Credit card disclosure rules
The new credit card disclosure rules went into effect this month with a few interesting changes to our statements. It’s a little shocking when you see the cost of carrying a balance spelled out in plain text:
It will take me 17 years to pay off my balance if I make only the minimum payment. 17 years!
Increasing the payment by a modest $20/month (by, say, skipping a fancy coffee one a week) would bring that payoff period down to 3 years and save me almost $1400 in interest charges.
Behold, the power of compound interest.
(Don’t worry, I pay off my full balance every month. They probably hate me as a customer.)
Filed under economics : Comments (2) : Feb 28th, 2010 by tadfad
February 28th, 2010 at 15:28
Amazingly simple change, and something people could have figured out on their own – but hopefully this will drive the message home to the people who get into credit card trouble.
March 1st, 2010 at 00:42
Wait, this will be on everybody’s credit card bill? I’m actually kind of excited to see mine now…