Budget Challenge

Here are some other rules to keep in mind for the credit card bill:  

• There will be between $600 and $900 of new charges each month.
• The individual charges will appear on a daily basis, but you do not have to send a check for each one.  A bill will be generated at the end of the billing cycle and you will get an email to remind you to look at the bill.  The amount of the bill is what you owe at the close of the monthly cycle.
• This is the only bill in the simulation that allows a partial payment.
• The minimum payment required is $15 between the day after the bill is issued and the date it is due plus any grace period. You have to make the minimum payment to avoid getting a late fee. 
• If you carry a balance (ex. you don't pay all of the bill), a finance fee will be added to your balance.
• You can make multiple payments.
• The credit limit is $1500.  If you go over, there is an over credit limit fee.  An over the credit limit fee cannot be reversed or waived. Additionally, if you go over the credit limit and you had overdraft protection on your checking account, the ODP will stop working until your account has available credit to use for cash advances.  However, even if you are over the credit limit, the charges controlled by Budget Challenge will continue to appear.  
• Daily utilization penalties are deducted from your score when your Surge Credit Card utilization percentage (Total Credit Limit/Total Credit Card Balance) is 75% or greater. The penalty points are on a sliding scale and will increase as your utilization rate increases. The utilization penalty points range from 15 to 100 points per day. The daily penalties will be deducted from your score each day until the credit card balance is brought below 75% utilization rate. Your goal is to keep the utilization rate below 75% in order to avoid this penalty. 
• Keeping your utilization below 75% can earn you points toward your score.  Each day that you have a utilization rate of below 75% you will earn 5 points.
• A breakdown of the penalty and reward points by utilization percentage is included below:  

  Credit Card  Utilization Range	Daily Utilization   Score Reward	Daily Utilization   Score Penalty
  0% - 49.99%	5 Points Per Day	0
  50% - 74.99%	0	0
  75% - 89.99%	0	15 Points Per Day
  90% - 99.99%	0	25 Points Per Day
  100% or Higher (Over Credit Limit)	0	100 Points Per Day

  
  

      This information can be found by going to the Vendors tab and then select Credit Card.