Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculator
The minimum payment is the smallest amount you can pay and stay current — which is also, by design, the most expensive way to clear your card. See what years of minimums actually costs you, then watch the math flip with a few extra dollars a month.
What if you paid more each month?
Adding even a small fixed amount on top of the minimum collapses the payoff timeline.
Paying $200.00/month instead of just the minimum saves you 47 years, 1 mo and $43,269.30 in interest.
Why the minimum payment is a trap
Credit card minimums look small for a reason. The two most common US formulas — "2% of your balance, or $25, whichever is greater," and "1% of your balance plus this month's interest" — are both engineered to be just barely above the interest accruing each month. They keep you current, but they barely touch the principal.
Consider a $5,000 balance at a 23% APR with the 2%-or-$25 rule. Your first minimum is $100. That same balance accrues about $96 in interest in its first month, so only $4 of that $100 actually pays down the debt. Next month the balance is $4,996 — and your minimum drops, too, because it's a percentage of the now-slightly-smaller balance. You're running on a treadmill that the issuer controls the speed of.
The result, played out over years: that $5,000 balance takes roughly 30 years to clear at minimums and costs around $13,000 in total interest. The bank earns more than 2.5× the original balance for the use of the money. Doubling the minimum — paying $200 a month instead of $100 — clears the same debt in under 3 years and cuts the interest cost by 80% or more.
The lesson isn't that minimums are evil; they exist so people going through a hard month can stay current without defaulting. The trap is treating them as the plan. Any fixed amount above the minimum — even $25 or $50 a month — moves you from the issuer's schedule to your own.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the minimum payment called a trap?
Because the formula is designed to be barely above your monthly interest charge. Two percent of a $5,000 balance is $100, but that same balance accrues around $96 in interest each month at a 23% APR — so only about $4 of your first payment goes to actual principal. The balance shrinks at a glacial rate, and you end up paying for the same borrowed dollar dozens of times over.
Which minimum-payment rule does my card actually use?
It's printed in your cardholder agreement under "minimum payment" or "how we calculate the amount you owe." Most US issuers use one of two formulas: a flat percent of the statement balance (often 1–3%) with a $25 floor, or the newer "1% of balance plus this month's interest" formula that Chase, Citi, and Discover have moved toward. The calculator above models both.
Will paying the minimum hurt my credit score?
Paying the minimum on time keeps your account in good standing — so it won't hurt your payment history, which is the biggest factor in your score. But because the balance barely moves, your credit utilization stays high, which does drag your score down. Paying more than the minimum is the fastest way to bring both your interest costs and your utilization down at once.
Why does the math hit a 50-year cap sometimes?
The "1% of balance + interest" rule is geometric: each month you pay roughly 1% of the balance plus the interest, so the balance decays at about 99% per month. That converges toward zero but never quite gets there mathematically — only the $25 floor eventually finishes the job. With a very small starting balance or a very low floor, the simulation can hit our 50-year cap before the balance is fully retired. When that happens, we show you what 50 years of minimums would cost and warn that the trap is even worse than the headline number.
Is even $20 or $50 more per month really worth it?
Yes — disproportionately so. Every extra dollar you pay goes 100% to principal, which means less balance accruing 20%+ interest next month, and the savings compound every cycle. The comparison row above defaults to doubling the minimum, but try $20 or $50 and you'll typically see years cut off the timeline and hundreds to thousands saved in interest.
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Estimates are educational only. They assume a fixed APR with monthly compounding, an end-of-month payment, and that the listed minimum-payment formula stays constant for the full payoff period. Real issuer rules can vary by account standing and may change over time.