Track 24 of 25

Everyday credit

Cards, stacked instalments, plan loans, and a savings buffer measured in months of payments. Capacity as a month rather than as a portfolio.

25 lessons

Mark a lesson complete and it is remembered here.

Credit-card APR as a daily rateA card APR is a daily rate, and a monthly statement is thirty-one of those multiplications added.7 min
Grace periods: when they exist and when they vanishA grace period is a window that exists only if last month's statement was already paid in full.7 min
How interest compounds on a carried balanceUnpaid card interest joins the principal, so a carried balance is a capitalizing loan on a monthly clock.6 min
Why a variable card APR moves soon after a policy-rate changeA variable card APR takes a policy-rate move on the next cycle, not on a multi-year reset.6 min
Why a fixed installment loan does not move with that same policy changeA fixed installment does not reprice when the same policy rate moves the card.6 min
Minimum-payment arithmeticThe minimum is interest plus a thin slice of principal, sized to leave most of the balance standing.6 min
How long a balance takes to clear at the minimumClearing at the minimum is a long clock because almost none of each payment is principal.7 min
Paying the minimum while still chargingNew charges against a minimum sized off the old balance can raise the line instead of retiring it.7 min
Utilization as a ratioUtilization is the balance divided by the limit, a loan-to-limit ratio, not a dollar amount.6 min
The parts of a credit score, mechanicallyA credit score is five mechanical ingredients, and one late changes only the payment-history component.7 min
Buy now pay later: a short installmentBuy now pay later is a short installment that still occupies capacity for the whole of its clock.7 min
How several BNPL plans stackSeveral small BNPL plans share one cash date, so the month sees a sum, not three tickets.6 min
Personal loans as a fixed unsecured installmentAn unsecured personal loan is a fixed installment whose rate prices a slow recovery.6 min
Revolving against installment, on the same $12,400The same starting balance is a demand-like revolving charge or a scheduled installment, two clocks.7 min
Borrowing against a retirement account: what is pledgedA plan loan pledges the vested retirement account, not the house and not the car.6 min
How repayment works on a plan loanPlan-loan interest that returns to the same account is still a cash-flow clock the month must find.7 min
What can happen to the balance if the job endsA job-end can make a plan-loan balance payable on demand, and unpaid, treatable as a distribution.7 min
Payday loans, with the cost as an annual rateA two-week payday fee restated as a year is a different number from the fee itself.7 min
Title loans: the car as collateralA title loan pledges the car at a rate that prices recovery measured in days.7 min
Debt-to-income across all obligationsHousehold debt-to-income is every claim on the month divided by the same gross income.6 min
Several individually affordable paymentsFive payments each below a round number are still one sum against the same cash date.6 min
How those payments become one unaffordable monthEach payment can fit its own test and the month still fail when a second claim arrives.6 min
A savings buffer as headroom, measured in months of paymentsA savings buffer measured in months of payments is headroom expressed as time, not as a percent.6 min
Buffer arithmetic, computedA buffer falls when cash leaves, even though every posted rate on the file is unchanged.6 min
What a buffer does to the delinquency clockA buffer does not move the due date; it changes whether that date is reached with cash still there.8 min

Educational only. Nothing in this track is investment, legal or tax advice, or a recommendation to enter into any transaction. Completion is stored in this browser and nowhere else.