A Credit Card's Minimum Payment Looks Small. Here's What It Costs You Over Time
6 min read
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6 min read
Your credit card bill says Rp10,000,000. The minimum payment is Rp508,750. That feels easy. You pay it and move on.
Here is the catch. If you keep paying only the minimum, it takes about five years and eight months just to get the balance under Rp1,000,000. Over that time you hand the bank about Rp13.7 million. For a Rp10 million bill.
This post shows the maths in plain steps, so you can see the real credit card minimum payment cost before it happens to you. All figures here are illustrative, not tied to any one bank.
The minimum payment is the smallest amount the bank accepts each month so your account stays "current." It is not the amount that clears your debt.
Bank Indonesia (BI) sets the floor. Normally, the minimum is 10% of the total bill. Since the pandemic, BI has kept a relaxed rate of 5%. On 18 June 2026, BI extended that relaxation to 31 December 2026 (Kontan, CNN Indonesia).
The same relaxation caps the late fee at 1% of the bill, and no more than Rp100,000 (Bisnis.com).
Why does this matter? Because a lower minimum feels kinder, but it keeps you in debt longer. After 31 December 2026, the rule could go back to 10% if BI does not extend it again. Check your own card terms.
Bank Indonesia caps credit card interest at 1.75% a month. The cap came into force on 1 July 2021, cut from 2% (Kompas TV). Our paylater cost article cites CNBC Indonesia reaffirming it in August 2026.
Multiply by 12 and you get 21% a year. That is the most a card can charge. Your own card may charge less. Check your statement.
Two details make the real cost higher than it looks:
Here is the setup. We assume:
Month 1: interest is Rp175,000, so the bill is Rp10,175,000. You pay 5%, which is Rp508,750. You still owe Rp9,666,250.
Only Rp333,750 of your payment reduced the debt. The rest, Rp175,000, went to interest.
Because the minimum is a percentage of a shrinking balance, your payment shrinks too. That is why it drags on.
Here is what the same Rp10 million looks like at different points, paying only 5%:
| After | Balance left | Total paid so far | Interest paid so far |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months | Rp6,654,207 | Rp5,100,142 | Rp1,754,349 |
| 24 months | Rp4,427,846 | Rp8,493,882 | Rp2,921,728 |
| 36 months | Rp2,946,381 | Rp10,752,147 | Rp3,698,527 |
| 60 months | Rp1,304,612 | Rp13,254,767 | Rp4,559,379 |
| 68 months | Rp994,364 | Rp13,727,692 | Rp4,722,056 |
Read the first row. After a full year of payments, you have paid Rp5.1 million. You still owe Rp6.65 million.
At month 68, almost five years and eight months in, the balance is finally under Rp1 million. You have paid about Rp13.7 million, and Rp4.7 million of that is interest.
Run the same example with the normal 10% minimum:
That is less than half the time and less than half the interest. The relaxed 5% rule helps your monthly cash flow today. It costs you more in the long run.
Now try something different. Pay a fixed Rp1,000,000 every month on the same balance:
Compare that with the 5% path: Rp13.7 million paid and still not quite done after 68 months.
A fixed amount does not shrink as your balance falls. So it keeps pushing the debt down at the same speed. That is the whole trick.
If Rp1,000,000 is too much, Rp500,000 a month clears the same balance in 25 months for about Rp2.4 million in interest. Still far better than the minimum.
You do not need a spreadsheet. Do these three things:
Missing a payment has a second cost. Late payments can show up in SLIK OJK, the credit record banks check before approving a loan. Checking your SLIK OJK record is worth doing before you apply for a KPR.
Open your NetWort Dashboard and look at your portfolio's actual annual return. Then set it beside your card's interest rate. If your card costs more than your portfolio earns, every extra rupiah you pay toward the card saves you that full rate.