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[Y74]Your Credit Card Balance

by Stephen Nelson, Ste

If you have Microsoft Excel running on your computer at home or work, you can use Excel's NPER function to calculate how quickly you can pay off a debt such as a credit card balance.

The NPER function calculates the term, or number of regular payments, needed to pay off a debt given its interest rate, payment amount, oustanding balance, balloon payment (if any), and, optionally, the type-of-annuity switch.

The type-of-annuity switch is a little complicated, but here's how it works. If you set the type-of-annuity switch to 1, Excel assumes payments occur at the beginning of the month, following the annuity due convention. If you set the annuity switch to 0 or you omit the argument, Excel assumes payments occur at the end of the month following the ordinary annuity convention.

But let me show you how the function works in theory and in practice. All of this will become quite clear, I'm sure.

The function uses the following syntax:

=NPER(rate,pmt,pv,fv,type)

For example, to calculate the number of $100 monthly payments required to pay off a 9% credit card that has a $10,000 balance, you enter the following formula into an Excel worksheet cell:

=NPER(.09/12,-100,10000,0,0)

The function returns the value 185.53, representing roughly 185 payments and then another roughly half payment. Notice that to convert the 9% annual interest to a period interest, the formula divides the annual interest rate by 12. Notice, too, that the payment amount, as a cash outflow, shows as a negative value while the loan balance, as an implicit cash inflow, shows as a positive value.

One final note: The NPER function rarely returns an integer, or whole-number result. As in the preceding example, it commonly returns a fractional value, indicating that after the last regular payment, an additional fractional payment will also need to be made.

A credit card system is a type of retail transaction settlement. It is named after the small plastic card issued to cardholders. A credit card differs from a debit card wherein, money is deducted from the users's account on every transaction. In the case of credit cards, the issuer offers a credit for a secified amount of time to the consumer.

Credit cards are also different from a charge card, which requires the balance to be paid in full each month. In contrast, credit card holders can 'revolve' their balance with an additional interest being charged on it. Most credit cards follow the ISO 7810 standard and are of the same shape and size.

Credit card transfer is an equitable way of managing one's credit card debt. The transfer of balance of one credit card to another often helps with the ?Teaser Rates? or the introductory rates that are generally offered by major credit card companies a couple of times a year. Usually, teaser rates last for either 3 or 6 months once the card is received. An interest rate is levied depending upon the offer available on the card (which may vary from 0% to up to 9%). It relieves the cardholder of a substantial amount of debt in case he/she transfers the balance from a higher interest rate to a lower one.

Some salient points to be kept in mind for a successful credit card balance transfer are as follows:

1. Timely transfer of balance of credit card. It should not overlap the relevant period as that may result in interest charges being levied upon the cardholder.

2. Availability of zero credit card money transfer on time.

3. Make yourself aware of the offer available on the credit card. Read printings on the promo sheet to gauge its process.

4. Transfer all credit card balances to normal interest card as the store cards may have higher APR rate.

5. Be well informed about the comparison of the two cards against their interest rates and their credibility. A financial broker can help decide upon the choice of a good and interest free credit card, or a lender that offers zero introductory balance rates.

6. Be aware of the expiry date of the zero balance credit card so that it can be re-applied for well in time.

7. As soon as one receives the new credit card, make a call to the lender to improvise your plan of money transfer from the previous one.

8. Do not opt for offers or privileges that may not be of much immediate use (like insurance policies, etc.)

9. Once the transfer of balance from the previous credit card to the new account is completed, close the former account and destroy the card.

10. As the new account now has zero introductory rate, one would be required a minimum rate to repay every month during the stipulated period.

Ensuring all these tenets can help towards a successful transfer of your credit card balance. However, the best way of maintaining one's inflow is to avoid exceeding expenditure with respect to what you earn.

Article Source : Sound Cards For Pc

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Both Stephen Nelson & Joe Kenny are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Stephen Nelson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Setting Up Company and Tax Deductions. . Stephen Nelson's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.

Joe Kenny has sinced written about articles on various topics from Mortgage, Credit Cards and Life Insurance. Joe Kenny writes for the Card Guide, a UK based site, visit today for introductory. Joe Kenny's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.