Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculator
See your minimum payment and how much of it is just interest.
Minimum payments are designed to keep you in debt: they're set just high enough to cover most of the interest and barely touch the principal, so the balance shrinks at a crawl. Seeing exactly how much of your minimum is interest versus real progress is a powerful wake-up call.
Enter your balance, APR and the minimum-payment percentage your card uses, and this calculator shows the minimum payment and how much of it is pure interest. Compare that interest figure to the payment itself — it's usually most of it, which is why paying only the minimum is a trap.
How to use Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculator
- 1
Enter your figures
Fill in the fields with your numbers.
- 2
Read the results
The calculation updates instantly.
- 3
Adjust to compare
Change any input to explore scenarios.
Features
- Instant calculation as you type
- Clear, itemized results
- Runs privately in your browser
Frequently asked questions
Common mistakes to avoid
- Entering a percentage as a decimal (0.08) instead of a whole number (8).
- Comparing options on one metric alone instead of the full picture.
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