How long it takes depends almost entirely on one line in your card agreement: how your bank calculates the minimum. We ran the same $5,000 balance through the three formulas Canadians actually see, then compared them with fixed monthly payments.

The short answer

If you only pay the minimum, you stay in good standing and avoid late-payment penalties, but most of each payment goes to interest and the balance falls very slowly. Interest is charged on the whole balance at your card’s full rate, and you lose the interest-free grace period on new purchases until the balance is paid in full.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) says minimum payments are usually set one of two ways: a flat amount, usually $10, plus interest and fees, or the higher of about $10 or a percentage of the balance, typically 3%. In Quebec, the minimum has been at least 5% of the balance since August 1, 2025.

How three minimum-payment formulas compare on $5,000

Same $5,000 balance, same 21.99% purchase rate, no new purchases. Only the way the minimum is calculated changes.

Hypothetical example. $5,000 starting balance, 21.99% annual rate charged monthly (1.8325% a month), no new purchases, fees or rate changes, payment made on time every month. Your issuer calculates interest daily, so real figures will differ slightly. Calculated by script; the method reproduces the FCAC’s own published example exactly.

Why “$10 plus interest” takes so long

Under this formula, the interest is added to your minimum and then the $10 is the only part that reduces what you owe. On a $5,000 balance at 21.99%, the first minimum is about $101.63: about $91.63 of interest and $10 of principal. The next month you owe $4,990, and so on. At $10 of principal a month, $5,000 takes 500 months to repay.

This is not a made-up worst case. RBC’s own disclosure for the RBC Cash Back Mastercard, dated October 2026, sets the minimum payment at “$10 plus interest and fees” with a 21.99% purchase rate, and the FCAC lists this as one of the two common ways Canadian issuers set the minimum.

Why a percentage minimum also drags

On a “greater of $10 or 3%” card, the payment starts at $150 on $5,000. That sounds better, and it is. But as the balance shrinks, so does 3% of it. By the time you owe $1,000, your minimum is only $30, and $18.33 of that is interest. The tail of the loan stretches over two decades.

A fixed payment avoids that trap. Paying $150 every month, the same amount as the first 3% minimum, clears the balance in 4 years and 4 months instead of 23 years and 7 months, and saves about $4,715 in interest.

What the minimum actually costs, side by side

Two things stand out. Keeping the payment at its starting level matters more than the starting level itself: a steady $250 beats Quebec’s 5% minimum, which also starts at $250, by more than eight years. And the cheapest way out is the fastest one, because every month the balance survives, it charges interest again.

Other things that happen when you pay only the minimum

• You lose the grace period. Federally regulated card issuers must give at least 21 days interest-free on new purchases after the statement date, but only when you pay the full balance by the due date. Pay only the minimum and the purchases on that statement are charged interest too. RBC’s terms also extend the payment due date to 25 days when the last balance was not paid in full.
• Your payment usually goes to the cheapest debt first. The FCAC says the minimum is usually applied to the part of your balance with the lowest interest rate. Money above the minimum goes either to the highest-rate portion or is split across the balance. If you have a 0% balance transfer and a 21.99% purchase balance, the minimum typically chips at the 0% part.
• Your credit utilization stays high. A balance that barely moves keeps your card close to its limit, which can weigh on your credit score even if you never pay late.
• Your statement already tells you how long it will take. Federally regulated card issuers must show on each statement how long it would take to pay off the balance by making only the minimum payment. The FCAC notes issuers may round the balance up for this estimate.

What happens if you pay less than the minimum, or late

Paying the minimum is the line between “expensive” and “penalized.” If you pay less, or pay late, the FCAC warns that your interest rate can go up, your credit score can suffer, you can lose promotional rates and your card can be cancelled.

Card agreements spell out the penalty rate. On the RBC Cash Back Mastercard, if the minimum is not paid by the due date and is still unpaid by the next statement date, two or more times in 12 months, the purchase rate rises from 21.99% to 26.99%. RBC’s agreement also says a single missed minimum, left unpaid until the next statement, ends any promotional rate you were on.

How to check your own card in five minutes

1. Find your statement’s payoff estimate. Look for the line showing how long it would take to repay with minimum payments only.
2. Find your minimum-payment formula. It is in the information box of your cardholder agreement, usually under “Minimum payment.”
3. Note your purchase rate and penalty rate from the same box.
4. Try a fixed payment in the FCAC’s free credit card payment calculator to see how much faster a set amount clears your balance.
5. Set up an automatic payment for that fixed amount, so the minimum is never the default.

Frequently asked questions

• Sources, checked October 16, 2026: FCAC: Paying off your credit card (modified 2025-10-15); FCAC credit card payment calculator; FCAC: federal credit card regulations (grace period, payment allocation, statement disclosure); Office de la protection du consommateur: minimum payment; RBC Cash Back Mastercard disclosure (10/2026); RBC credit card agreement (11/2025).
• Method: Month-by-month simulation in Python. Each month, interest at 21.99%/12 is added, then the payment is subtracted. “$10 plus interest” = $10 + that month’s interest. “Greater of $10 or 3%” and “5%” are applied to the balance before interest. No new purchases, fees or rate changes. As a check, the same method gives 47 months and $793 of interest on the FCAC’s own $2,000, 18%, $60-a-month example, matching the FCAC’s published figures. The $10-plus-interest result was cross-checked with a closed-form sum.

Important: This guide is general information, not financial advice. The figures are hypothetical examples, not a prediction of your costs. Your card’s formula, rate and interest calculation may differ. If you are struggling to make payments, contact your card issuer early or speak with a non-profit credit counselling agency. Gizly is not paid by any card issuer mentioned here. See our affiliate disclosure.