Question

Apply What You’ve Learned - Managing Credit Cards and ConsumerLoans

Answer 1

Answer:

1) In general, is it a good idea to make only minimum payments on your credit cards?

• No, the small payment requirement is mathematically guaranteed to keep you in debt for many years.

All you have to do is analyze the interest rates charged by the credit card companies and it is really difficult for any investment to match those interest rates.

2) Assuming you have $1,500 in your budget this month with which to pay down your credit cards, how much should you pay on each card?

I would start with the cards that charge the highest interest rates. I would pay the full balance of the department store card and the gasoline card = $600 + $300 = $900

Since I have $600 left, I would then pay the minimum payments for the cards that charge the least interest rates. I would pay $40 to Discover card and $60 to VISA.

The remaining $500 would be used to pay MasterCard 1 card and lower its balance.