You are a CFA (chartered financial accountant). Madonna has come to you because she needs help paying off her credit card bills. She owes the amounts on her credit cards listed in Table 1. Madonna is willing to allocate up to $5000 per month to pay off these credit cards. All cards must be paid off within 36 months. Madonna's goal is to minimize the total of all her payments. To solve this problem, you must understand how interest on a loan works.
To illustrate, suppose Madonna pays $5000 on Saks during month 1. Then Saks balance at the beginning of month 2 is 20,000 - [5000-0.005*20,000]. This follows because Madonna incurs 0.005*20,000 in interest charges on her Saks card during Month 1. Help Madonna solve her problem. Once you have solved this problem, given an intuitive explanation of the solution found by Solver.
Table 1 Madonna's Credit Card Bills
|
Credit card
|
Balance
|
Monthly rate
|
|
Saks
|
$20,000
|
0.5%
|
|
Bloomingdales
|
$50,000
|
1.0%
|
|
Macys
|
$40,000
|
1.5%
|