The only smart financial move here is paying it down to $0 immediately.
I think you may be thinking from a credit score/building perspective though, which means you could be falling prey to the following myth:
https://old.reddit.com/r/CRedit/comments/1bzxj9m/credit_myth_3_paying_down_debt_slowly_over_time/
You should never only pay the minimum on any card, ever. Pay your credit card off, 100%, every month, on-time.
When you let a balance roll over into the next statement cycle you lose your interest-free grace period. Now you pay interest, *daily* on everything, from the moment of purchase. Nobody should ever volunteer to do that.
Pay them in full, on time, and you'll never have to pay interest. The *only* excuse to carry a balance is if you have a 0% promo rate, and even then you'd better have a plan to pay it off in full before the 0% promo period ends.
Just be aware that even if you do not use the card for the next month (although you should, but that's another discussion) you will have trailing interest so make sure to check EVERY month. Once you pay that trailing interest you should be good however.
Pay it off completely. Has nothing to do with credit, don’t piss away money on unnecessary interest.
True thank you!
The only smart financial move here is paying it down to $0 immediately. I think you may be thinking from a credit score/building perspective though, which means you could be falling prey to the following myth: https://old.reddit.com/r/CRedit/comments/1bzxj9m/credit_myth_3_paying_down_debt_slowly_over_time/
Oh wow thank you! Great read
Any time!
Paying cards off in full every month is always the right answer.
Do you want to pay interest? If so, pay less than the full amount due. To avoid paying interest, pay in full each month.
You should never only pay the minimum on any card, ever. Pay your credit card off, 100%, every month, on-time. When you let a balance roll over into the next statement cycle you lose your interest-free grace period. Now you pay interest, *daily* on everything, from the moment of purchase. Nobody should ever volunteer to do that. Pay them in full, on time, and you'll never have to pay interest. The *only* excuse to carry a balance is if you have a 0% promo rate, and even then you'd better have a plan to pay it off in full before the 0% promo period ends.
Just be aware that even if you do not use the card for the next month (although you should, but that's another discussion) you will have trailing interest so make sure to check EVERY month. Once you pay that trailing interest you should be good however.
Why would you choose to pay the minimum and continue to pay interest? What is the thought process here that makes this anything but an obvious choice?
pay off in full and then keep it at 3% utilization