Why you should never make the minimum payment

david_hellier

Here is a table showing you how long it takes to payoff £1000 with the minimum payment of 3% on a CC and shows you the APR for those CCs which shy away from telling you.

Cost of Borrowing £1000 on a credit card and
MONTHLY % APR% Total interest Time to £5 balance
1 12.68 £512 22 years 6 months
1.05 13.35 £551 23 years 2 months
1.1 14.03 £593 23 years 9 months
1.15 14.71 £637 24 years 5 months
1.2 15.39 £683 35 years 1 months
1.25 16.08 £732 25 years 10 months
1.3 16.77 £783 26 years 7 months
1.35 17.46 £838 27 years 5 months
1.4 18.16 £896 28 years 3 months
1.45 18.86 £958 29 years 2 months
1.5 19.56 £1024 30 years 2 months
1.55 20.27 £1095 31 years 2 months
1.6 20.98 £1171 32 years 4 months
1.65 21.70 £1252 33 years 6 months
1.7 22.42 £1340 34 years 10 months
1.75 23.14 £1434 36 years 2 months
1.8 23.87 £1537 37 years 9 months
1.85 24.60 £1648 39 years 4 months
1.9 25.34 £1770 41 years 2 months
1.95 26.08 £1903 43 years 2 months
2 26.82 £2049 45 years 4 months
2.05 27.57 £2211 47 years 8 months
2.1 28.32 £2391 50 years 4 months
2.15 29.08 £2592 53 years 4 months
2.2 29.84 £2818 56 years 8 months
2.25 30.60 £3074 60 years 5 months
2.3 31.37 £3367 64 years 9 months
2.35 32.15 £3705 69 years 9 months
2.4 32.92 £4099 75 years 7 months
2.45 33.70 £4565 82 years 6 months
2.5 34.49 £5124 90 years 9 months
2.55 35.28 £5807 100 years 11 months
2.6 36.07 £6661 113 years 6 months
2.65 36.87 £7759 129 years 9 months

natlie

thanks thats really interesting

Kevicho

natlie wrote:

thanks thats really interesting

is it?

informative maybe lol

CLAPTON

yes very true, although it does not change the snowballing recommendation of paying the minimum on all debts except that with the highest APR etc

andrewison

CLAPTON wrote:

yes very true, although it does not change the snowballing recommendation of paying the minimum on all debts except that with the highest APR etc

I think I found out the hard way on this , i had minimum on barclaycard and the interest was like 70 a month , but I was paying 70 odd off a month ...and i was like OMG ... I so changed that quickly ... I changed that to a 05 card straight away ... ...

rule here .. keep an eye on the CC

raq

oh my god. we'll all be dead and buried then by time we pay it off. soooooo worrying

gfoley21

Hey all, I'm with halifax, am about 300-400 quid over my 1000 limit, im only a student and cant come anywhere close to payin my 50-60 quid minimum payments despite working all hours, i get a monthly charge of 25 quid over limit fee, and normally a 25 quid late/no payment fine.

My question is, is there anyway to freeze this so that i can pay it off more slowly?

all help appreciated

Gavin

iolanthe07

These charges are probably illegal, certainly unfair - the most you're supposed to be charged is £12 for late payment etc, but the banks rely on people not knowing this. Loads of people on here have successfully claimed back unfair charges. Have a look at the board that deals with this. Good luck.

Dr.Shoe_2

Indeed. Pay the minimum for now and chuck the rest at your most expensive debt. I have now finished my bank loan (15.9%) and am now concentrating on my overdraft at 12.9% before starting work on my defaulted accounts which are interest free.

ckerrd

I have to say that this sort of info is great and when I was a young thing would probably never ever have got a credit card had I seen this. Recently realised the benefits of siwtching cards and have saved a small fortune, thus reducing my debt