Question about a credit card mistake I heard at the coffee shop

David Foster · 2026-03-11T13:50:05.008033+00:00

I was in line at Brewed Awakening yesterday and the guy ahead of me was on the phone, loudly saying he'd just realized he'd been paying only the minimum on his card for two years. He said the balance was still $4,200. It made me check my own statements and I think I'm doing the same thing. How do you actually start paying down a balance like that without feeling broke?

aarona967mo ago

That's a rough spot to be in, but Matthew's got a point about the interest. The real trap is thinking the minimum payment is actually covering anything besides interest. You need to look at your last statement and find the "total balance" line, not the minimum due. What's the actual interest rate on that card?

7

matthew_reed507mo ago

Broke" is the interest, not the extra payment.

3

janaw116mo ago

But is it really that big of a deal if you're still paying something?

2