Credit Card Minimum Payment Trap Calculator

No — at this calculator's own defaults, Minimum Payment Floor measures zero effect on Months to Payoff, Total Interest, or Total Paid under a 10% nudge, because the floor never actually applies here: the balance only grows over the simulation, so the percentage-based minimum payment (2% of the balance) stays well above the $25 floor for the entire 50-year run, and the floor sits unused in the formula.

Because 600 months (50 years) is this calculator's simulation cap (line 64), and at the default $5,000 balance, 24.9% APR, and 2% minimum, the debt never actually gets paid off — the monthly rate (2.075%) exceeds the 2% minimum-payment percentage, so the balance grows instead of shrinking every month, and the simulation simply stops at its cap rather than reporting a real payoff month.

APR — its ±10% span is about 179% of Total Interest Paid — well ahead of Minimum Payment % (about 146%, which lowers interest as it rises since a bigger percentage-based payment covers more principal) and Credit Card Balance (20%) — because the rate directly sets how large the gap is between the minimum payment and the interest actually accruing each month.

Yes, and it happens at this calculator's own default numbers: whenever the monthly rate (APR divided by 12) is higher than the Minimum Payment % — 2.075% versus 2% here — the calculated minimum payment covers less than a month's interest, so the balance increases instead of decreasing, month after month, for as long as that gap holds.

Not at these defaults — Credit Card Balance measures zero effect on Months to Payoff under a 10% nudge, because both a 10% higher and 10% lower starting balance still hit the same 600-month simulation cap without being paid off; the balance does still change Total Interest Paid and Total Paid in dollar terms, just not the month count, since that count is pinned at the cap either way.