Credit card minimum payment calculator
The answer
Paying only the minimum on a $3,500.00 balance at 24.99% takes 16 yr 9 mo and costs $6,154.16 in interest, finishing around Jun 2043.
Of the first $107.89, $72.89 is interest and $35.00 comes off what you owe.
- Total interest
- $6,154.16
- Total paid
- $9,654.16
An estimate from the inputs shown, not a promise of a particular date. How we calculate this.
Both common issuer rules are modelled below. Switch between them to see what each does to your card, including whether it clears the balance at all.
Minimum-payment formulas are set by your issuer and are not the same everywhere; yours is in your cardholder agreement.
Your card
Both common issuer shapes are modelled. Neither is universal: yours is written in your cardholder agreement, and some issuers add fees or past-due amounts on top.
Estimated result
16 yr 9 mo
Estimated debt-free date Jun 2043
Total interest
$6,154.16Total paid
$9,654.16Assumptions
- The minimum is this month's interest plus 1% of the balance, with a $25 floor. Issuers differ — your cardholder agreement has yours.
- Interest accrues once a month, before that month's payment.
- The APR stays at 24.99% for the whole term.
- You pay exactly the minimum, in full and on time, and add no new spending.
A 7-day free trial, then $2.99 a month. No bank login, ever.
The shapes modelled here
A common rule charges this month's interest plus a small slice of the principal — a percentage named in your agreement — with a dollar floor underneath it. Another charges a flat percentage of the balance, with the same kind of floor.
They behave very differently at high rates. A flat-percentage rule that is smaller than the monthly interest charge cannot reduce the balance at all, and a rule that lands exactly on the interest holds the balance still rather than moving it either way; an interest-plus-principal rule always reduces it, just slowly. The calculator shows which case you are in rather than assuming.
Sources
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — The box on your statement: paying off the balance in three years (tier 1)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Regulation Z, 12 CFR §1026.53 — Allocation of payments (tier 1)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Regulation Z, 12 CFR §1026.7 — Periodic statement (tier 1)
Our source and corrections policy explains how these are chosen.
Related
Reviewed 2026-09-17. Every figure on this page is produced by the same payoff engine the Dang! Payoff app runs, from the inputs shown, and is an estimate that holds only if the stated assumptions hold. The dates printed here were computed from a plan starting September 2026; the calculator re-anchors to the current month in your browser, so a date you read with JavaScript disabled is the one for that starting month rather than for today.
Dang! Payoff is a manual-entry debt payoff planner and tracker from Dang Apps LLC. It is not a lender, credit counselling agency, debt-relief, debt-management or debt-settlement service, and nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice or a recommendation about your situation. Your issuer’s or lender’s own terms govern your account.
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