What do finance charges include?

Finance charges? Ugh, don’t even get me started. It’s like they’re designed to make your head spin, you know? It’s not just the interest, though that’s bad enough. It’s all the other little things they sneak in there. Like, what even is an origination fee?! I swear, I took out a small personal loan once, and the origination fee felt like a punch in the gut. And then there are those pesky “service fees”—service for what exactly? Just for having the audacity to borrow money, I guess? Don’t forget the late fees, either! One time, I was literally one day late paying my credit card (totally my fault, I spaced it), and the late fee was outrageous. It felt so unfair, like they were just waiting for me to slip up. I remember seeing that total finance charge number on my statement each month, just creeping higher and higher. It’s like… how is it growing so fast? It seriously feels like a monster under my bed, just gobbling up any extra cash I might have. It makes me want to scream sometimes! Honestly, trying to understand all the different finance charges feels like trying to decipher hieroglyphics. It’s all so confusing and frustrating. You almost need a PhD in finance just to understand your credit card bill!