Every Canadian credit card statement carries a line of small print estimating how long the balance would take to clear at the minimum payment. It is one number, for one balance, at one rate. We wanted the whole grid. So we took five balances ($1,000 to $20,000), four rates that span the Canadian market (12.99% to 29.99%) and the three minimum-payment rules used in Canada (2%, 3% and Quebec’s legal 5%), and ran all 60 combinations through the NotchUp payoff engine.
The one-sentence result: at 19.99%, a $5,000 balance takes 66 years to clear at a 2% minimum, 21 years at 3% and 10 years at 5%, and at any rate of 24% or higher a 2% minimum never clears it at all.
Data as of September 15, 2026. Method and assumptions are at the end.
Key Findings
- A $5,000 balance at 19.99% takes 20 years 11 months and $5,984 in interest to clear at a 3% minimum, 66 years 5 months and $23,016 at a 2% minimum, and 10 years and $2,443 at Quebec’s 5% floor.
- A 2% minimum never clears a balance at 24% or above, because monthly interest at 24% is exactly 2% of the balance; at 29.99% the balance grows every month.
- At 19.99%, the split of the first payment is the same at every balance: 17% of a 2% minimum reaches principal, 44% of a 3% minimum, and 67% of a 5% minimum.
- The Quebec 5% floor saves 4.9 years and $545 against a 3% minimum on $1,000 at 19.99%, 10.9 years and $3,541 on $5,000, and 16.1 years and $14,775 on $20,000.
- Freezing the first 3% minimum as a fixed monthly payment clears a 19.99% balance in 4 years 2 months regardless of its size: $5,000 clears for $2,357 in interest instead of $5,984.
- On $5,000 at 19.99%, total interest is 4.6 times the original balance at a 2% minimum, 1.2 times at 3%, and 0.49 times at Quebec’s 5%.
- Rate matters more than balance: $5,000 at 29.99% with a 3% minimum takes 51 years and $23,679 in interest, while the same balance at 12.99% takes 15 years 2 months and $2,717.
Key Takeaway
Across 60 Canadian balance, rate and minimum-payment combinations, the minimum-payment percentage decides the outcome more than the balance does: at 19.99%, moving from a 2% to a 5% minimum cuts a $5,000 payoff from 66 years to 10 and the interest from $23,016 to $2,443.
The Full Map: 51 of 60 Timelines Run a Decade or Longer
Each cell shows the time to clear and the total interest paid when only the minimum is paid and nothing new goes on the card.
| Balance | Rate | 2% minimum | 3% minimum | 5% minimum (Quebec floor) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | 12.99% | 12y 4m, $814 | 8y 3m, $459 | 5y 3m, $248 |
| $1,000 | 19.99% | 26y 4m, $3,076 | 10y 11m, $990 | 6y 0m, $445 |
| $1,000 | 22.99% | 82y 7m, $12,551 | 12y 11m, $1,381 | 6y 5m, $552 |
| $1,000 | 29.99% | Never clears; balance grows | 24y 4m, $3,719 | 7y 8m, $880 |
| $2,500 | 12.99% | 20y 7m, $2,583 | 12y 2m, $1,306 | 7y 2m, $662 |
| $2,500 | 19.99% | 49y 2m, $10,553 | 16y 8m, $2,862 | 8y 4m, $1,194 |
| $2,500 | 22.99% | 173y 3m, $46,694 | 19y 11m, $4,032 | 8y 11m, $1,483 |
| $2,500 | 29.99% | Never clears; balance grows | 39y 6m, $11,204 | 10y 8m, $2,379 |
| $5,000 | 12.99% | 26y 11m, $5,533 | 15y 2m, $2,717 | 8y 8m, $1,353 |
| $5,000 | 19.99% | 66y 5m, $23,016 | 20y 11m, $5,984 | 10y 0m, $2,443 |
| $5,000 | 22.99% | 241y 10m, $103,600 | 25y 3m, $8,449 | 10y 9m, $3,036 |
| $5,000 | 29.99% | Never clears; balance grows | 51y 0m, $23,679 | 13y 0m, $4,877 |
| $10,000 | 12.99% | 33y 2m, $11,432 | 18y 2m, $5,540 | 10y 1m, $2,735 |
| $10,000 | 19.99% | 83y 8m, $47,941 | 25y 3m, $12,227 | 11y 8m, $4,942 |
