Showerthought: Paying the minimum on my credit card for 5 years was a dumb move

Honestly, I used to think as long as I paid something every month I was doing fine. I had this card with a $2,000 limit that I maxed out back in 2020 and I just threw $50 at it each month. Then last week I looked at the statement and saw I had paid almost $1,200 in interest over that time and still owed $1,800. That moment when I did the math on the APR hit me hard. Has anyone else been stuck in that minimum payment loop and finally broke out?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason_jackson5d ago

The trap is that minimum payments feel like progress when they're really just feeding the interest monster. I had a store card with 28% APR and paid the minimum for over a year before I realized I owed more than what I originally charged. What finally worked for me was transferring the balance to a 0% intro APR card and setting autopay for double the minimum. That single change saved me hundreds in interest charges alone.

oscarcooper5d ago

Man the minimum payment trap is real and it creeps up on you. Tbh what finally got me out was getting a 0% balance transfer card and setting up autopay for way more than the minimum each month.