Minimum payment
The smallest amount a lender will accept this month — usually a percentage of the balance, which shrinks as the balance does.
Paying it keeps the account in good standing. It is not designed to clear the debt, and it does not.
The problem is that it is usually a percentage — commonly around 2% — of whatever you currently owe. As the balance falls, the required payment falls with it, so the finish line retreats as you approach it.
The arithmetic is stark. A 3,000 balance at 22%, paid at a 2% minimum, takes roughly 47 years and costs about 18,000 in interest. The same balance at a fixed 150 a month clears in about 26 months for 771.
The single change that breaks the trap is paying a fixed amount rather than a percentage, and never letting it fall as the balance does.
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