Overdraft, credit card or consumer loan

With €2,000 of debt on a credit card at an interest rate of 21.52% and a minimum payment of 3% (not less than €15), repayment takes 13 years and 5 months, and the interest comes to €2,402. A bank consumer loan for the same amount at the average APR of 15.17% costs €309 in interest over 2 years or €468 over 3 years.

With an overdraft the calculation is different: its average interest rate of 13.52% is below this APR and below the loan rate of 14.81%. With the same payment it is cheaper to pay it off yourself, and a loan helps if your offer has a lower APR. The rates are BNB data for September 2026.

What the card and the overdraft cost at average rates

Interest rate of 21.52% on the card and 13.52% on the overdraft, a loan at an APR of 15.17%: the BNB averages. The minimum payment is a percentage of the debt including accrued interest, but not less than €15; the €15 floor is our assumption for the example. No fees and no new purchases.

The loan payment is higher than the card’s minimum payment: on €2,000 the first minimum payment is €61.08, while the payment on a 2-year loan is €96.22. This is why the loan ends in 2 years and the card in 13. The card’s interest rate is also higher than the loan’s APR: if you pay the card the same €96.22 a month, it is paid off in 27 months with €525 of interest, still more than the €309 on the loan.

With an overdraft it is the opposite. If you repay €3,000 at €150 a month, the debt ends in 23 months with €419 of interest, while a 2-year loan costs €464. In the rows with a payment of €100 and €200, the 2-year loan comes out with less interest only because it is repaid faster. If you pay off the €3,000 overdraft with the same €144.33 a month as on the loan, it ends in 24 months with €437 of interest.

Interest rates on overdrafts, cards and loans in September 2026

According to BNB data for September 2026, the average interest rate on household overdrafts is 13.52%, and on credit cards outside the interest-free grace period 21.52%. The overall average for new consumer loans, 8.83% interest and 9.11% APR, is not for a loan over 2 or 3 years. It is weighted by loans of over 5 years (more on this in average consumer loan interest rates).

For a term of over 1 and up to 5 years the average interest rate is 14.81% and the average APR 15.17%. We use the APR to calculate the loan on this page. The overall figures are from the BNB press release on interest rate statistics of 27 October 2026, and those by term are from the BNB tables on household loans.

The APR contains the loan’s interest and fees, so we compare it with the interest rate on the card and the overdraft. If the card or overdraft has fees, they are not in the calculation and the real cost is even higher. The calculations are for debt that carries over from month to month: if your card has an interest-free grace period and you repay everything within it, you pay no interest for that period.

Why the minimum payment keeps the debt going for years

The minimum payment is a percentage of the debt, so it falls along with it. At the start most of it goes on interest. At €2,000 and 21.52% the interest for the first month is €35.87, and a 3% payment is €61.08: 59% of it pays the interest.

What the minimum payment is, and the sum below which it does not fall, is stated in your contract and your bank’s tariff. When you pay more than the minimum, the debt ends much sooner. At 5% instead of 3%, a €2,000 card is paid off in 6 years and 10 months, and the interest falls from €2,402 to €1,000.

When a bank loan comes out cheaper

When the loan’s APR is lower than the interest rate on the debt. For a credit card outside the grace period this holds even at the average figures: 21.52% on the card against an average APR of 15.17% on a new consumer loan. For an overdraft it is the other way round: its average rate of 13.52% is below that APR and below the loan’s interest rate of 14.81%, so a loan on average terms does not make it cheaper. There a loan makes sense if the bank offers you an APR below the rate on your overdraft.

A loan also helps when the minimum payment keeps the debt going for years. It has an equal payment and a clear end date: you take it, repay the card or overdraft with it and then pay only the instalment. Lower the card limit or close it so the debt does not come back. If you can pay the debt with as much as the loan payment would be, and its interest rate is lower than the APR of the loan, it is cheaper to repay it yourself.

Under a consumer loan contract, including a credit card, you have the right to repay the debt in full or in part at any time (Art. 32(1) of the Consumer Credit Act). Work out the payment on the new loan in the loan calculator and the price including fees in the APR calculator.

What the law says about overdrafts

The Consumer Credit Act applies to an overdraft that must be repaid within more than three months (Art. 3(2)). If the overdraft is repayable on demand or within three months, only some of the rules of the Act apply (Art. 4(2)).

Where the Act applies, the lender has no right to compensation or a penalty on early repayment of an overdraft (Art. 32(3)(3)). You repay it when you have the money.

How we calculated

Each month interest is added to the debt: the balance multiplied by the annual rate divided by 12. Then the payment is subtracted. With a minimum payment, it is the percentage of the debt with the accrued interest, but not less than the lower limit you entered. We count the months until the debt reaches zero and add up the interest.

The loan is repaid in equal monthly instalments: instalment = amount × i / (1 − (1 + i)⁻ⁿ), where i is the APR from the “Loan APR” field divided by 12, and n is 24 or 36 months. The default APR is 15.17%. The interest on the loan is the sum of the instalments minus the amount.

The calculation does not include fees, changes in the interest rate or new purchases on the card. Banks charge interest by their own rules, so the amounts on your statement may differ slightly.

Sources: BNB, “Interest Rate Statistics, September 2026”, press release of 27 October 2026; BNB, interest rate statistics on household loans, new business by maturity, September 2026; Consumer Credit Act, Art. 3(2), Art. 4(2) and Art. 32. More: consumer loan · interest rates on consumer loans · average salary and what loan it allows.