Malik purchased a pair of roller blades that were originally priced at $250 for a sale price of $180. He charged the roller blades on his credit card and made the minimum monthly
payment of $20. When he received his first statement, he read that the minimum finance
charge for each month that there was a balance on the card would be $15. How many
months will Malik need to pay off the roller blades? (Assume that a minimum finance
charge of $15 will apply to all balances of $250 or less.)

f he made a first payment of $20 shortly after the purchase, he would have a balance of $180-$20=$160, before they applied the first $15 finance charge, but he will see a balance of $180-$20+$15=$175 (with the finance charge) in that first statement.

Each month, his balance will change by -$20+$15=-$5, so it will take him, another 32 payments to reduce that $160 to $0. That month, he will pay the $20 balance to get a balance of zero, and hopefully see no more finance charges.

In all, paying the minimum $20 payment each month, Malik will make 33 such payments for a total of $660. If he saved $20 per month, he could have saved $180 in 9 months, or $260 in 13 months, and he would have saved a lot of money. He would probably have to pay the $250 regular price, and would have missed about a year of roller blading, but he would have saved $660-250=$410.

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