The truth about paying the 'minimum amount due' on credit cards

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I know all of you guys have credit cards. that's how you get your earning here at myLot right. anyway what i want to share with you guys is how banks actually earn, and they earn a lot, when you use your credit card. let's say that your credit card bank charges you 3.5% monthly and you only use your credit card ONCE to buy grocery items. let's say you spend only 50$ and this will be good for a month supply of food and stuff for that month. now it'll be my pleasure to do the math for you. i know most of you hate math. so let's begin. 3.5% of 50$ is just 1.75$ not a big deal actually. you won't even get charged for this if you pay the full amount of 50$ on your next billing period. BUT THIS IS THE REALITY AND I DON"T WANT TO SCARE YOU GUYS. of course the reason you use your credit card is not because you want to pay the full amount on your next billing period. what normally happens is that you will pay the MINIMUM AMOUNT DUE which actually looks practical right. now here is where the problem starts. on your next billing period you will see the following informations, the 50$ that you owe which is your TOTAL amount due and your MINIMUM AMOUNT due let's just say 5$. and you're so happy because you think it's still too little and it won't hurt your budget to pay for 5$. so you pay the minimum amount due of 5$ instead. you have a remainder of 45$ but since you didn't pay the full amount, the bank will add 1.75$. and you wouldn't bother. the next billing cycle you recieve your bill again. you have the TOTAL amount due of 46.75$ and again the minimum amount due of 5$ again. you pay the minumun amount due of 5$. so you owe the bank a 41.75$ plus the 3.5% interest from your previous bill (46.75$ x 3.5%) which is 1.64$. now i bet you're seeing the pattern. this goes on and on. and you will be surprised when i tell you how long this will be going on. again i did the math for you and here is the result. you will be paying 5$ every month for 11 months MORE to finally pay the full amount. and how much did the bank earn for every month you pay the minimun. they've earned a total of 12.49$. this is just because you used your credit card ONCE FOR 50$ and you pay the minimum amount due every month to pay it. but here is the SCARIEST PART... you just don't use your credit card once and keep it in your closet until your fully paid to use it again. Now it's time for you to do the math. i just wanted to show you guys how much money you're giving away when you use your credit card. Using credit card really needs control and a lot of discipline. i would advise you guys to pay at least TWICE the minimum amount due every month when you pay your bill. it is also wise to use your credit card on appliances with 0% interest rather than use it to pay for your grocery, etc. Well guys that's it. hope you learned something from me. chow.