High card APRs look abstract until you watch a minimum payment crawl. Type your balance and rate. This is a simple monthly-compounding model, not a lender statement and not financial advice.
Implied monthly rate 1.8333%
Default 0. Payoff may never happen if spend ≥ payment.
e.g. $25 / £10 / $10 — whichever your card uses
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Milestones
| Point | Month | Balance | Interest so far |
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interest = balance × (APR/100/12), then the payment is subtracted. In minimum-% mode the payment is max(balance × min%, floor) + extra using the post-interest balance. Fixed mode uses the amount you type. New purchases are added after the payment. Simulation stops at 600 months.
A typical 2% minimum is only a sliver above a 22% APR’s monthly interest (~1.83%). Most of each payment is interest, so the balance crawls down. Extra money on top of the minimum is almost all principal, which is why payoff time collapses.
Using this page’s loop (interest = balance × APR/100/12, then subtract the payment of max(2% of the post-interest balance, $25)): after 600 months (the 50-year cap) the balance is still $1,474.32, with $31,788.93 interest paid. If the same loop is allowed to run until zero, it clears in 817 months (68 years 1 month) with $35,957.75 interest — about eight times the original balance.
Keeping 22% APR and the 2% minimum (floor $25), an extra $100 on top clears the card in 47 months with $2,182.42 interest. Versus the minimum-only path that still isn’t done at 50 years, that’s tens of thousands of dollars and decades less interest.
Simple monthly model: interest = remaining balance × (APR ÷ 100 ÷ 12), then the payment is subtracted. New purchases, if you type any, are added after the payment. This is not a lender’s statement (no grace period, no average daily balance, no penalty APR).
If monthly purchases are greater than or equal to the payment, or the payment does not cover that month’s interest, the balance does not fall. The sim stops at 600 months and reports that it never pays off under these numbers.
No. You type the rate and payment rule. We do not look up your card’s terms, statutory minimums, or hardship programmes. Not a lender quote and not financial advice — see Terms.