Tax refunds are larger this year. Make yours a stepping stone for your future

Let’s say you put the average tax refund ($2,476) toward the average credit card balance. That knocks it down by more than a third. If you make minimum payments toward the remaining $4,239 at 19.59%, you’ll be in debt for 176 months with a total interest expense of $5,512. In other words, that $2,476 payment could save you more than $4,000 in interest charges and trim almost four years off your payback term.This is why credit card debt payoff should be a priority — credit card rates are so much higher than ...