Cassandra McOmber

Math 1050

Summer 2023

Signature Assignment reflection: Credit Card Assignment

The purpose of this lab was two-fold I believe, to both teach about the follies of only making

minimum payments on your credit card debt and how that leads to you paying much more in the end

over a longer period, and how to use some of the mathematical techniques that we were taught in

chapter 4. Some of those techniques included logarithms, percentages and payment formulas, as well as

other algebra.

This project is a good example of using strategies that we learned in class and applying them to real

world scenarios. According to the article from Forbes “Credit Card Statistics and Trends 2023” by Becky

Pokora Mar 9, 2023. 84% of Americans have a credit card, 2% of them are delinquent on payments. This

is a tick up in the trend according to Becky. It is possible to pull data from the current trends, and to

allow that data to lead us to the conclusion that more people would benefit from knowing the type of

math and lesson that our class was taught with the “Credit Card” assignment. I think that this type of

real-world application is important in emphasizing the importance of math and its everyday usefulness.

Another example of this specific type of math and calculations in the real-world would-be mortgage or

car payments. I understand that a lot of adults believe that the best way to go about things is by making

minimum payments on their debts. This lab has shown us that that is not always the case. Though the

unspoken benefits of having larger debts such as a mortgage or car payment on your credit score differ
greatly from the downsides of having credit card debt, it would still be interesting to run the numbers on

such questions.

This lab showcases the application of this type of math, it would be beneficial to understand the

implications and impacts that this math has on real life situations, especially if you are working in

finances. As a financial advisor it would be in your best interest to understand the underlying lessons of

this lab as it would guild you to give the best advice possible with is that making minimum payments

may feel better now but you are ultimately shelling out way more money than you would have been if

you had been making more than the minimum payments. Sometimes buy a significant amount. You

would need to understand that to explain it to your clients.

I work in accounting currently. Have been an accounting assistant for almost a year now. This job had

already changed my perspective on understanding math and finances as a necessity. I do enjoy it when

my classes show the real-world application of the lessons that I am learning but I would not say that this

class changed my mind as I already understood the importance of learning math for real world

applications. I like that this assignment could showcase that if you understand the math behind things,

you have a better and deeper understanding of the way things work. Someone could have an

understanding that if you only make minimum credit card payments that it would cost them more in the

future. By doing the math in this lab we were able to see WHY it would cost more in the long run and I

think that that is important.

From this lab we learned that the best approach to paying off credit card debt is to NOT make the

minimum payments only. To pay more if you can. The best plan would obviously be to pay it off

immediately. My personal philosophy is to not pay for things that I don’t already have the money for. I

realize that this is a privileged position. If you cannot afford this type of plan, I would suggest looking

through your finances and coming up with a plan to pay the maximum amount that you can and still be
able to pay off other expenses. Unfortunately, that might mean going without little things, like extra

coffee, or going out to the movies. Do not take those things away completely but cut down on them and

use that money to put towards your credit card debts.

Two things that the “average” consumer could learn from this assignment are the benefits of paying off

your debts earlier and how to calculate how your payments will affect your levels of debt over time. That

way they can do the math themselves and estimate how different types of payments will work. This will

at least give them the knowledge to make an informed decision about how to go about paying off their

debts.