Paying Only the Minimum Due on a Credit Card: What It Costs

Paying only the minimum amount due keeps your credit card from being treated as overdue and avoids a late fee, but it doesn't stop interest. Card issuers' published rates are about 3.5% to 4% a month, which is about 42% to 48% a year, plus 18% GST on the interest (card issuers' published terms, checked 28 October 2026). In our worked example below, a ₹1,00,000 balance paid off only through a typical minimum due takes about 16.6 years to clear and costs ₹2,16,641 in interest and GST.

This guide explains what the minimum amount due is, how card issuers work it out, how long paying only the minimum takes, and what happens if you pay less. For ways to clear the balance, see our guide on how to clear credit card debt in India. If you're weighing a loan to clear your cards, our page on credit card outstanding loans covers that route.

All figures below are illustrations for a hypothetical cardholder, not offers or quotes from any card issuer or lender. CredLinq is not a lender.

What is the minimum amount due?

The minimum amount due is the smallest part of your bill you must pay by the due date so that the bill isn't treated as overdue (RBI credit card Directions, 2025, Chapter I, definitions). It is not the amount you owe. The total amount due, also on your statement, is the full bill.

How card issuers work it out. Most card issuers set the minimum due at all the interest, fees, taxes and EMIs due, plus a small slice (about 2% to 5%) of the remaining balance (card issuers' published terms, checked 24 October 2026). If you've converted a purchase into EMIs on the card, the EMI and its GST are added to your minimum due each month. Your card's terms and your statement show the exact method.

What RBI requires. The minimum due must be set so there's no negative amortisation, and card issuers can't charge interest or other charges on unpaid taxes, levies or charges (same Directions, para 23(2)). RBI's own illustration: on a ₹10,000 balance at 2% a month, the interest is ₹200, and with ₹50 of tax and other charges (an indicative figure), the minimum due should not be less than ₹250, so that the balance doesn't grow. The ₹250 is RBI's example, not a rule for every card.

What happens if you pay only the minimum?

• No late fee, and the account isn't overdue. That is what the minimum due is for.
• You lose the interest-free period. If you don't pay the total amount due by the due date, interest can be charged from the date of each transaction on the amount still outstanding, adjusted for payments and refunds, and not on the total amount due (same Directions, para 23(6), Explanation). The card's terms must also explain that the interest-free period is suspended while any part of the previous month's bill is unpaid (para 23(3)).
• Interest and GST keep being added. The interest is charged at the card's revolving rate, and GST at 18% is charged on top of card interest, because the GST exemption for loan interest leaves out "interest involved in credit card services" (CBIC Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate), Sl. 27; rate unchanged by the September 2025 notification).

RBI requires every billing statement to carry a warning to this effect: "Making only the minimum payment every month would result in the repayment stretching over months / years with consequential compounded interest payment on your outstanding balance" (same Directions, para 23(3)).

How long does paying only the minimum take?

Worked example. A ₹1,00,000 card balance at 3.75% a month, the most common published rate, plus 18% GST on the interest, with no new spending and no fees. The first month's interest is ₹3,750 and the GST on it is ₹675, so ₹4,425 goes on charges before any of the balance is paid. We assume a ₹200 floor on each minimum, so the last small balance is paid off.

The minimum due falls as the balance falls, so a smaller and smaller slice of the balance is repaid each month. Keeping your payment fixed, even at the first month's minimum of ₹6,425, clears the same balance in 27 months instead of about 16.6 years.

A simpler illustration gives a similar picture. If the minimum were a flat 5% of what you owe, with a ₹200 floor, at 3.5% a month and leaving out GST, ₹1,00,000 would take about 18.8 years to clear, and you'd pay about ₹3.04 lakh in total.

The EMI savings calculator doesn't model minimum-due payments, but you can use it to compare what you pay each month now with one fixed EMI over a set number of months.

What if you pay less than the minimum, or miss the due date?

• When it counts as past due. A card issuer can report your account as past due to the credit bureaus, or charge a late fee, only when it is more than 3 days past the due date. The days past due are counted from the due date on your statement (same Directions, para 23(5)).
• What the late fee is charged on. Late fees and other charges for late payment can be charged only on the amount still unpaid after the due date, not on the total amount due (same para).
• How much. Card issuers' published late fees are slabbed by the amount due: nothing on very small amounts, rising to top slabs of about ₹1,300 to ₹1,350 on large amounts, plus any applicable GST. Some card issuers add about ₹100 more if you miss the minimum due in consecutive months (card issuers' published terms, checked 24 October 2026).
• Interest carries on. The unpaid balance keeps attracting interest at the revolving rate, plus GST.

When it shows on your credit report. Since 1 July 2026, banks and NBFCs have had to report to the credit bureaus as on the 9th, 16th, 23rd and last day of every month (RBI Credit Information Reporting Directions, 2025, para 10(2), for banks and for NBFCs). The bureau then has to load the data within 3 calendar days of receiving it (RBI, Credit Information Companies Directions, para 39 as amended). TransUnion CIBIL lists payment history and credit utilisation among the factors in its score (CIBIL). No particular change in your score is guaranteed.

