Understand what you're holding
It's on the statement. Cards routinely sit in the 20s; store cards in the high 20s or beyond.
Minimum payments are commonly interest plus ~1% of balance — a design that stretches a $3,000 balance across many years. The Credit Card Interest calculator shows your own math.
Pay the FULL statement balance by the due date and cards cost nothing. The grace period is the entire trick.
The payoff playbook
All extra money at one target card. Full comparison in Snowball vs. Avalanche.
On-time payers get rate reductions more often than people expect. Five minutes, no downside.
0% intro windows help only with a plan that finishes inside the window and the 3-5% fee counted.
Freeze the card in the app, delete it from browsers. A payoff with active spending is a treadmill.
Bronnen: Federal Reserve — G.19 Consumer Credit (card rates) · CFPB — Credit cards