Control Credit Card Debt With A Credit Card Debt Calculator

A credit card debt calculator may be the answer to your credit card problems. Many consumers today feel overwhelmed by their credit card debt. Their credit card balances are high, and their minimum monthly payments don't seem to make a dent in the amount of debt they owe.

The Problem With Credit Card Balance Transfers

Some consumers transfer their credit card debt to new credit cards that offer lower interest rates, thinking that will solve their credit card problems, only to find that making a payment one day late can raise their interest rate even higher than it was with their old credit card company. By using a credit card debt calculator, consumers can take a more informed approach to managing their credit card debt.

What A Credit Card Debt Calculator Does

A credit card debt calculator can tell you a lot about your credit card debt. Before you add a purchase to your credit card, you can use a credit card debt calculator to determine how long it will take to pay off the purchase if you make the minimum monthly payment.

For instance, if you are thinking about buying a flat screen TV with your credit card, a credit card debt calculator may show that it will take you 20 years to pay off the TV at the minimum monthly payment. How many of us are using the same TV now that we had 20 years ago? The credit card debt calculator will help you see that you should not use a credit card to buy a flat screen TV unless you increase your monthly payments.

With this information, you can use a credit card debt calculator to estimate the useful life of your purchases and adjust you monthly payments so that they align with the product's useful life. Using the flat screen TV example, a credit card debt calculator will tell you how much you need to pay each month on your credit card so you can pay it off before it breaks down or needs to be replaced.

A credit card debt calculator can also tell you what percentage of you monthly credit card payment goes to principal and what percentage goes to paying off the interest. You may be surprised to find that virtually your entire monthly payment is going to pay off your interest, and very little money is being applied to principal.

Put simply, a credit card debt calculator takes the fine print from your credit card statement and presents it in a form you can easily understand.