Total Interest Paid
$7,013.96
Credit Card Minimum Calculator
See the true cost of paying only the minimum each month.
Time to Pay Off (Minimums Only)
205 months
Total Paid
$12,013.96
Years
17.1
Paying only minimums dramatically increases total interest — consider paying more than the minimum.
How to use the Credit Card Minimum Calculator
The Credit Card Minimum Calculator is free and runs entirely in your browser — no sign-up, and nothing you enter leaves your device. It opens pre-filled with a realistic example, so you can see how it works before replacing any figure with your own; the results update as you type. Press Calculate to refresh the result panel, or Reset to return to the example.
The inputs it asks for:
- Current Balance — a dollar amount.
- Annual Percentage Rate (APR) — a percentage (enter 6 for 6%).
- Minimum Payment % of Balance — a percentage (enter 6 for 6%).
- Minimum Payment Floor — a dollar amount.
The formula
There's no single formula — the calculator simulates the balance month by month, because the minimum payment shrinks as the balance does:
Each month:
interest = Balance · (APR ÷ 12)
payment = max(Balance · min%, floor)
Balance = Balance − (payment − interest)- APR
- the card's annual percentage rate
- min%
- the minimum payment as a percentage of the balance
- floor
- the smallest dollar minimum the issuer will accept
Because the minimum is a percentage of a falling balance, each payment gets smaller and a shrinking share goes to principal — which is why minimum-only payoff stretches on for years or decades.
Worked example
Using the example values — Current Balance $5,000.00, Annual Percentage Rate (APR) 22%, Minimum Payment % of Balance 3%, Minimum Payment Floor $25.00 — the Credit Card Minimum Calculator returns a Time to Pay Off (Minimums Only) of 205 months. It also reports Total Interest Paid ($7,013.96), Total Paid ($12,013.96), Years (17.1).
Prefer your own numbers? Change any field above and this recomputes instantly.
Key terms
- Minimum payment
- The least the issuer will accept — deliberately low, so most of it is interest.
- APR
- Annual percentage rate; divided by 12 it gives the monthly rate charged.
- Revolving balance
- The amount carried month to month, on which interest keeps compounding.
Frequently asked questions
Why do minimum payments take so long?
Early on, most of each minimum covers interest, so the balance barely moves — and as it does fall, the minimum falls with it, dragging out the tail for years.
How much extra should I pay?
Any fixed amount above the minimum helps enormously, because the extra goes straight to principal. Even a small fixed monthly payment beats a shrinking percentage. See the payoff calculator.
Can the minimum fail to cover the interest?
On very high APRs with a low percentage minimum, early payments can barely exceed the interest, so the balance falls at a crawl. Paying more than the minimum is the only fix.