How to Calculate APR on a Credit Card | Chase (2024)

Understanding how your credit card's Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is calculated and applied to your outstanding balances is crucial to maintaining control over your overall credit card debt.

How does APR work on a credit card?

Your credit card's APR is the interest rate you are charged on any unpaid credit card balances you have every month.

Your monthly statement may break down your credit card APR yearly, but you can break it down to a monthly APR yourself. This information could help you make decisions about which credit cards you may want to focus on paying down quickly (if they are costing you too much in daily interest), and how much it is costing you each day to borrow from your credit card company. Monthly APR can also help you understand how much it is costing you to carry an unpaid balance each month.

Below, you will find steps and formulas for calculating both your daily and monthly percentage rates, which are based on your APR, and how they are applied to your balances.

When do you have to pay APR?

If you are carrying a credit card balance,you will be charged interest at a rate that is calculated and determined by your credit card issuer. The three main types of APR are:

  • Fixed rate
  • Variable rate
  • Promotional rate

With fixed rates, your APR is likely to stay the same throughout the time you have your card unless otherwise stated. Variable rates may increase or decrease depending on federal rates. Promotional rates include zero-interest or low-interest periods offered as introductory incentives by credit card companies.

You'll know which rates are associated with your credit card by checking your card member agreement and monthly credit card statements.

How do I calculate my monthly APR?

Calculating your monthly APR rate can be done in three steps:

  1. Find your current APR and balance in your credit card statement.
  2. Divide your current APR by 12 (for the twelve months of the year) to find your monthly periodic rate.
  3. Multiply that number with the amount of your current balance. For example, if you currently owe $500 on your credit card throughout the month and your current APR is 17.99%, you can calculate your monthly interest rate by dividing the 17.99% by 12, which is approximately 1.49%. Then multiply $500 x 0.0149 for an amount of $7.45 each month. Therefore, you should have been charged $7.45 in interest charges for that month based on your $500 balance.

How do I calculate my daily APR?

Your credit card company may calculate your interest with a daily periodic rate. Calculate your daily APR in three steps:

  1. Find your current APR and current balance in your credit card statement.
  2. Divide your APR rate by 365 (for the 365 days in the year) to find your daily periodic rate.
  3. Multiply your current balance by your daily periodic rate.

Here is an example:

If your current balance is $500 for the entire month and your APR rate is 17.99%, you can find your daily periodic rate by dividing your current APR by 365. In this case, your daily APR would be approximately 0.0492%. By multiplying $500 by 0.00049, you'll find your daily periodic rate is $0.25. In order to calculate the monthly interest charges to your balance you simply need to multiply this daily periodic rate by the number of days in your billing cycle.

For most credit cards the average billing cycle is about 30 days. With this in mind, it is prudent to keep on top of payments each month in order to minimize this effect of daily compounding interest.

The steps above will put you on the right path to not only learning how to calculate APR on a credit card, it will also assist you in learning how to use your credit card efficiently.

Why is APR important?

By calculating your daily and monthly APR, you can better understand how much of your money is going to interest. This may motivate you to pay off your debt or help you decide what purchases are worth putting on the credit card. By breaking down your interest rates on a daily and monthly basis, you can learn more about the interest you are accruing over time and use this information to make some of your financial decisions.

How to Calculate APR on a Credit Card | Chase (2024)

FAQs

How to Calculate APR on a Credit Card | Chase? ›

You can calculate the APR that's applied to your credit card balance within a billing cycle by multiplying your daily rate by the average daily balance and by the number of days per billing cycle. You'll just need to find those numbers first: Daily rate: You can determine the daily rate by dividing the APR by 365.

What is the formula for calculating APR on a credit card? ›

You can calculate the APR that's applied to your credit card balance within a billing cycle by multiplying your daily rate by the average daily balance and by the number of days per billing cycle. You'll just need to find those numbers first: Daily rate: You can determine the daily rate by dividing the APR by 365.

