How long does it take to pay off a credit card with minimum payments?

On the default figures here, $6,000 at 22.9%, it takes 20 years and 10 months and costs $10,362 in interest, which is more than the balance itself. The reason is structural: the minimum is recalculated from the balance each month, so it shrinks as you pay, and the amount going to principal shrinks with it.

How is the minimum payment calculated?

Most major US issuers charge that month’s interest plus about 1% of the balance, with a floor of $25 to $35 so very small balances still get paid down. Your exact rule is on your statement. Some issuers use 2% or 3% of the balance instead, which clears the debt faster than the 1%-plus-interest rule at high rates.

What is the minimum I can pay and still make progress?

Anything above the interest charged that month. Below that, the balance grows no matter how diligently you pay. The calculator reports that figure, for $6,000 at 22.9% it is $114.50, as the floor any plan has to clear before it does anything at all.

Is it better to pay off one card or spread payments across several?

Pay the minimum on everything to stay current, then put every spare dollar on one card until it clears. Which card comes first is the snowball versus avalanche question: highest rate first costs the least interest, smallest balance first clears an account soonest. This calculator handles one card at a time.

Should I use a 0% balance transfer instead?

Often yes, if you can clear most of it during the promotional period and the transfer fee is smaller than the interest you would otherwise pay. The balance transfer calculator solves for the exact fee at which the offer stops paying, which is the figure to judge any offer by. Set the APR here to 0% to see the promotional case in isolation.

Why does my statement show a different payoff estimate?

The CARD Act requires issuers to print a minimum-payment payoff estimate, and it assumes no further spending and the issuer’s own minimum formula. If your figure differs from this one, it is almost always the minimum-payment rule: check whether yours is interest plus 1%, or a flat percentage of the balance. For a fixed-term instalment loan rather than a card, use the loan calculator.

Credit Card Payoff Calculator

This credit card payoff calculator shows how long a balance takes to clear at any payment, and what paying only the minimum costs instead. Because a card’s minimum falls as the balance does, the gap is usually measured in decades and five figures of interest.

Example numbers

The answerfrom an example

Paying the minimum takes 20 years, 10 months and costs $10,362 in interest. Your payment clears it in 2 years, 9 months.

Worked on $6,000 at 22.9% APR, paying $250 a month against the minimum. Change anything below to use yours.

Your payment clears it in: 2 years, 9 months
Interest on your plan: $2,101
Minimum payment only: 20 years, 10 months

The figures behind it

Your payment clears it in: 2 years, 9 months; Paying $250 every month.
Interest on your plan: $2,101; The cost of carrying the balance until it clears.
Minimum payment only: 20 years, 10 months; Starting at $174.50 and falling as the balance does.
Interest on the minimum: $10,362; What the same balance costs if you only ever pay what is asked.
Interest saved: $8,261; By paying your amount rather than the minimum.
Cleared earlier by: 18 years, 1 month; The difference between the two payoff dates.

What your payment plan costs in total$8,101

74%

26%

The balance itself$6,000
InterestOn top of what you borrowed.$2,101

The balance on both plans

Years from today

Minimum payment onlyYour payment

Payment scheduleShow

The table scrolls sideways

Month	Your interest	Your principal	Your balance	Minimum due	Minimum balance
12	$83	$167	$4,192	$156	$5,318
24	$41	$209	$1,924	$138	$4,714
36	$0	$0	$0	$123	$4,179
48	$0	$0	$0	$109	$3,704
60	$0	$0	$0	$96	$3,283
72	$0	$0	$0	$85	$2,910
84	$0	$0	$0	$76	$2,579
96	$0	$0	$0	$67	$2,286
108	$0	$0	$0	$60	$2,027
120	$0	$0	$0	$53	$1,796
132	$0	$0	$0	$47	$1,592
144	$0	$0	$0	$41	$1,411
156	$0	$0	$0	$37	$1,251
168	$0	$0	$0	$33	$1,109
180	$0	$0	$0	$29	$983
192	$0	$0	$0	$26	$871
204	$0	$0	$0	$25	$759
216	$0	$0	$0	$25	$619
228	$0	$0	$0	$25	$443
240	$0	$0	$0	$25	$222
250	$0	$0	$0	$20	$0

What this result assumes

The minimum payment is modelled as that month’s interest plus 1% of the balance, subject to a dollar floor, the rule most major US issuers use. Because it tracks the balance down, the minimum falls every month, which is precisely why the debt takes so long to clear.
Interest is compounded monthly on the balance. Real cards accrue daily on an average daily balance, which is very slightly more expensive; the difference is small next to the effect being shown here.
No new spending is added to the card. If you keep using it, none of these figures apply.
Annual fees, late fees, over-limit fees, cash-advance rates and penalty APRs are not modelled.

