Karolyn bought a water softener from a rental center for $1,850. she makes 16 monthly payments of $162.75 with her credit card. the rental center charges a $2.25 fee for every late payment made with a credit card. what is the total cost of the water softener if each payment is late?

We know from our problem that she makes 16 monthly late payments. Since the value of the monthly payment is $162.75 and the late payment fee is $2.25, we are going to add the monthly payment and the late payment fee to obtain her actual payment:
$162.75+$2.25=$165

Now that we know that she pays $165 for each monthly late payment, we are going to multiply that value by the number of payments to get the total cost of the water softener:
$165*16=$2640

We can conclude that if each payment is late, the total cost of the water softener is $2640.