Estimate your minimum payment due and how long paying only the minimum would take to clear the balance.
The minimum amount due is typically around five per cent of your outstanding balance, sometimes with interest and fees added on top. Paying it keeps your account current and protects your credit score from a missed-payment marker. That is the entire benefit. It is not a suggested payment, and treating it as one is among the most expensive habits in personal finance.
The mechanism is simple once you see it. Card interest compounds on the balance, and a five per cent payment barely dents the principal, so the balance shrinks very slowly while interest keeps accruing on nearly all of it. On a large balance at typical card rates, minimum-only payments can take many years to clear and the interest paid can approach or exceed the original amount spent. Worse, paying less than the full statement balance normally forfeits the interest-free grace period on new purchases too, so everything you buy afterwards starts accruing interest immediately. Even a modest amount above the minimum changes the arithmetic dramatically, because every extra rupee goes straight to principal.
The account stays current and your credit score is protected from a missed payment, but the balance falls very slowly. On a large balance at typical card rates it can take many years to clear, with total interest approaching or exceeding what you originally spent.
Not directly, since the payment is on time. But the high balance it leaves raises your credit utilisation, and utilisation is a significant scoring factor, so the indirect effect on your score can still be meaningful.
Because paying less than the full statement balance normally ends the grace period. Once a balance is carried, new purchases typically accrue interest from the transaction date rather than being interest-free until the next due date.
As much as you can sustain. Amounts above the minimum go almost entirely to principal, so the effect is disproportionate: even a modest increase can cut years off the payoff and a large share of the total interest.