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Sunday March 21, 2010 12:15 PM ET
SmartMoney
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Debt

How Much Interest Will You Pay?

DOES YOUR credit card balance keep inching upward? Then before you charge one more thing, you should assess the cost of that debt.

A balance of just $5,000 at 15% will cost you $421 in interest if you manage to pay it off within a year. But that requires monthly payments of $451. Reduce your monthly payment to $106, and it will take you six years to pay off that loan. And you'll be forking over $2,633 in interest payments. You've just increased your purchase price by 52%. Did you really need the new couch that badly?

Use our debt payment calculator to figure out the cost of your own debt. It can also help you plan a repayment schedule that will keep the lid on your total interest costs.

Debt Management Worksheet


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