percentage and floor stay as your issuer sets them today.
- No annual fee, late fee or penalty rate.
A worked example
$5,000 at 24.99%, on a 3% minimum with a $35 floor.
| This month's minimum | $5,000 × 3% |
|---|---|
| Interest in the same month | $5,000 × 24.99% ÷ 12 |
| So the balance falls by | 150 − 104.13 |
| Paying the minimum clears it in | 216 months |
| Interest over those 18 years | Total paid $14,546.10 |
| Holding the payment at $150 clears it in | 58 months |
| Saved by never letting it shrink | 9,546.10 − 3,622.26 |
Both paths start with the same $150. One of them ends thirteen years and two months sooner and costs $5,923.84 less, and the only difference is that the payment was not allowed to fall. No extra money is required in month one, or in any month — just the refusal to pay less as the balance drops.
Note how little of that first $150 is actually working: $104.13 covers interest, leaving $45.87 against a $5,000 balance. Almost 70% of the payment buys nothing, which is why the early months of a minimum-only schedule feel like standing still.
Questions people ask
There is no universal formula. Most issuers use the greater of a percentage of the balance or a fixed dollar floor; others charge the month's interest plus a percentage of the principal. Percentages commonly sit in the low single digits and floors in the tens of dollars, but the actual terms are in your cardholder agreement and vary by issuer and by card. Both formulas and both inputs are on this page rather than assumed, because guessing them would give you a confident answer to the wrong question.
Because the minimum is recalculated from the balance every month, so as you make progress the payment shrinks and the progress slows. It is a curve that flattens rather than a straight line to zero. The effect is real even at 0% interest: $1,000 on a 10% minimum with a $25 floor takes 24 months to clear, while a fixed $100 clears it in 10. The shape of the payment costs fourteen months on its own, before any interest is involved.
Yes, when the minimum does not exceed the month's interest. A 2% minimum against a 24% APR is exactly the interest, so the balance never falls at all. Set those two numbers above and the calculator says so rather than returning an enormous number of months. Most issuers now set minimums to avoid this, but it is why the interest-plus-principal formula exists — under that one the principal always falls, so the debt always ends.
Freeze the payment. Not pay more — just refuse to let it fall as the balance drops. That costs nothing more than this month's payment and captures most of the benefit, because it converts the flattening curve into a straight line. The comparison table above starts with exactly that, at today's minimum held constant.
Yes. Since the Credit CARD Act of 2009, US card statements must show how long it would take to repay the balance making only minimum payments, and what a payment sized to clear it in three years would be. That disclosure is on your statement and is worth reading. This calculator does the same arithmetic with your own assumptions, including the two different minimum formulas, and lets you vary them.
Paying the minimum on time is not a missed payment, so payment history is unaffected. The indirect effect is utilization: a slow-falling balance keeps your reported utilization high for years, and that is a live input recalculated from every statement. The consequences of a minimum-only habit show up there rather than in your payment record.
Related calculators
Minimum payment terms vary by issuer and card; use the percentage, floor and formula from your cardholder agreement. Interest is computed monthly on the balance, while real issuers compute it daily on an average daily balance, which costs slightly more.