Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculator

What this calculator does

Enter your credit card balance, its APR, and the issuer's minimum-payment rule (a percentage of the balance, with a dollar floor), and this calculator shows how long it really takes to pay off the card — and how much interest it costs — if you only ever pay the minimum. Unlike a fixed monthly payment, a minimum payment shrinks every month as the balance drops, which is exactly why "just pay the minimum" so often turns into decades of debt.

Add an optional Compare to a Fixed Monthly Payment amount to see, side by side, how much time and interest a steady payment saves over letting the minimum ride.

How it's calculated

The balance is simulated month by month, since both the interest and the minimum payment recalculate off whatever balance remains:

1. Interest accrues on the current balance: interest = balance x (APR / 100 / 12).
2. The minimum payment for that month is whichever is larger: minPercent% of the resulting balance, or the dollar floor (minAmount) — matching how issuers actually compute a statement's minimum due.
3. The payment is applied, reducing the balance (the final payment is trued up to exactly clear the remainder).
4. Repeat until the balance reaches $0.

Because the required payment keeps shrinking along with the balance, payoff time grows extremely fast as the minimum percentage gets close to the monthly interest rate — the simulation is capped at 1,200 months (100 years); if the minimum never clears the balance within that cap, the calculator reports that clearly instead of appearing to hang.

If you enter a fixed comparison payment, that amount is simulated the same way as the Credit Card Payoff Calculator — a constant dollar amount every month — so the Time Saved and Interest Saved rows reflect the true gap between shrinking minimums and a steady payment.

How to use this tool

1. Enter your Current Balance — what you currently owe on the card.
2. Enter the card's Annual Percentage Rate (APR) as a percentage (e.g. 19.99).
3. Enter the issuer's Minimum Payment (% of Balance) and Minimum Payment Floor — check your card's terms, but 1–3% and a $25–35 floor are typical.
4. Optionally, enter a Fixed Monthly Payment to compare against paying only the minimum.

The summary table updates instantly with the minimum-payment payoff time and cost, plus the savings from a fixed payment if you entered one.

FAQ

Why is the minimum-payment payoff time so much longer than a fixed payment? Because the required payment drops every month right along with the balance, the interest keeps eating a larger and larger share of each payment over time — a card that would clear in 3 years on a fixed payment can easily take 30+ years, or never fully pay off, at only the minimum.

What if the minimum payment never pays off the balance? If the minimum percentage barely exceeds the monthly interest rate, the balance shrinks so slowly it can't reach $0 within the calculator's 100-year cap. Increase the minimum percentage or the dollar floor to see a realistic payoff.

I want to model a fixed dollar payment instead, not a shrinking minimum. Use the Credit Card Payoff Calculator, which also supports ongoing new charges added to the balance each month.

Privacy

All calculations run entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter — balances, APR, or payment amounts — is sent to a server or stored anywhere.