Minimum Credit Card Payment Calculator

The minimum payment is recalculated every month from the current balance, so it shrinks as you pay. That feels like progress but works against you: the smaller the payment gets, the smaller the share left over after interest. On an illustrative $3,500 balance at 21 percent APR, a minimum set at interest plus 1 percent of the balance starts at $96.25 and takes about 16 years to reach zero, with roughly $5,083 of interest along the way.

Freezing the payment changes the result sharply. If you keep paying a fixed $105, about 3 percent of that starting balance, the same debt is gone in 51 months with $1,798.64 of interest. The calculator above models exactly this fixed-payment approach, which is why its results look so different from the estimate on your statement.

Since the CARD Act rules took effect, periodic statements carry a minimum payment warning. Under Regulation Z section 1026.7(b)(12) (checked October 2026), the issuer must show an estimate of how long repayment takes at the minimum, the total cost of repaying at the minimum, a note that both estimates assume no new charges, and a toll-free number for nonprofit credit counseling. Unless an exception applies, the statement must also show the monthly payment that repays the balance in 36 months, the total cost at that pace, and the savings compared with minimum-only payments.

The 36-month figures can be left off when the minimum-payment estimate is already three years or less after rounding. The CFPB adds that the 36-month amount is not required: you only have to pay the printed minimum, and the figures do not account for future purchases (CFPB explanation, checked October 2026). The same section has separate disclosures for the case where the minimum would never pay the balance off.

Issuers set their own minimum formulas in the card agreement. The three below are illustrative versions of common styles, each with a $25 floor, applied to the same $3,500 balance at an illustrative 21 percent APR with no new charges. These rows come from a separate month-by-month simulation, because the calculator above holds the payment constant.

The 2 percent row is the starkest. At 21 percent APR the monthly interest rate is 1.75 percent, so a 2 percent minimum repays only a quarter of a percent of the balance each month. Push the APR to an illustrative 24 percent and the monthly rate becomes exactly 2 percent: the minimum then equals the interest, and the balance never falls at all. That is the situation the separate "never paid off" disclosure in Regulation Z exists for.

1. Reading the minimum as the recommended amount. It is the least you can pay without a late fee, set by a formula in your card agreement, not a payoff plan.
2. Letting autopay follow the minimum. Many autopay settings offer "minimum due". Choose a fixed dollar amount so the payment does not shrink with the balance.
3. Ignoring the 36-month box. It is a ready-made fixed payment target printed on the statement. On the example balance it cuts total interest from $5,082.78 to $1,246.96.
4. Charging new purchases while paying the minimum. The disclosure estimates assume no new charges, so any new spending makes the printed payoff time optimistic.
5. Assuming a lower minimum after a rate change is good news. If the APR rises while the percentage minimum stays put, less principal is repaid each month, as the 2 percent example shows.

Take this month's minimum and make it your permanent fixed payment from now on. That single change usually removes most of the extra years. Then compare it with the 36-month figure on the statement: if you can reach that figure, set autopay there; if not, freeze what you can and add any windfall directly to the balance. If even the frozen minimum is a strain, or the warning on your statement says the balance will never be repaid at the minimum, call the nonprofit counseling number printed on the statement.

The minimum payment trap math guide works through more balances and formulas in detail. When several cards each demand a minimum, the avalanche vs snowball guide shows where to send the extra money, and the consolidation cost guide covers when a single lower-rate loan beats juggling minimums. For a straight fixed-payment plan on any balance, return to the credit card payoff calculator. Minimum formulas here are illustrations; your agreement defines yours.