Minimum Payment Calculator: Cost of Paying Only the Minimum
The headline figure on this page is the minimums-only baseline: the months and the total interest that result when every debt receives only its minimum payment. The entered monthly budget appears next to it, so the two sets of numbers can be compared directly.
Open the full Debt Payoff Planner for the snowball, avalanche, and hybrid comparison.
This link contains the numbers you entered. Only people you send it to can see them. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Disclaimer
Not financial advice. This calculator is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice, tax advice, or a recommendation. Consider speaking with a qualified professional about your situation.
Assumptions. Interest is calculated monthly as balance × APR ÷ 12 and applied before each payment (monthly compounding). If you leave a minimum payment blank, it is estimated as the largest of: 2% of the balance, one month's interest + 1% of the balance, or $25 — actual minimums vary by lender. Simulations stop at 600 months. Displayed amounts are rounded to the nearest cent.
Data sources. Formulas: standard amortization math. No external data feeds. Page last updated: 2026-10-18.
How the math works
This page centers on the minimums-only baseline: a simulation in which each debt pays exactly its minimum every month and nothing more. The minimum for a debt is the entered value, or an estimate when the field is left blank. Each month, every unpaid debt pays the smaller of its minimum and its remaining balance. There are no extra payments, no lump sums, and no remainder to redirect toward a target debt — the strategy plays no role, and any unspent difference when a balance drops below its minimum is simply not paid. This makes the baseline exactly strategy-independent, so it works as a neutral reference point for every plan comparison on this site.
Why the baseline stretches over so many months is visible in the monthly waterfall. Interest accrues first, at APR ÷ 12 on the full remaining balance, and is added before any payment is applied (monthly compounding). The minimum payment is then a function of the balance — typically a small percentage of it — so early payments cover mostly interest and reduce the principal slowly. Because the balance stays high, interest keeps accruing at nearly the same level month after month. In the extreme case where the estimated minimum is smaller than the monthly interest, the balance grows instead of shrinking; the simulation still terminates because it is bounded at 600 months, and the result is reported as not paid off within that limit.
Next to the baseline, the page shows the plan built from the monthly budget entered above. That plan follows the standard waterfall: minimums first, then per-debt extras, then the remainder plus any lump sum directed at the current target debt, cascading down the strategy order as debts clear. The order is re-sorted monthly among unpaid debts — snowball by ascending balance, avalanche by descending APR, hybrid switching between the two at K remaining debts. The interest saved figure is the baseline's total interest minus the plan's total interest; when the baseline does not pay off within 600 months, savings are reported as not applicable rather than as a number.
Four assumptions underpin every number on this page. Interest compounds monthly at the nominal APR divided by 12; loans that accrue interest daily will differ slightly. Blank minimum payments are estimated as the largest of 2% of the balance, one month's interest plus 1% of the balance, or $25 — an industry-typical approximation, not any lender's exact formula. The simulation stops after 600 months. All internal math uses full floating-point precision with no per-month rounding; displayed amounts are rounded half-up to the nearest cent, and totals are summed unrounded before that final rounding.
The month-by-month view of a single balance under minimum payments is also the subject of the how-long-to-pay-off calculator, which presents time-to-payoff as its headline figure. The bi-weekly comparison shows the same baseline logic applied to a different question: what changes when the effective budget rises to 13/12 of the monthly amount.
Worked example
One debt: $2,000 balance, 24.99% APR, minimum payment left blank (estimated), start month November 2026. The baseline pays only the estimated minimum each month; the comparison plan uses a $100 monthly budget.
| Minimums only | $100/month budget | |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 estimated minimum | $61.65 | $61.65 |
| Months to payoff | 338 | 27 |
| Debt-free date | January 2055 | February 2029 |
| Total interest | $3,030.48 | $613.81 |
| Total paid | $5,030.48 | $2,613.81 |
Month 1 detail: interest = $2,000 × 0.2499 ÷ 12 = $41.65, so the balance becomes $2,041.65. The estimated minimum is the largest of 2% of $2,000 ($40.00), $41.65 + 1% of $2,000 ($61.65), and $25 — which is $61.65. The $100 budget plan pays $2,416.67 less in total interest and finishes 311 months earlier, because each $100 payment covers the $61.65 minimum and directs the remaining $38.35 at the balance.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimums-only baseline on this page?
It is a simulation in which every debt receives only its minimum payment each month: the entered minimum, or the estimated minimum when the field is left blank. There are no extra payments, no lump sums, and no remainder to redirect — each debt pays min(minimum, balance), and any unspent difference is simply not paid.
Why does paying only the minimum take so long?
Interest accrues monthly on the full remaining balance, while the minimum payment shrinks as the balance shrinks. Early on, a large share of each minimum covers interest rather than principal, so the balance falls slowly and interest keeps accruing on a balance that stays high for many months.
How is the estimated minimum calculated?
When the minimum field is left blank, the estimate is the largest of three values: 2% of the balance, one month's interest plus 1% of the balance, or $25. This is an industry-typical approximation, not any lender's exact formula — actual minimums vary by lender and card agreement.
What does the comparison against my budget show?
The results place the minimums-only baseline next to the plan built from the monthly budget entered. Both show months to payoff, the debt-free date, total interest, and total paid. The interest difference between them is the arithmetic consequence of paying more than the minimum each month.
What happens when a debt's balance drops below its minimum?
The payment is capped at the remaining balance: the debt pays min(minimum, balance) and the leftover is not redirected to other debts in the baseline. This keeps the baseline exactly independent of strategy, so it serves as a neutral reference for every plan on this site.
Can the minimums-only baseline fail to pay off the debt?
Yes. If the estimated minimum is smaller than the monthly interest, the balance grows instead of shrinking. The simulation is bounded at 600 months; when balances remain at that limit, the result is reported as not paid off within 600 months under these inputs, and savings versus the baseline are shown as not applicable.