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Thanks to Arizona teenager, Antonio Ferris, there’s an app (a free one!) that can help you work through your credit card debt.

Cost of Credit Calculator

The app Ferris designed is called the Cost of Credit Calculator and it’s purpose is to give you a chance to decide if it’s really worth charging your credit card. Ferris, who is 15 years-old, set out with a hope to help people avoid credit card debt.

“Since I was younger, I really wanted to do something that makes a difference,” he said. “Doing something charitable that can help people’s lives without asking for something in return, I feel like that can make an impact.”

Building the App

To create the app, the teen used the calculus he was learning in school. He also worked alongside a freelance programmer to ensure it was user-friendly. The app is built to help people evaluate if they should use their credit card to make a purchase or not. “A lot of people really don’t realize how much just paying a little bit extra could save them in total, especially since some of that money every month goes towards interest and not towards the principal,” he said. “It can help them really consider the savings of paying just a little bit more per month.” For example, he went on to say, “If you pay the minimum payment, that $1,200 item could end up costing over $3,000. If you pay only $10 more per month, that would only end up costing almost half that — $1,700.”

Additionally, there’s a settings tab within the app that allows you to change the credit card APR to represent whatever the credit card charges, as well as the minimum percent.

Getting the Free App on the Market

It took Ferris a year to get the app on the market. It’s available through Google Play. He’s hoping to release an iPhone version by summer 2016.And in speaking of it’s price, Ferris had this to say, “I feel like asking for money to help someone get out of debt is kind of hypocritical, and I really wanted to make sure my app was free.”

Source: AZ Family, Mesa teen creates app to help prevent credit card debt, January 12, 2015

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