Credit Card Minimums To Increase
If you have a credit card, your minimum payment may soon be doubling.
If you carry an MBNA, Citibank, or Bank of America card, you can count on seeing your minimum payment double by the end of the year, and other credit card companies plan to follow suit.
Why? Think of it this way. The average marriage lasts eight years.
The average time you live in one home is 10 years. However, the average time it takes to pay off $6,000 on your credit card if you're just making minimum payments is 40 years!
That's why the comptroller of currency recommended banks raise their minimum payments from 2 percent of the balance to 4 percent.
The bad news is that you'll have a higher payment, but the good news is you'll pay it off faster. Here's one reason credit card companies are taking this recommendation.
"Credit card companies need to give kind of like a Surgeon General's Warning, a disclaimer statement really telling consumers how long it will take them to pay it off if they pay just minimum payment," Sally Borie with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service said.
That warning of how many years it will take you to pay off your credit card balance should appear on your statement beginning in October.
So what do you do if you can't afford your minimum payment doubled? Curb your spending. Try buying gasoline with cash verse credit.
See a credit counselor. They can help you find ways to make a smaller payment each month and control your cards. The average person has four credit cards.
Cut three up or at least take them out of your wallet, and get this: the average credit card debt most Americans carry is $10,000.
If you have a credit card, your minimum payment may soon be doubling.
If you carry an MBNA, Citibank, or Bank of America card, you can count on seeing your minimum payment double by the end of the year, and other credit card companies plan to follow suit.
Why? Think of it this way. The average marriage lasts eight years.
The average time you live in one home is 10 years. However, the average time it takes to pay off $6,000 on your credit card if you're just making minimum payments is 40 years!
That's why the comptroller of currency recommended banks raise their minimum payments from 2 percent of the balance to 4 percent.
The bad news is that you'll have a higher payment, but the good news is you'll pay it off faster. Here's one reason credit card companies are taking this recommendation.
"Credit card companies need to give kind of like a Surgeon General's Warning, a disclaimer statement really telling consumers how long it will take them to pay it off if they pay just minimum payment," Sally Borie with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service said.
That warning of how many years it will take you to pay off your credit card balance should appear on your statement beginning in October.
So what do you do if you can't afford your minimum payment doubled? Curb your spending. Try buying gasoline with cash verse credit.
See a credit counselor. They can help you find ways to make a smaller payment each month and control your cards. The average person has four credit cards.
Cut three up or at least take them out of your wallet, and get this: the average credit card debt most Americans carry is $10,000.
