beats me wrote:That does sound like a stupid question, but maybe they are using it to gauge if they will make any money off you in interest. They don’t make anything off your 100% payoff, a reason some banks charge an annual fee to have their card.
It's not a daft question, it's just that I'm unusual in this society because I have no debts. I think its more usual for people in modern consumer capitalist society to pay off a percentage much lower than 50% of their outstanding debt, because as I understand normal people they buy lots of things which they can't afford, such as a new car or TV, or computer, and then pay that debt off over a long period. Of course then the money-lenders get great joy from these people because of compound interest and other tricks.
as an average American household, let’s assume you pay an average current rate of 12.83%.Finally, let’s assume you carry this average balance for 40 years, between ages 25 and 65. How much did your credit card company make off of you and your extreme averageness?
Answer: $2,629,618.64
http://www.businessinsider.com/compound ... ebt-2013-2
But most people don't understand a simple balance sheet, never mind compound interest.