How long to pay off £10,000 at £500/month?
At a typical UK credit card APR of 20%.
Short answer
About 25 months (2.1 years), with roughly £2,500 of interest paid in total.
Faster options
- £750/month: ~14 months (simple estimate).
- £1000/month: ~10 months.
- 0% balance transfer: if you can shift to a 21-month 0% card with a 3% fee (£300), your current payment clears the balance in roughly 20 months with only the transfer fee as cost.
Calculator + guide
How the interest builds
At 20% APR, monthly interest on the current balance is roughly £167. Your first payment of £500 therefore goes roughly £167 to interest and £333 to principal. As the balance shrinks, more of each payment chips away at principal — the last few months of any payoff plan are the most efficient, which is why finishing strong matters.
If the rate is different
- At 25% APR (store cards): interest is roughly 25% higher per month, adding ~5 more months to the payoff.
- At 15% APR (preferential cards): roughly 25% less interest cost — total savings of ~£625 over the full payoff.
- At 0% APR (balance transfer): the full £500/month goes to principal — balance clears in 20 months flat.
The minimum-payment trap
Most UK card issuers set the minimum at the larger of £5 or roughly 1% of balance + interest. On £10,000 at 20% APR, the minimum payment starts around £267 — and that minimum drops as the balance falls, dragging the payoff out for over 25 years with thousands of pounds in interest. Paying a fixed amount (like the £500 in this scenario) is the single biggest swing factor.
Impact on credit utilisation
Credit utilisation — the share of your credit limit you're using — is a major scoring factor. A £10,000 balance on a £20,000 limit is 50% utilisation; getting under 30% (£6,000 on this card) typically lifts your score within one or two reporting cycles. Paying down the balance faster therefore has a knock-on benefit beyond interest saved.