Minimum payment calculator
The answer
Paying only the minimum on a $6,000.00 balance at 22.99% takes 20 yr 10 mo and costs $10,404.74 in interest, finishing around Jul 2047.
Of the first $174.95, $114.95 is interest and $60.00 comes off what you owe.
- Total interest
- $10,404.74
- Total paid
- $16,404.74
An estimate from the inputs shown, not a promise of a particular date. How we calculate this.
A minimum payment is usually a function of your balance, so when the balance falls the minimum falls with it and each payment is smaller than the last. Where that happens, it is what stretches a card out for years. Where the minimum only matches the month's interest it is not slow progress at all, and the calculator above says which of those your own numbers are.
Paying a fixed amount instead — the same figure every month, even as the minimum drops — is the single change that shortens the term most.
Your card
Minimum-payment formulas are set by your issuer and are not all the same. The rule used here is stated in the assumptions — check your cardholder agreement for yours.
Estimated result
20 yr 10 mo
Estimated debt-free date Jul 2047
Total interest
$10,404.74Total paid
$16,404.74Assumptions
- 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 22.99% 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.
Why the minimum falls as you pay
A minimum payment is usually a function of the balance, so a smaller balance produces a smaller minimum. Where the balance is falling, paying exactly the minimum therefore means paying less and less each month, and that is the mechanism that stretches an ordinary card balance across many years. Where it is not falling, the same rule stops being a slow way out and becomes no way out — the calculator above shows which case you are in.
Paying a FIXED amount — the same dollar figure every month, even as the minimum drops — is what breaks that pattern, and it is the single change that shortens the term most.
Your statement already tells you some of this
Federal rules require card statements to show how long the balance would take to clear at the minimum payment, and what a larger payment would do instead. If the figures here differ from your statement's, your statement is about your actual account and this page is a general model — trust the statement.
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)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — How does my credit card company calculate the amount of interest I owe? (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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