Question

Kevin owes $4,645 on a credit card with a 19.7% interest rate compounded monthly. What is the monthly payment he should make in order to pay off this debt in 12 months, assuming he does not charge any more purchases with the card?

$387.08

$84.34

$429.62

$1,034.65


**Please help with steps too, please.

Answer 1

The "steps" are to enter the data into the appropriate places in a financial calculator. (PV=4645, i=19.7/12, n=12) Then PMT = -429.62.

Alternatively, and somewhat more slowly, you can make use of the amortization formula.
A = P(r/n)/(1 -(1 +r/n)^(-nt))
where A is the monthly payment,
P is the current balance (4645),
r is the annual rate (.197),
n is the number of compoundings per year (12), and
t is the number of years (1).

Filling in the numbers, you have
A = 4645*(.197/12)/(1 -(1 +.197/12)^-12)
A ≈ 429.62 . . . . . corresponds to the 3rd choice