Credit card minimum payment: what 12 months cost

Paying only the minimum keeps the card in order, but the debt falls slowly. On €2,000 at an APR of 14.49 %, €1,162.39 is still owed after twelve minimum payments, and it takes 54 to clear. If even the minimum is missed, a reminder and late interest follow.

What happens if I only repay the minimum?

Nothing alarming on paper: the contract stays in order and no letter is sent. The card, though, changes nature. It stops being a free payment delay and becomes a credit facility, with an APR and interest running every month on what is left.

The minimum is a contractual floor. Not a repayment plan. It guarantees you are not in default; it guarantees neither a reasonable duration nor a bearable cost.

In the files I used to handle, the cardholder who wrote to me after a year of minimums almost always used the same sentence: "But I paid every month." It was true. They had paid more than €1,000 and still owed more than half the starting capital.

All of this applies only to a card with a credit line. A pure deferred-debit card, settled in full every month, has no minimum at all: see the article on deferred debit.

How is the minimum payment on a credit card calculated?

As a fraction of the amount used, with a floor in euros. Up to a €5,000 credit line, the usual fraction is 1/18th each month, and 1/20th above (Wikifin, the Belgian financial-education site, page updated on 14 July 2026). At Beobank, the floor is €25, or the whole balance if it is lower, and the annual fee comes on top.

Wikifin's example fits on one line: €684 spent, a minimum of €38, €646 still owed.

KBC writes 5.6 % of the balance, which is 1/18th rounded (5.56 %). The issuer presents this minimum as required by law. I did not find the precise article that sets it in the consolidated text, so I cite the issuer and not the law.

Because the fraction applies to the remaining balance, the minimum falls along with the debt. On €2,000, it goes from €111.11 in the first month to €67.56 in the twelfth, €39.27 in the twenty-fourth, then €25 from month 34 to the last. The floor takes over as soon as the balance drops below €450.

How much is still owed after a year at the minimum?

More than half the capital, in each of these three cases. Rate surveyed at the issuer on 15 October 2026: Beobank's Visa Classic costs €5 a year, with an APR of 14.49 % on a credit facility of €2,150 (rate in force on 9 May 2025, Beobank public page). The calculation assumes a 1/18th minimum, a €25 floor and no new spending.

Author's calculations, 15 October 2026, APR converted to a monthly rate of 1.134 %. Annual fee not included.

Over twelve months, that is €1,052.44 paid against a €2,000 balance, and €1,162.39 still owed. The cardholder has apparently paid half the debt. In reality, they have repaid €837.61.

The rate matters less than you would think. With KBC's Flex Budget (APR of 9.35 %, minimum of 5.6 %, rate surveyed at the issuer on 28 September 2026 and minimum reconfirmed on the KBC page on 15 October 2026), the same €2,000 costs €138.51 in interest in the first year and €1,101.05 is still owed. That is €61 less than at Beobank, because the fraction sets the speed and the rate only sets the price.

Is the minimum enough to clear the card within the zero-balance deadline?

Not always. The zero-balance rule (zérotage) is the obligation to bring the credit line back to zero within a period set by the contract. The legal ceiling is 60 months for a line up to €5,000 and 96 months above (article 14 of the Royal Decree of 14 September 2016, Credit2Consumer commentary). Beobank announces periods of 22 to 94 months depending on the line and the rate (page of 9 December 2024, read on 15 October 2026).

My calculation gives 54 months for €2,000, so within the limit. For €3,000 it gives 63 months, three too many. The contract then in principle raises the payments, and the issuer must suspend the card as long as the line has not been brought back to zero.

If the balance is still not zero one month after the zero-balance date, Beobank must report the default to the Central Individual Credit Register (Centrale des Crédits aux Particuliers, run by the National Bank of Belgium), and the entry disappears one year after full repayment. How long an entry lasts and how to view your own file are detailed in the article on the Credit Register.

What happens if even the minimum is not paid?

First modest fees, then a procedure framed by law. The table lists the steps in the order the issuer takes them.

A worked example. At Beobank, the last actuarial borrowing rate is 13.98 %, plus 10 %: roughly 15.38 % a year. A missed minimum of €111.11 costs €1.42 in late interest in the first month, plus €7.50 for the reminder: about €9, postage excluded. A modest bill.

The sum changes order of magnitude when the delay sets in. On €2,000 owed, the capped indemnity for acceleration of the debt is €200. The conditions, the one-month deadline and your rights are detailed in the article on acceleration of the debt.

The issuer looks first at two things: the date of the first unpaid minimum and the written trace of a registered letter. In the files I used to handle, a formal notice that was badly dated or lacked the required mentions brought the procedure down.

Does a partial or a higher payment change anything?

In both directions, yes. Paying more than the minimum is always possible and cuts the interest: €200 a month clears €2,000 in 11 months for €135 of interest, against 54 months and €454 at the minimum. Paying less does not count: a payment below the minimum leaves the arrears open. In the files I used to handle, a €50 transfer against a €111.11 minimum stayed filed as unpaid, not as a down payment.

Beobank, Buy Way, KBC: three rules for three cards

Minimum and reminder rules differ from one issuer to the next, and it is in the contract that they can be read.

Buy Way's APR applies to a credit facility of €5,000 (guide of September 2025, Buy Way). For KBC, the Flex Budget page specifies that a top-up paid in the first five days of the month avoids the reminder.

What to do when even the minimum becomes too heavy?

Write before the incident. A spread-out plan can be negotiated as long as the contract is not in default, by dated letter or email, never by phone alone.

I do not give advice on a situation I do not know. Three doors exist, all free: an accredited debt mediation service, your commune's CPAS (the public social welfare centre), and Ombudsfin, the financial ombudsman, for a dispute over the statement, after a written complaint to the issuer left without a satisfactory answer. None of them goes through a new credit to repay the old one.

To redo the calculation on your own figures, see the interest simulator. The difference between APR and borrowing rate is explained in the article on APR and borrowing rate. The ranking of Belgian credit cards, the comparison tool and the selection guide set out the annual fee, APR and cost of a €100 withdrawal card by card.

Sources, read on 15 October 2026 unless stated otherwise. Fraction of the minimum and worked example: Wikifin, repayment of your credit card spending, updated 14 July 2026. Book VII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, articles VII.105 and VII.106: consolidated text in the Moniteur belge. Maximum zero-balance periods: Royal Decree of 14 September 2016, article 14, Credit2Consumer commentary. Central Individual Credit Register: National Bank of Belgium. Terms of the Beobank credit facility (minimum, reminder, late interest): public documents from Beobank, including the zero-balance page of 9 December 2024. Mastercard One guide, September 2025: Buy Way. Minimum and Flex Budget: KBC, APR surveyed on 28 September 2026. Mediation: Ombudsfin. All calculations on this page were made on 15 October 2026 by the author. Credit2Consumer commentaries summarise the law and do not replace the official text. No link in this article is paid.