Credit Card Calculator

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These figures are estimates based on the numbers you enter. Your card issuer’s own statement, and the minimum repayment warning printed on it, is the exact figure that applies to your account.
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What the six numbers on this calculator mean

The calculator above asks for six figures. Three describe the card, three describe how you plan to pay it. Two of them are worth a closer look because they are not fixed the way they look.

Annual card fee

What the issuer charges just for holding the card, regardless of whether you spend on it. Left at $0 by default because not every card has one.

Annual interest rate

The rate charged on any balance you carry past the interest-free period. It is printed on your own statement, which is the figure to use here. Published comparisons of the Australian market commonly put the range around 13 to 22 per cent a year, though any individual card can sit outside it.

Balance outstanding

What you currently owe. The calculator treats this as a single fixed starting point and does not add future spending on top of it.

Minimum repayment required (%)

The percentage of your closing balance the issuer requires each month. Typically 2 to 3 per cent in Australia. This is one half of a floor, not the whole rule.

Minimum repayment required ($)

The dollar floor underneath the percentage. Your actual minimum is whichever of the two numbers is larger, which matters most once the balance gets small.

Choose higher repayment

A fixed amount you set yourself, higher than the minimum. This is the number that actually shortens the payoff, and it stays constant even as the minimum falls.

What this calculator does not do

Worth saying plainly, because plenty of people land on this page looking for it: this tool does not estimate your credit limit, your approval odds, or whether you qualify for a card. No card issuer publishes the formula behind those decisions, and it depends on your income, your expenses, your existing debts and your credit file in combination, not on any single number you could enter here.
If that is what you actually came here for, the honest answer is that only the card issuer can tell you, usually through their own pre-qualification check, which does not affect your credit score. What this page does calculate, precisely, is how long an existing balance takes to clear and what it costs in interest along the way.

Worked example: a $10,000 balance at 18 per cent

The figures below use the calculator’s own default numbers: a $10,000 balance, an 18 per cent annual rate, and a minimum repayment of 2.5 per cent of the balance or $10, whichever is greater.

Paying the minimum

Payment time: 31 years 11 months
Total interest paid: $14,627

More than triple the original balance, paid in interest alone, on a debt most people expect to clear in a few years.

Paying $300 a month

Payment time: 4 years 0 months
Total interest paid: $3,967

Roughly $170 a month more than the starting minimum repayment, on the same $10,000 balance.
The gap between those two paths is $10,660 in interest and 27 years 11 months. Neither figure comes from a faster rate or a better card. Both come from the same balance at the same rate, paid down at a different pace.

These are estimates only. They assume the rate and the higher repayment stay constant and that no new spending is added to the card, which is rarely exactly true in practice.

Why the minimum repayment keeps shrinking

Most people assume the minimum repayment is a fixed dollar figure that stays the same every month, the way a loan instalment does. On a credit card it is not. It is recalculated every month against whatever the balance happens to be that month, which is why the ‘Minimum Payment’ column above gets slower to shrink as the years go on.
The exact figure is set by your card’s own terms, not by a single rule across the industry, but published comparisons of Australian issuers commonly describe a percentage of the closing balance, often 2 to 3 per cent, or a flat dollar amount such as $10 or $20, whichever is larger. Check your own statement for the figures that actually apply to your card. Early on, when the balance is high, the percentage rule usually applies and the required payment falls each month as the balance falls. Late in the payoff, once the percentage would produce a trivial amount, the dollar floor takes over instead.
This is also why paying only the minimum takes so long: because the required payment keeps shrinking in step with the balance, less and less of it goes toward principal, and more of what remains is servicing interest on a balance that is barely moving. A fixed higher repayment does not have that problem, which is the entire reason the ‘Choose Higher Repayment’ field exists on this calculator.

Interest rate versus comparison rate on a credit card

A comparison rate folds a product’s fees together with its interest rate into one number, precisely so two products can be compared side by side. It is a familiar feature on home loans and personal loans. Credit cards work differently.

Home loans, car loans, personal loans

Part 10 of the National Credit Code requires a comparison rate wherever a credit provider advertises fixed-term credit for personal, domestic or household purposes. That is why every rate you see on a personal loan or home loan page carries one alongside it.

Credit cards

A credit card is continuing, revolving credit rather than fixed-term credit, so it generally sits outside that requirement. Most card advertising in Australia shows an interest rate on its own, with no comparison rate beside it.
The practical consequence is that comparing two cards on rate alone can miss the real cost. An annual fee, a higher minimum repayment percentage, or the length of any interest-free period on purchases can matter as much as the headline rate, and none of that is folded into a single number for you the way it would be on a loan. The fields on this calculator let you test the fee and the rate together rather than relying on the rate in isolation.

