Balance ==unspent money

[induskakade]

Hi everyone,

Need some clarity here in the problem..

Sally has a gold credit card with a certain spending limit, and a platinum card with twice the spending limit of the gold card. Currently, she has a balance on her gold card that is 1/3 of the spending limit on that card, and she has a balance on her platinum card that is 1/5 of the spending limit on that card. If Sally transfers the entire balance on her gold card to her platinum card, what portion of her limit on the platinum card will remain unspent

The explanation says:

We can set the spending limit for the gold account at $15, and for the platinum card at $30. In this case, Sally is carrying a balance of $5 (which is 1/3 of $15) on her gold card, and a balance of $6 (1/5 of $30) on her platinum card. If she transfers the balance from her gold card to her platinum card, the platinum card will have a balance of $11. That means that $19 out of her $30 spending limit would remain unspent.

However, balance means whats remaining in our account which is nothing but the amount that person has not spent..isnt it? So should the answer be 11/30?

I think the answer option is wrong. However if I am missing something please help.

Thanks in advance!

[rajeev.bajpai]

Balance is what you have spent already.
Balance + Unspent amount= Credit Limit.

Thanks.

[induskakade]

Oh i think i got it! actually i mistook balance to be the money that remains in the account. The question is referring to the balance money that the person has to pay.

Thanks!

[induskakade]

However, i think the question should be more clear with respect to terminologies used. Because typically "balance" means remaining money. That means the money unspent.
Ex: When I say my bank balance is 2 mn$ I refer it to the money that I have and not that I have spent.

[RonPurewal]

However, i think the question should be more clear with respect to terminologies used. Because typically "balance" means remaining money. That means the money unspent.
Ex: When I say my bank balance is 2 mn$ I refer it to the money that I have and not that I have spent.

this is correct. however, that is not how the word "balance" is used on credit cards.

i agree with you, though, that this problem may require an unnecessarily high knowledge of how credit cards work.