Credit card minimum payment and limit (SBP rules)
Updated
What happens if I pay only the credit card minimum in Pakistan?
SBP sets no fixed minimum-payment percentage: the minimum payment due must at least avoid negative amortization, and each bank states its own percentage in the Key Fact Statement. Paying only 5% of a PKR 200,000 balance (at least PKR 500 a month) at an example 36% a year — both our examples — takes 14 years 1 month and costs PKR 270,590 in mark-up.
Official rule: SBP sets no fixed minimum-payment percentage for credit cards: the minimum payment due must at least avoid negative amortization, and each bank states its own percentage in the Key Fact Statement. (source, checked 2026-10-21)
- First minimum payment
- PKR 10,300
- With your fixed payment
- —
SBP's limits come from its Prudential Regulations for Consumer Financing (as amended by BPRD Circular Letters 26 of 2020, 29 of 2021 and 19 of 2022), the Prudential Regulations for Housing Finance 2026 and the Business Conduct and Fair Treatment of Consumers framework (BC&FRF, 2025). Your bank's Key Fact Statement and its own credit review are what count.
Not a valid document. Estimate for information only — not financial advice, not an offer of credit and not a bank document. Errors are possible. Only your bank's or finance company's official offer letter, contract and statements are binding.
SBP's credit card rules
- Minimum payment: SBP sets no fixed minimum-payment percentage for credit cards: the minimum payment due must at least avoid negative amortization, and each bank states its own percentage in the Key Fact Statement.
- The warning on your statement: SBP's required warning: if you make only the minimum payment, mark-up/profit is charged on the remaining balance, so it costs more and takes longer to clear.
- Statement: The card statement must reach you at least 15 working days before the due date.
- Card limit: Unsecured (clean) borrowing on credit cards and personal loans together, from all banks combined, is capped at Rs 3 million per person. Credit cards and personal loans, clean plus secured, from all banks combined: at most Rs 7 million per person. For a prime customer the clean limit on credit cards and personal loans together may go up to Rs 7 million, of which personal loans at most Rs 4 million.
- Mark-up: SBP sets no ceiling on the mark-up/profit rate of consumer financing. A fixed rate may not be raised during the tenor; a floating rate is a benchmark (KIBOR or another rate) plus a margin that may not be raised.
Where to complain
- Your bank first, in writing. It must acknowledge the complaint and resolve it within SBP's time limits (card disputes within 45 working days at most).
- SBP's complaint portal Sunwai — sunwai.sbp.org.pk — also for Roshan Digital Accounts. Your Key Fact Statement carries the link.
- Banking Mohtasib Pakistan (the banking ombudsman) if the bank has not resolved your written complaint within 30 days — how to file.
Questions people ask
What is the credit card limit in Pakistan?
SBP caps unsecured credit cards plus personal loans from all banks together at PKR 3,000,000 per person (PKR 7,000,000 including secured limits); cards secured by liquid securities are exempt. Each bank sets your own limit within that.
What is the minimum payment on a credit card in Pakistan?
SBP sets no single percentage. The minimum must be enough to avoid negative amortization, and your bank states its percentage in the card's Key Fact Statement.
When must the statement arrive?
In Pakistan, at least 15 working days before the due date.