NEW YORK–Americans now carry a combined balance of $1.2-trillion in credit card debt, and a big contributor to the problem, according to one analysis, is a misunderstanding of just how those cards work.

A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York details not just credit card debt, but other debt held by American, as well.

Part of the problem: A recent survey from Experian found that two in five Americans in credit card debt believe making the minimum payment is enough to manage it.

Long-Term Debt

As CNBC reported, if a cardholder has an average credit card balance of around $6,600, a 20% interest rate and only makes the minimum payment of 1% of the balance every month, that person could stay in debt for 18 years, Ted Rossman, a  senior industry analyst for credit cards at Bankrate, told the news outlet.

“That minimum payment math is really brutal,” he stated.

For consumers and CU members looking to get out of debt, CNBC cited experts who generally recommend the “snowball” or “avalanche” methods for paying off credit card debt.