Take your interest rate and divide by 12. Then add 1 to that number. Your minimum payment will equal that number in percentage terms.
Examples at 18% (18/12) = 1.5 add 1 and you get 2.5% an increase from the original 2 or 2.2% of your balance.
At 12% (12/12) = 1, add 1, you get 2%>
At 6%, (6/12)= .5, add 1 and you get 1.5% a significant drop from the current 2 to 2.2% of the balance.
If your rate is less than 6%, your minimum is still 1.5% of the balance.
That doesnt sound so bad there. All of my payments will not double, but its probably a good idea to do it anyway if possible.Thanks for the info and formula.
I work in the industry on the IT side as a contractor (ironic, considering my credit rating is in the toilet and I'm drowning in debt), and at least where I work, minimum payments now range from 2% to 3% of the outstanding balance per month. There is an indirect relationship between APR and minimum payment, in that it is illegal to have a minimum payment so low that your balance would go up (this is called "negative amortization" in credit-card-speak). So when your APR goes up, your minimum payment percentage must go up so that you're always making at least a tiny amount of headway on it. APRs and minimum payments can be adjusted independently, but certain APR adjustments will always trigger a minimum payment percentage increase to prevent negative amortization.
Your formula works out pretty close to how things go behind the scenes, from my limited knowledge.
}:-)4