Methodology

Reviewed August 31, 2026

Why a card is not a loan

An instalment loan has a fixed payment and therefore a payoff date built into it. A credit card has neither. The minimum due is recalculated every month from the balance, so as the balance falls the payment falls with it, and the debt approaches zero asymptotically rather than arriving there. That single structural difference is why a modest balance can take two decades to clear.

Most major US issuers set the minimum at that month’s interest plus roughly 1% of the balance, subject to a floor of $25 to $35. Both parts matter. The interest portion means the balance always moves in the right direction; the 1% portion means it moves by about 1% a month, which on a $6,000 balance is $60 against $114 of interest.

Some calculators model the minimum as a flat 2% of the balance with no interest added. At card rates that rule barely covers the interest at all, and the balance never clears. It is worth knowing which rule your issuer uses — it is on your statement, in the box the CARD Act requires them to print.

The comparison

Both plans are run from the same starting balance at the same rate, month by month, until the balance reaches zero or the model reaches its 60-year cap. Interest is charged on the balance outstanding at the start of each month and rounded to the cent, and no payment is ever allowed to collect more than the balance plus that month’s interest, so the final payment is a part-payment rather than a full instalment.

On the default figures the gap is stark: $6,000 at 22.9% takes 20 years and 10 months on the minimum and costs $10,362 in interest — more than the original balance. The same debt at $250 a month clears in 2 years and 9 months for $2,101. The extra roughly $75 a month over the first year is what buys that.

A level payment below the first month’s interest cannot clear the balance at all, and the model says so rather than producing a payoff date. The figure it reports as the interest-only payment is the floor a payment plan has to beat before it does anything at all.

Where the model simplifies

Interest is compounded monthly on the closing balance. Real cards accrue daily on an average daily balance, which works out very slightly more expensive. The difference is a rounding error next to the effect this page is about.

No new spending is added. If the card is still in use, none of these figures hold — a payoff plan and continued spending on the same card are not compatible, because payments are applied to the promotional or lowest-rate balance last under the CARD Act’s allocation rules.

Annual fees, late fees, over-limit fees and penalty APRs are excluded. A single late payment can trigger a penalty rate that materially changes the arithmetic, and it is not modelled here.

Assumptions

The APR is fixed for the whole payoff period. Card rates are variable and usually track the prime rate.
The minimum due is that month’s interest plus a fixed share of the balance, subject to a dollar floor.
Interest compounds monthly on the balance, rather than daily on an average daily balance.
No new purchases, cash advances or balance transfers are added to the card.
Payments are made in full and on time every month; no late or penalty rates apply.
Annual fees, over-limit fees and any rewards earned are excluded.
A grace period on new purchases is irrelevant here, because a carried balance forfeits it.
Every figure is nominal. Inflation is ignored.

Sources

Common questions

How long does it take to pay off a credit card with minimum payments?: On the default figures here, $6,000 at 22.9%, it takes 20 years and 10 months and costs $10,362 in interest, which is more than the balance itself. The reason is structural: the minimum is recalculated from the balance each month, so it shrinks as you pay, and the amount going to principal shrinks with it.
How is the minimum payment calculated?: Most major US issuers charge that month’s interest plus about 1% of the balance, with a floor of $25 to $35 so very small balances still get paid down. Your exact rule is on your statement. Some issuers use 2% or 3% of the balance instead, which clears the debt faster than the 1%-plus-interest rule at high rates.
What is the minimum I can pay and still make progress?: Anything above the interest charged that month. Below that, the balance grows no matter how diligently you pay. The calculator reports that figure, for $6,000 at 22.9% it is $114.50, as the floor any plan has to clear before it does anything at all.
Is it better to pay off one card or spread payments across several?: Pay the minimum on everything to stay current, then put every spare dollar on one card until it clears. Which card comes first is the snowball versus avalanche question: highest rate first costs the least interest, smallest balance first clears an account soonest. This calculator handles one card at a time.
Should I use a 0% balance transfer instead?: Often yes, if you can clear most of it during the promotional period and the transfer fee is smaller than the interest you would otherwise pay. The balance transfer calculator solves for the exact fee at which the offer stops paying, which is the figure to judge any offer by. Set the APR here to 0% to see the promotional case in isolation.
Why does my statement show a different payoff estimate?: The CARD Act requires issuers to print a minimum-payment payoff estimate, and it assumes no further spending and the issuer’s own minimum formula. If your figure differs from this one, it is almost always the minimum-payment rule: check whether yours is interest plus 1%, or a flat percentage of the balance. For a fixed-term instalment loan rather than a card, use the loan calculator.

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