According to the Bank of Canada, close to half of all Canadians with a credit card carry a balance each month and those who do, experience more financial stress than those who pay off their credit card each month.
With credit card interest rates averaging about 20 per cent, anyone carrying a balance is paying a lot of money in interest charges.
Of course, there are many credit card rewards to be had such as free gas, groceries and travel points and if you pay off your credit cards each month the rewards can really add up.
But if you don’t pay off the balance each month, then the rewards you get may not be worth it.
“The majority of points programs in Canada offer rewards of one, two and maybe three per cent at most. However if you’re paying 21 per cent in interest you don’t have to be that strong in math to …