To source the data for this piece, TotallyMoney.com commissioned Bilendi to survey 1000 credit card holders in the UK between 11/5/15 and 15/5/15. All research conducted adheres to the MRS Codes of Conduct (2010) in the UK and ICC/ESOMAR World Research Guidelines. Bilendi is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office and is fully compliant with the Data Protection Act (1998).

Just 1% of UK adults were able to correctly answer this question. Can you?

If you have £2,000 on your credit card and you only make the minimum payment each month*, how long (to the nearest year) will it take you to pay off your debt?

* APR of 18%, minimum payment is 2% of the outstanding balance or £5, whichever is the greater.

It would actually take 34 years, 3 months.

If you were 21 when you got into debt, you’d be 55 before you’d paid it off and you’d have repaid a total of £5,983.00.

See how you fared against the great British public

People vastly underestimate the length of time it takes to clear credit card debt: 65% thought they’d be debt free within 17 years, but that’s less than half the time it would actually take to pay back the debt.

How to avoid the minimum payment trap

If you made a fixed payment of £45 each month you’d be debt free in 5 years, 10 months.

That’s 28 years, 5 months faster than if you made the minimum payment, and you’d save £2,849.54 on interest.

Move the slider above to see how a fixed monthly repayment stacks up versus the minimum payment.

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