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What is a minimum payment?
Making the most of your monthly credit card payments
A quick summary
- A minimum payment is the lowest amount you’re allowed to pay towards your credit card debt in any given month.
- This is calculated based on your latest statement balance.
- If you can, always try to pay more than the minimum amount. Paying more than the minimum each month reduces the interest you’ll pay.
- If you’re a new Lloyds Bank customer, your minimum payment is either 2.5% of your balance plus any interest and fees or £5 – whichever is higher.
- Worried about upcoming payments? There is information about money worries on our website that we hope you find useful.
When you have a credit card, you’re expected to pay off at least some of your statement balance every month.
The lowest amount you’re allowed to pay is called your minimum payment.
- This can change from month to month as your statement balance changes.
- Always pay at least this minimum by your due date, or you could end up paying fees, losing any promotional offers and affecting your credit score.
- To clear your statement balance sooner and prevent interest from building up, it’s always better to pay more than the minimum if you can.
As a credit card holder, every month you have three options
We don’t recommend making only your minimum payment every month. In fact, we’ll often contact customers who regularly do this to offer some advice and help if needed.
Why you should pay more than the minimum
Here’s a simplified example to show you how minimum payments cost more. You have a £3,000 balance on a credit card with an effective interest rate of 24%. Read our guide to interest rates for more detail on how they work.
Worried about an upcoming payment?
If you’re having a hard time managing your money, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’ll talk everything through with you, look at your products and services and even help you consider your best options.
Let’s look at the details
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The most common and safest way to pay every month is with a regular Direct Debit.
This way, you won’t run the risk of forgetting to make a payment, being charged any late fees or losing a promotional rate. If a Direct Debit isn’t taken for 37 months, it will become inactive, and your bank or building society will remove the details from their systems. If this happens, you’ll need to set up a new one.
In months when you can afford to pay more than your minimum amount, you can also make additional payments online, on the Mobile Banking app or by in-branch bank transfers, cheques or cash.
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All credit card providers calculate minimum payments differently. If you’re a Lloyds Bank customer, in general your minimum payment is either 2.5% of your balance plus any interest and fees or £5 – whichever is higher. Even if you have a 0% promotional offer, you need to make the minimum payment each month.
Below are two simple examples showing a customer’s minimum payments if they are currently on a promotional offer giving them 0% interest for a 12-month period.
Example 1
Let’s say you have a balance of £2,000.2.5% of this is £50, so your minimum payment is £50.
Example 2
On the other hand, say you only have a balance of £199.2.5% of this is £4.98, so your minimum payment this month is £5.
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