Saïd Sayrafiezadeh's short story 'Minimum Payment Due' explores the crippling effects of credit card debt on an individual struggling to find a way out. The story emphasizes the psychological toll of debt and the desperation it can induce, highlighting the protagonist's futile attempts to escape its grasp.
In Saïd Sayrafiezadeh's fictional short story ,'Minimum Payment Due,' the main character is trapped in credit card debt and desperate for a way out. He waits while the narrator calculates the figure in his head, the various principals, the late fees, the penalties, the surcharges. Then he does what everyone does when they are consumed with denial and shame: he rounds down and lowballs the figure. The lowball was still a lot.
The narrator turns to self-help books, therapy and even a cult for advice, but he's in too deep. No matter how much he directs toward the debt each month, it won't go down. Sayrafiezadeh is a fiction writer, memoirist and playwright who lives in New York City. CNBC interviewed Sayrafiezadeh this month about his story, which appeared in the Couple won the NYC housing lottery and bought a two-family house in Brooklyn worth $1.1 million for $690,000—take a look inside. Annie Nova: You never tell us exactly how much the narrator owes in credit card debt. I'm curious, what was the point of that omission? It's like with Jaws: You don't want to show the monster too much. I thought it would be better for the reader to have to wonder about it, and to create a figure in their mind, rather than to give them a hard number. AN: You do say the debt climbs from 'four figures to five.' So we know that much. But that could be $10,000, and that could be $99,000. AN: In the story, you mention that the compound interest is growing daily on his credit card debt. We get the feeling that the character will never be able to get out of this. It's described in a really scary, vivid way. I wondered if credit card debt was something you've dealt with. I'm actually the opposite of this guy. I don't even wait for my statement to pay it off. Knowing that I don't owe anybody anything, there's a pleasure for me in that. No, I did not. I just put myself in the position of someone who was in this situation
CREDIT CARD DEBT SHORT STORY PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA LITERARY FICTION DEBT
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