When a balance is bigger than a repayment plan can fix

Sometimes the honest answer is not a faster repayment schedule but a different product entirely. If the balance is large enough that even $300 or $400 a month barely dents it, our personal loan broker page covers when moving a card balance into a personal loan actually lowers the total cost, and when it does not. If the balance built up because of an error or a listing on your file rather than spending, credit check and repair is the more relevant starting point.

Before you rely on this number

This calculator assumes a constant rate, a constant repayment, and no further spending on the card. All three assumptions break the moment a new purchase, a rate change, or a promotional period ends, so treat the result as a direction rather than a forecast.
Related tools on this site: loan repayment calculator, comparison rate calculator and the borrowing power calculator.

If a card balance is one part of a wider picture, personal loans and credit check and repair cover the two most common next steps.
Sources
ASIC MoneySmart: credit card calculator and repayment guidance.
ASIC: National Credit Code, Part 10 comparison rate requirement, which generally does not extend to credit cards as continuing credit.
National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Home Loans and Credit Cards) Act 2011, which requires credit card statements to carry a minimum repayment warning of this kind. The Bill’s own explanatory memorandum illustrates the reform with a near-identical example: a $10,000 balance at 20 per cent paid at $200 a month.

About the figures on this page. The worked example uses the calculator’s own default inputs, independently checked against a standard amortisation calculation and found to match within normal rounding. The 13 to 22 per cent rate range and the 2 to 3 per cent minimum repayment convention are drawn from published market comparisons, not from an ASIC or RBA data set, and any individual card can sit outside them. Every other figure is illustrative of how the minimum-repayment mechanic behaves and is not a quote for any specific card.

General information only, and not financial advice. Nothing on this page takes your objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Loanity does not arrange or refer credit cards; this tool is provided for general education. Whether a personal loan costs less than carrying a card balance depends on the loan term, the rate and any fees, and is not a recommendation for any individual. Loanity is a credit representative and can provide credit assistance on home loans, personal loans and asset finance once we understand your circumstances.
STILL GOT QUESTIONS?

Credit card calculator questions, answered

How do I calculate my credit card repayments?

Enter the balance, the interest rate and either the minimum repayment terms or a higher fixed amount. The calculator applies that repayment against the balance each month, charges interest on what remains, and repeats until the balance reaches zero. The result is the payoff time and the total interest paid.

Usually the greater of a percentage of your closing balance, commonly 2 to 3 per cent, or a flat dollar amount such as $10 or $20. Your card statement shows the actual figures your issuer applies, and the calculator’s default fields can be adjusted to match them.

Because it is recalculated against the balance at the time, not fixed at the start like a loan instalment. As the balance falls, the percentage-based portion of the minimum falls with it, which is also why paying only the minimum takes so long to clear a balance.

On the calculator’s own example, a $10,000 balance at 18 per cent paid at the minimum comes to $14,627 in interest over almost 32 years. The exact figure depends on your balance, your rate and how your issuer sets the minimum, so run your own numbers above.

Yes, disproportionately so. In the same example, moving from the minimum to $300 a month cuts the payoff from almost 32 years to 4 years and reduces total interest from $14,627 to $3,967. The saving comes from principal being repaid faster, not from a better rate.

No. It models the payoff of an existing balance, not what a card issuer would approve. Credit limits and approval decisions depend on your income, expenses, existing debts and credit file together, and only the issuer’s own assessment can answer that.

Generally no. Comparison rates are required under the National Credit Code for fixed-term credit such as home loans and personal loans, but a credit card is continuing credit and usually sits outside that requirement. Compare the rate, the annual fee and any interest-free period separately.

The annual fee field is included as a separate input and is not folded into the interest calculation. Other charges such as late payment fees, foreign transaction fees or cash advance fees are not modelled, because they only apply in specific circumstances rather than to every balance.

In Australian credit card terms they are usually the same figure: the annual percentage rate charged on a carried balance. Where they can differ is on cards with more than one rate, for example a lower promotional rate on balance transfers and a standard rate on new purchases, in which case the calculator should be run once for each rate.

It can be, because personal loan rates are commonly lower than card rates and the repayment is fixed rather than shrinking over time, but it is not automatic. The real cost also depends on the loan term and any fees, and a longer term at a lower rate can still cost more overall. Our personal loan broker page sets out how to weigh that up for your own numbers.

Important information about this calculator
Calculations shown are hypothetical estimates intended to demonstrate the general impact of minimum monthly repayments versus accelerated repayments. This tool assumes a fixed annual percentage rate and does not account for annual card fees, late payment charges, transaction fees, tiered interest rates (such as cash advances), or new purchases added to the balance.
Credit card issuer policies, minimum repayment formulas, and applicable interest rates change over time, and this page may not represent the latest terms set by your card provider. Loanity does not warrant or guarantee the precision or completeness of the payoff timelines or interest totals shown. This information does not constitute credit or debt advice. Contact Loanity to discuss refinancing, debt consolidation, or appropriate credit solutions suited to your specific needs.