Low minimum payments are extremely profitable for credit card companies. They charge interest on the unpaid balance, and a low minimum payment necessarily leaves a higher unpaid balance on which interest accrues. The thing to remember is that it’s a minimum payment – no one prevents you from paying off more – if not all – of your balance.

First of all, the government should not be in charge of every little economic detail in peoples’ lives. However, a couple of years ago a new law was passed by Congress that required credit cards to RAISE the amount of minimum payments just to avoid predatory lending by credit card companies.