| $10,000 | 22.99% | Over 250 years (model cap) | 30y 6m, $17,285 | 12y 7m, $6,142 |
| $10,000 | 29.99% | Never clears; balance grows | 62y 6m, $48,629 | 15y 3m, $9,874 |
| $20,000 | 12.99% | 39y 5m, $23,231 | 21y 2m, $11,185 | 11y 6m, $5,498 |
| $20,000 | 19.99% | 100y 11m, $97,791 | 29y 6m, $24,713 | 13y 5m, $9,938 |
| $20,000 | 22.99% | Over 250 years (model cap) | 35y 10m, $34,956 | 14y 5m, $12,354 |
| $20,000 | 29.99% | Never clears; balance grows | 74y 0m, $98,529 | 17y 6m, $19,867 |
Read down the 3% column first; it is the closest match to the FCAC’s description of a typical minimum. At 19.99%, the standard rate on most bank cards, no balance on the map clears in under a decade, and $20,000 takes 29 years 6 months and $24,713 in interest. At 29.99%, the store-card rate, $5,000 takes 51 years. Someone who opened that account at 25 would clear it at 76.
The 2% column is the one that surprised me. It does not just take longer. At 24% and above it stops being a repayment schedule at all. The 22.99% figures (82 years on $1,000, 241 years on $5,000) are what the arithmetic produces, but nobody lives that long, so in practice they belong with the cells marked “never clears.” The 5% column is the only one that looks like a repayment schedule: every balance on it clears in under 18 years.
A 2% Minimum Cannot Beat a Rate of 24% or Higher
The mechanism is one division. Interest on a Canadian card accrues at the annual rate divided by 12. At 24.00%, that is 2.00% of the balance per month, which is the entire 2% minimum. The payment covers the interest and nothing else, and the balance sits exactly where it was. At 29.99%, monthly interest is 2.50% of the balance, so a 2% payment falls short by half a percent every month and the balance grows. At 22.99%, monthly interest is 1.92%, leaving 0.08% of the balance for principal: about $4 a month on $5,000, which is why the engine returns 241 years.
Even at 19.99%, a 2% minimum sends only 17% of the first payment to principal. On $5,000, the first $100 payment contains $83.29 of interest and $16.71 of debt reduction: roughly $200 a year off a card charging $1,000 a year.
The $10 floor applies only once 2% of the balance is under $10, meaning a balance under $500, and at 29.99% it exceeds the monthly interest only under about $400. A balance that grows every month never gets there. The floor decides how the last few hundred dollars end. It does nothing for the first few thousand.
At 19.99%, Only 17% of a 2% Minimum Reaches Principal
We split the first minimum at 19.99% into interest and principal for every balance on the map. Two balances show the pattern.
| Balance | Minimum | First payment | Interest in it | Principal in it | Share to principal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | 2% | $100.00 | $83.29 | $16.71 | 17% |
| $5,000 | 3% | $150.00 | $83.29 | $66.71 | 44% |
| $5,000 | 5% | $250.00 | $83.29 | $166.71 | 67% |
| $20,000 | 2% | $400.00 | $333.17 | $66.83 | 17% |
| $20,000 | 3% | $600.00 | $333.17 | $266.83 | 44% |
| $20,000 | 5% | $1,000.00 | $333.17 | $666.83 | 67% |
The share reaching principal does not depend on the balance. At 19.99%, 17% of a 2% minimum reaches principal, 44% of a 3% minimum and 67% of a 5% minimum, whether the card carries $1,000 or $20,000. Interest and minimum are both percentages of the same balance, so the balance cancels out. The minimum rule fixes what fraction of each payment is doing any work, which is why the three columns behave like three different products.
