Money

What does "just the minimum" actually cost?

Most card issuers set your minimum as a percentage of whatever you currently owe - so as the balance shrinks, so does the minimum, which is exactly what stretches payoff into years or decades.

Where to find these numbers: everything below is on your statement or in your card's terms. The balance and APR are usually on page one. The minimum payment rule - the percentage and the floor - is normally in the small print near the payment summary, often under a heading like "how we work out your minimum payment". If you cannot find them, the defaults here are typical and will still show you the shape of the problem.
What you owe on the card right now.
The purchase rate on your statement. Cash advances are usually higher and are not modelled here.
Most cards ask for a small percentage of what you owe - commonly 1% to 3%. Because it is a percentage, the amount they ask for shrinks every month as your balance falls, which is the whole reason paying only the minimum takes so long.
The smallest amount the card will ever ask for, no matter how low the balance gets. Typically $20-$30. Without it the percentage would shrink toward nothing and the debt would never clear - so this is the only thing that eventually finishes the job.
The point of the tool. Pick an amount you could pay every month without fail, and the result shows both timelines side by side - so you can see what a modest fixed payment actually buys you against drifting along on the minimum.

Why the minimum keeps shrinking

Your card issuer isn't being generous by lowering your minimum as your balance drops - it's just doing the math again each month. If your minimum is 2% of the balance, a $5,000 balance means a $100 minimum; once that balance is down to $2,000, the minimum is only $40. Meanwhile interest is still charging against whatever's left, so a shrinking payment against a slower-shrinking balance is exactly what turns a few thousand dollars into a decade-plus payoff. Simple calculators often assume a fixed payment and give an optimistic payoff estimate as a result - this one recalculates the minimum every month as the balance actually falls, which is the real reason the payoff drags on so much longer than it looks like it should.

The fastest way out isn't a different card or a clever trick - it's simply not letting the payment shrink. Freezing your payment at whatever the first minimum was, or better, adding a fixed amount on top of it every month regardless of what the statement says, keeps the payment doing real work instead of drifting down alongside the balance.

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