Why Paying the Minimum is Bad - Credit Card Debt Calculator - Percents

This Excel file is set up to show students how quickly debt can add up if they only pay the minimum balance on a credit card. The spreadsheet is already formatted to do the calculations for you! All you have to change is your initial credit card balance and change the APR and minimum payment balance to fit different scenarios. This is a quick way to show your students the "big picture" when it comes to credit card debt. It is also a nice way to introduce students to applications of percents in real life. Because the spreadsheet is already formatted, you can go through hundreds of examples with the click of a mouse!

This is a great lesson for a SmartBoard or projector if you want to use it in the classroom setting. If you would rather have your students use it personally they could all access it in a computer lab and adjust the values on their own.

I have student worksheets that also can be used with this debt calculator available. Please let me know if you have any questions!


Credit Card Debt Calculator - Only Paying the Minimum by Dana Burrows is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.