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What if you picked your own minimum payment each month and paid that instead? Raising your minimum payment to 4% (or $120) means you would pay off your balance in just less than 10 years, and only pay an extra $1,301.54 in interest. Making the minimum payments each month gives consumers a false sense of financial security. After all, you are paying what your credit card is asking you to pay. And for many households, paying the minimum each month frees up a little space in the budget to meet other needs. But the cost of the loan is extremely high under these conditions, and made much worse if you continue to use your card to make purchases. That is one of the reasons a bill before Congress (Bill S.1176: The Credit Card Minimum Payment Warning Act of 2007) attempts to make credit-card companies disclose more details about the minimum payment. These details include:
- How long it will take to pay off the balance when making the minimum payments.
- How much additional interest consumers pay over this time when they make the minimum payment.
- How much consumers should pay each month in order to pay down their balance within three years.
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Keep on top of the market and the critical information you need to make more profitable investing decisions.
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