Mindy's credit card has an APR of [tex]$15 \%$[/tex], calculated on the previous monthly balance, and Mindy makes a payment of [tex]$\$[/tex] 50[tex]$ every month. Her credit card record for the last 7 months is shown in the table below.

\begin{tabular}{ccccccc}
\hline
\begin{tabular}{c}
End of \\
month
\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c}
Previous \\
balance
\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c}
New \\
charges
\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c}
Payment \\
received
\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c}
Finance \\
charges
\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c}
Principal \\
paid
\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c}
New \\
balance
\end{tabular} \\
\hline
1 & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 0.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 45.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 0.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 0.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 0.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 45.00[tex]$ \\
2 & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 45.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 193.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 50.00$[/tex] & [tex]$?$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 49.44[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 188.56$[/tex] \\
3 & [tex]$\$[/tex] 188.56[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 90.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 50.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 2.36$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 47.64[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 230.92$[/tex] \\
4 & [tex]$\$[/tex] 230.92[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 77.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 50.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 2.89$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 47.11[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 260.81$[/tex] \\
5 & [tex]$\$[/tex] 260.81[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 38.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 50.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 3.26$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 46.74[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 252.07$[/tex] \\
6 & [tex]$\$[/tex] 252.07[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 227.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 50.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 3.15$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 46.85[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 432.22$[/tex] \\
7 & [tex]$\$[/tex] 432.22[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 88.00$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 50.00[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 5.40$[/tex] & [tex]$\$[/tex] 44.60[tex]$ & $[/tex]\[tex]$ 475.62$[/tex] \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

What were the finance charges in month 2?

A. [tex]$\$[/tex] 0[tex]$

B. $[/tex]\[tex]$ 3.26$[/tex]

C. [tex]$\$[/tex] 50.56[tex]$

D. $[/tex]\[tex]$ 50.78$[/tex]



Answer :

To solve for the finance charges in month 2, we need to follow a step-by-step process utilizing the given information about Mindy's credit card.

1. Identify the relevant values:

- Previous balance at the end of month 1: \[tex]$45.00 - Annual Percentage Rate (APR): 15% - Monthly interest rate: Since interest compounds monthly, the monthly interest rate = \( \frac{\text{APR}}{12} \). So, the monthly interest rate will be: \( 0.15 \div 12 = 0.0125 \). 2. Calculate the finance charges for month 2: We use the previous balance and the monthly interest rate to calculate the finance charges. Finance charges = Previous balance \(\times\) Monthly interest rate Substituting the values: Finance charges for month 2 \(= 45.00 \times 0.0125 \). 3. Perform the multiplication: \( 45.00 \times 0.0125 = 0.5625 \) 4. Round to two decimal places: Since we round to 2 decimal places, 0.5625 rounds to 0.56. Thus, the finance charges for month 2 is \( \$[/tex]0.56 \).

Therefore, the correct answer is:
- [tex]\(\boxed{A. \$0}\)[/tex]