Not paying off your credit card balance in full each month can be detrimental in the following ways:

• Interest charges – Credit cards have high interest rates, often 15-25% APR. Carrying a balance means all your purchases start accruing interest immediately, making items much more expensive.
• Increased debt – Only paying the minimum due often doesn’t even cover the accrued interest. This means your balance grows as interest compounds, trapping you in debt.
• Fees – Late fees, over limit fees and other penalties get added to your balance, again increasing debt.
• Reduced credit score – High credit utilization and carrying balances hurts your credit score, since lenders want to see you pay in full. A lower score means worse rates on loans.
• Paying more over time – Making minimum payments only stretches out interest payments longer. For example, a $1,000 balance at 18% interest would take over 7 years to pay off only making minimums.
• Opportunity cost – Money spent on interest and fees could have been better used for investing, savings goals, or paying down higher interest debts.
• Harder to track spending – Letting balances revolve makes it harder to stick to a budget and track where your money is going each month.

To avoid these downsides, it’s smart to always try to pay your credit card off completely if possible. However, paying even a portion of the balance is better than just the minimum. The key is to develop good spending habits and pay down balances quickly.