What is the easiest way to calculate APR? ›

APR, is the total cost of borrowing from a financial institution over one year. There are two types of APR—variable and fixed. The formula for calculating APR is APR = ((Interest + Fees / Loan amount) / Number of days in loan term)) x 365 x 100.

How does APR work for dummies? ›

APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate, and refers to the yearly interest rate you'll pay if you carry a balance on your credit card. Your APR can be fixed, meaning it doesn't change, or variable, meaning it can go up or down over time.

What is 24% APR on a credit card? ›

A 24% APR on a credit card means that if you carry a balance for a full year, the balance will increase by approximately 24% due to interest charges. For instance, if you maintain a $1,000 balance throughout the year, the interest accrued would amount to around $240, or 66 cents per day.

How do I calculate my interest rate? ›

The formula for calculating simple interest is: Interest = P * R * T. P = Principal amount (the beginning balance). R = Interest rate (usually per year, expressed as a decimal). T = Number of time periods (generally one-year time periods).

How is my credit card interest rate calculated? ›

Interest rate

Although the stated rate is an annual rate, credit cards typically charge interest on a daily basis. The daily rate is usually 1/365th of the annual rate. So if your APR is, say, 18.99%, the daily rate would be about 0.052%, which is 1/365th of 18.99%. Interest on credit cards typically compounds daily.

What is the formula for effective APR? ›

Effective annual interest rate = (1 + (nominal rate ÷ number of compounding periods))(number of compounding periods) – 1. Investment A = (1 + (10% ÷ 12 ))12 – 1. Investment B = (1 + (10.1% ÷ 2))2 – 1.

What is the formula for interest rate? ›

To calculate interest rates, use the formula: Interest = Principal × Rate × Tenure. This equation helps determine the interest rate on investments or loans.

What is a good APR for a credit card? ›

The APR you receive is based on your credit score – the higher your score, the lower your APR. A good APR is around 22%, which is the current average for credit cards. People with bad credit may only have options for higher APR credit cards around 30%. Some people with good credit may find cards with APR as low as 16%.

What is APR for beginners? ›

The best possible APR on a credit card is 0%, which you can get for an introductory period on many cards. In addition, if you pay your credit card in full every month, your APR doesn't even matter, since you won't get charged interest.

Does credit card APR matter if you pay on time? ›

Your APR doesn't matter if you pay off your balance each month, thanks to your grace period. The Credit CARD Act of 2009 requires lenders to deliver your bill to you at least 21 days in advance of when it's due. During this time, most lenders offer an interest-free grace period.

How do you avoid paying interest on a credit card? ›

In most cases, you can avoid accruing interest charges on your credit card by paying off your full account balance by the monthly due date. However, certain transactions will start accruing interest right away, and the charges don't stop accruing until you've paid off the full transaction amount.

What is the formula for calculating APR? ›

Here's how you'll calculate the APR in this situation: Add the total interest paid over the duration of the loan to any additional fees: $120 + $50 = $170. Divide by the amount of the loan: $170 / $2,000 = 0.085. Divide by the total number of days in the loan term: 0.085 / 180 = 0.00047222.

Why is my APR so high with good credit? ›

Even people with good credit scores make mistakes, and a bank may charge a penalty APR on your credit card without placing a negative mark on your credit report. Penalty APRs typically increase credit card interest rates significantly due to a late, returned or missed payment.

What is the formula for APR compounding? ›

APR = ( 1 + r k )k − 1. All that remains is to determine values for r and k, then evaluate the expression. takes into account certain bank fees known as points. Unfortunately, not all fees are included in it, and the true costs are higher if the loan is paid off early.

What is the minimum payment on a $3,000 credit card? ›

The minimum payment on a $3,000 credit card balance is at least $30, plus any fees, interest, and past-due amounts, if applicable. If you were late making a payment for the previous billing period, the credit card company may also add a late fee on top of your standard minimum payment.

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