How do you get out of the minimum-due cycle?

1. Stop new spending on the card. Otherwise the balance you're paying down keeps growing.
2. Pay a fixed amount above the minimum. As the worked example shows, a fixed payment clears the balance far sooner than a falling minimum.
3. If you have more than one card, pay the minimum on every card, then put extra money on one card at a time. Our guide to snowball vs avalanche works through both orders with numbers.
4. Compare cheaper ways to repay. Card EMI conversion, a balance transfer to another card, or a personal loan can cost less than the revolving rate, but each has its own fees. A personal loan used this way is a new personal loan that pays off your existing debts, so you have one EMI instead of several. Lenders' published personal-loan rates run from about 9% to 33% a year, with processing fees from 0% to 5% of the loan, plus any applicable GST (lenders' published pages, checked 29 October 2026), and the lender decides whether to approve you and at what rate. If the loan also pays off other loans, check any foreclosure or part-payment charges on those loans, plus any applicable GST. Our guide to clearing card debt with a personal loan works through the maths.

If you can't pay even the minimum

Contact your card issuer before the due date, explain what has changed, and ask in writing what it can offer. Get any arrangement in writing before you rely on it.

Be wary of anyone who offers to "settle" or "reduce" your card debt for a fee, and never share an OTP with anyone. If you have a complaint, complain to the card issuer first. If you get no reply within 30 days, or you aren't satisfied with the reply, you can take it to the RBI Ombudsman, free of charge, through RBI's Complaint Management System, if your issuer is covered by the Scheme. Not every NBFC is. File within 90 days of the date the 30 days run out or of the issuer's last reply, whichever is later (RBI Integrated Ombudsman FAQs, Q13, Q17 and Q21).

Thinking about clearing your card balances with one loan? If you'd like help understanding your options, you can send CredLinq an enquiry. CredLinq is free for you. We never charge borrowers. Not a lender. We don't set rates or approve loans, and we can't promise a lower rate or an approval.

How we research this

The rules in this article come from RBI's own directions and FAQs, the GST notifications, and the credit bureau's own explanations. The card ranges come from our research team's review of card issuers' published terms, checked on 24 October 2026 (revolving rates re-checked on 28 October 2026), and the personal-loan ranges from its review of 24 lenders' published pages, checked on 29 October 2026. We name no lender or card issuer, because CredLinq has no agreement with any of them. We worked out the example in a script, month by month, and rounded each figure to the nearest rupee.

1. Reserve Bank of India, Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Credit Cards and Debit Cards: Issuance and Conduct) Directions, 2025, RBI/DOR/2025-26/155, 28 Nov 2025, Chapter I (definitions) and paras 23(2), 23(3), 23(5) and 23(6). NBFC card issuers follow the NBFC version, with the same paragraph numbers. https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=13155 (accessed 2026-10-29); NBFC version: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=12956 (accessed 2026-10-29)
2. Reserve Bank of India, Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Credit Information Reporting) Directions, 2025, para 10(2), as substituted from 1 Jul 2026. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=13154 (accessed 2026-10-29); and Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Credit Information Reporting) Directions, 2025, para 10(2), as substituted from 1 Jul 2026. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=12955 (accessed 2026-10-29)
3. Reserve Bank of India, Reserve Bank of India (Credit Information Companies) Amendment Directions, 2025, 4 Dec 2025 (in force 1 July 2026), substituting para 39 of the CIC Directions, 2025. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=13189 (accessed 2026-10-29)
4. Reserve Bank of India, FAQs – Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2026 (updated as on 1 Jul 2026), Q3, Q13, Q17 and Q21; the 90-day limit is clause 10(1)(g) of the Scheme, which replaced the 2021 Scheme from 1 Jul 2026. https://www.rbi.org.in/commonperson/english/scripts/FAQs.aspx?Id=3407 (accessed 2026-10-26)
5. CBIC, Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate), Sl. 27, and Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) (as amended), heading 9971(v). https://cbic-gst.gov.in/hindi/pdf/central-tax-rate/Notification12-CGST.pdf and https://cbic-gst.gov.in/hindi/pdf/central-tax-rate/Notification11-CGST.pdf (accessed 2026-10-24); and Notification No. 15/2025-Central Tax (Rate), Gazette of India, 17 Sep 2025. https://egazette.gov.in/WriteReadData/2025/266220.pdf (accessed 2026-10-24)
6. TransUnion CIBIL, What is a CIBIL Score? https://www.cibil.com/blog/what-is-cibil-score (accessed 2026-10-28)
7. CredLinq Market Research: card issuers' published terms (checked 2026-10-24; revolving rates re-checked 2026-10-28) and lenders' published rate pages (checked 2026-10-29). Ranges only; issuers and lenders not named.

Last reviewed: 29 October 2026