Credit card minimum payment calculator

A percentage plus this month’s interest

Each month, this page charges interest on the opening balance, takes the percentage you enter of that same balance, and adds those two amounts. The payment is that sum or the floor you enter, whichever is greater. It cannot be more than the balance plus that month’s interest. The percentage portion falls as the balance falls, so the calculated minimum declines. The floor does not.

This is not the minimum-payment warning on a credit-card statement. Regulation Z Appendix M1 requires the issuer to use the formula that applies to that account. One illustration in that appendix is 2 percent of the outstanding balance or $20, whichever is greater. Entering 2% and a $20 floor here still adds the month’s interest on top of the percentage, so the payment is a different formula. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s explanation of the statement box says the issuer’s figure assumes no new charges and the issuer’s own method.

A fixed payment that does not change every month belongs on the debt payoff calculator. Two or more debts belong on the snowball and avalanche comparison.

$2,500 at 15% with a 1% minimum and a $25 floor

$2,500.00 at 15%, with a 1% minimum percentage and a $25.00 floor, has $31.25 of interest and a $25.00 percentage portion in month 1. The payment is $56.25, and the balance closes at $2,475.00.

The payoff takes 146 months. Total interest is $2,257.04. Total paid is $4,757.04. The final payment is $24.13. The $25.00 floor sets the payment starting in month 82.

A $400.00 balance at 12%, with the same 1% and $25.00 floor, is paid in 18 months. Interest is $38.10, and the floor sets the payment in month 1. The final payment is $13.10, because the last month cannot charge more than the remaining balance plus interest.

When the minimum does not pay the balance down

$1,000.00 at 20% with a 0% percentage and a $10.00 floor has $16.67 of interest in month 1. The floor is below that interest, so the payment equals the interest and the balance does not fall. The page stops. It does not project a payoff.

$0.40 at 20% with a 1% percentage and a $0.00 floor rounds the percentage to $0.00. Interest and the payment are $0.01, and the balance stays. A 0% rate can still pay a balance down when the floor is above the interest. $100.00 at 0% with a $10.00 floor is paid in 10 months and charges no interest.

The schedule stops after 600 monthly payments. $10,000.00 at 0% with a $10.00 floor still has $4,000.00 left. That unfinished schedule is not given a payoff interest total.

Frequently asked questions

Educational estimate only. This minimum is not a statement from a card issuer.