Quebec’s 5% Floor Saves 4.9 to 16.1 Years at 19.99%
Quebec is the only province with a legislated minimum. Under Bill 134 it started at 2% in August 2019 and rose half a point a year until it reached 5% for all cards on August 1, 2025 (cards opened after August 1, 2019 started at 5%). That makes Quebec Canada’s only natural experiment in minimum payments, and as far as we can find nobody has measured it balance by balance. Here it is at 19.99%, against the 3% minimum most cardholders elsewhere face.
| Balance | 3% minimum | 5% minimum | Years saved | Interest saved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | 10y 11m, $990 | 6y 0m, $445 | 4.9 | $545 |
| $2,500 | 16y 8m, $2,862 | 8y 4m, $1,194 | 8.3 | $1,668 |
| $5,000 | 20y 11m, $5,984 | 10y 0m, $2,443 | 10.9 | $3,541 |
| $10,000 | 25y 3m, $12,227 | 11y 8m, $4,942 | 13.6 | $7,285 |
| $20,000 | 29y 6m, $24,713 | 13y 5m, $9,938 | 16.1 | $14,775 |
The saving scales with the balance. Quebec’s 5% floor saves 4.9 years on $1,000, 10.9 years on $5,000 and 16.1 years on $20,000. In dollars, the gap between a Quebec cardholder and an Ontario cardholder with the same $20,000 at the same rate is $14,775, more than half the original debt. The Quebec cardholder pays a higher minimum, and that is the whole point: the extra goes to principal instead of to the bank.
Run your own balance through the same engine
Every figure on this page comes from the model behind the free NotchUp payoff calculator. Enter your balance, rate and what you can pay to get your own row of the map.
The Cheapest Fix Is a Frozen Number
The minimum shrinks as the balance shrinks, so the payment gets easier exactly as it should be getting more effective. We tested the simplest countermeasure: take the first 3% minimum and keep paying that dollar amount every month.
| Balance | First minimum | Shrinking minimum | Frozen at first minimum | Months saved | Interest saved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $30 | 10y 11m, $990 | 4y 2m, $471 | 81 | $519 |
| $2,500 | $75 | 16y 8m, $2,862 | 4y 2m, $1,179 | 150 | $1,683 |
| $5,000 | $150 | 20y 11m, $5,984 | 4y 2m, $2,357 | 201 | $3,627 |
| $10,000 | $300 | 25y 3m, $12,227 | 4y 2m, $4,714 | 253 | $7,513 |
| $20,000 | $600 | 29y 6m, $24,713 | 4y 2m, $9,428 | 304 | $15,285 |
Every balance clears in 4 years 2 months. I checked this three times. It holds because a payment that is a fixed fraction of the starting balance produces the same schedule at any scale. $1,000 with $30 a month and $20,000 with $600 a month are the same loan in different units. Interest is 47% of the balance at every size, against 120% on $5,000 at the shrinking minimum. On $5,000 the difference is $3,627 and 201 months, and the first payment is identical in both cases. The saving comes entirely from refusing to let the number go down.
Rate Beats Balance for the Minimum Payer
Because the minimum scales with the balance, doubling the balance does not double the timeline. At 19.99% and 3%, $1,000 takes 10 years 11 months and $20,000 takes 29 years 6 months: twenty times the debt, under three times the wait. Rate is different. Hold $5,000 at a 3% minimum and move it across the four rates: 15 years 2 months and $2,717 at 12.99%, 20 years 11 months and $5,984 at 19.99%, 25 years 3 months and $8,449 at 22.99%, and 51 years and $23,679 at 29.99%. From a low-rate card to a store card, the interest multiplies by 8.7. The table shows total interest on $5,000 as a multiple of the original balance for every rate and minimum on the map.
| Rate | 2% minimum | 3% minimum | 5% minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.99% | 1.11x the balance | 0.54x | 0.27x |
| 19.99% | 4.60x | 1.20x | 0.49x |
| 22.99% | 20.72x | 1.69x | 0.61x |
| 29.99% | Never clears | 4.74x | 0.98x |
Read across the 19.99% row: a minimum payer hands the bank 4.6 times the original balance at 2%, 1.2 times at 3% and about half of it at 5%, and at 29.99% even the 3% minimum costs 4.7 times the balance. For someone paying the minimum, the single most valuable phone call is the one that lowers the rate. Moving $5,000 from 19.99% to 12.99% at a 3% minimum saves $3,267 in interest and nearly six years without changing a single payment habit.
