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Credit and Debt Math

If someone owed $2,550 on a credit card with a 21.9% annual interest rate.
Assuming the consumer makes fixed payments and does not charge any more purchases with the card, what is the total monthly payment needed to pay off the card in three years?
Explain in detail with the steps

1 Answer

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So, you've got a credit card debt of $2,550, right? That card has an annual interest rate of 21.9%. Your goal is to pay off this debt in three years (which is 36 months), and you ain't gonna buy anything else on that card. We're gonna use a cool financial formula called "amortization" to figure this out. Amortization is just a bougie word that means paying off debt with regular payments over time.

Here's the formula:

P = [r*PV] / [1 - (1 + r)^-n]

Where:

- P is your monthly payment

- r is your monthly interest rate (which is your annual rate divided by 12)

- PV is your present value (that's the amount you owe right now)

- n is the number of payments you're gonna make

First step, we gotta convert your annual interest rate to a monthly rate. You do this by dividing 21.9% by 12.

So, r = 21.9% / 12 = 0.01825 (which is 1.825% in decimal form)

Next, you just plug in all your values into the formula:

P = [0.01825*$2,550] / [1 - (1 + 0.01825)^-36]

Now, time to crunch those numbers:

P = $46.46 / [1 - 0.3927]

This simplifies to:

P = $46.46 / 0.6073

Doing the math on that gives:

P = $76.49

So, your monthly payment to totally clear that $2,550 debt in three years at 21.9% interest would be about $76.49.

Got it? This stuff's super important 'cause credit can be a game changer if you handle it right. Always remember to stay woke with your money moves. Best of luck!

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