Your credit card issuer can choose whether to allocate your payments in one of two ways: Apply the minimum payment amount to the lowest interest rate portion first (usually new purchases made during the current month), and then allocate any additional payment in the same proportion as the contents of your balance (e.g. 10% to cash advances, $25% to new purchases, 65% to balance transfers) Apply the minimum payment amount to the lowest interest rate portion first, and then allocate any additional payment amount to the remaining debt, starting with the portion accruing interest at the highest rate and working down to the lowest interest rate portion. Read your card's small print carefully to find out how balances are allocated.