What a Minimum Payer Should Take From the Map
Three things follow. First, if your card sets a 2% minimum and your rate is 22.99% or above, the minimum is not a repayment plan; any fixed payment above it is the difference between clearing the card and never clearing it. Second, the cheapest habit on this map is freezing the minimum, which costs nothing in month one and cuts the $5,000 timeline at 19.99% by 80%; The Minimum Payment Trap shows how the shrinking works on a real statement. Third, with more than one card, rank by rate, not balance: that is the avalanche order in Avalanche vs Snowball. For your own timeline in plain language, see How Long Will It Take to Pay Off My Credit Card?, and for how much revolving balance Canadians carry in aggregate, Credit Card Debt in Canada: The Numbers.
Methodology
All figures were computed on September 15, 2026 with NotchUp’s payoff engine, which reproduces the live NotchUp Credit Card Payoff Calculator exactly. Interest compounds monthly at the annual rate divided by 12. The minimum each month is the greater of $10 or the stated percentage of the balance before that month’s interest. Payments continue until the balance is zero. The engine stops at 250 years; at 24% or above with a 2% minimum the balance never falls, and those cells are reported as never clearing.
Balances of $1,000, $2,500, $5,000, $10,000 and $20,000 span a first card to a serious revolving debt. Rates of 12.99%, 19.99%, 22.99% and 29.99% correspond to typical Canadian low-rate, standard, rewards and store cards. Minimums of 2% and 3% reflect the two issuer rules found outside Quebec; 5% is Quebec’s legal floor. The model assumes no new purchases, no fees, no rate changes and no promotional periods. Timelines are rounded to the month, dollars to the nearest dollar. Issuer formulas vary: some use accrued interest plus 1% of principal rather than a flat percentage. The 3% column is the closest match to the FCAC’s description of a typical minimum as 3% or $10.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to pay off a credit card paying only the minimum in Canada?
At 19.99%, $5,000 takes 20 years 11 months at a 3% minimum, 66 years 5 months at a 2% minimum and 10 years at Quebec’s 5% floor. Your statement’s “time to repay” disclosure gives the figure for your exact balance and rate.
Is the minimum payment 2% or 3% in Canada?
Outside Quebec there is no legislated minimum; issuers typically set 2% to 3% of the balance or $10, whichever is greater, and the FCAC describes 3% or $10 as typical. Your cardholder agreement states the formula.
Why does Quebec have a 5% minimum payment?
Quebec’s Bill 134 set a legal minimum to reduce long-term revolving debt. It started at 2% in August 2019 and rose half a point a year until it reached 5% for every card on August 1, 2025. On $5,000 at 19.99%, the 5% floor clears the card in 10 years and $2,443 instead of 20 years 11 months and $5,984 at a 3% minimum.
What happens if the minimum payment is less than the interest?
The balance grows even though you pay on time. This happens with a 2% minimum at any rate above 24%, because monthly interest at 24% is 2% of the balance. At 29.99%, interest is 2.5% a month against a 2% payment, so the account runs backwards. The only way out is a payment larger than the interest.
Does paying a fixed amount instead of the minimum really help?
Yes. Freezing the first 3% minimum as a fixed payment clears any balance at 19.99% in 4 years 2 months. On $5,000 that is $150 a month, $2,357 in interest and 201 months saved compared with the shrinking minimum, and the first payment is the same either way.
How to Cite
NotchUp Research, The Minimum Payment Map (September 2026), https://notchup.app/learn/minimum-payment-map/. Figures may be reproduced with attribution.
