I have three cards that I use. One is due the 5th. Another is due the 15th. And the last is due the 21st.
I would rather make all of the payments at once. When do I make those payments in order to avoid interest? Let's say I make it the 1st. Does that work (assuming they post within two days)?
When to Pay Cards?
February 26th, 2013 at 03:10 am
February 26th, 2013 at 06:58 am 1361861887
February 26th, 2013 at 07:01 am 1361862094
February 26th, 2013 at 03:49 pm 1361893780
Anyway, all my cards give me about 30 days to pay. I just try to pay them all off around the fifth of the month (after statement end dates). The one card is usually large and I usually pay that one after payday mid-month, but then it's still paid about 15 days before due date. I prefer to just pay off WELL early to avoid any potential problems. I've heard often you can pay electronically on due date and such, but my strategy to avoid interest has generally always just to pay the second I get the bill. These days since it is all online, then these days it is the second I know what the final bill is for the month. This has probably been more essential with managing a lot of cards. I tend to pay way on the early side.
February 26th, 2013 at 03:56 pm 1361894193
February 26th, 2013 at 05:07 pm 1361898434
February 26th, 2013 at 06:58 pm 1361905082
Do you have some different type of credit? Are you sure you would pay interest if you waited for bill?
February 26th, 2013 at 06:59 pm 1361905199
It is a window of time you have where you will not accrue interest charges, if you pay them off in full. This grace period starts when your billing cycle closes. It ends when the payment is due for that billing cycle."
This is how it works if you have paid off the balance, anyway.
February 26th, 2013 at 08:09 pm 1361909395
February 26th, 2013 at 08:52 pm 1361911976
It helps to instigate 'Desk Day' and take care of all financial tasks just before each payday.
February 28th, 2013 at 10:30 pm 1362090659
If I didn't pay the balance in full, the next statement which would come out on March 25 in this example, would have interest added to the balance based on however the company calculates the interest. This amount would have due date of April 22.
I hope the example helps.
March 1st, 2013 at 02:56 am 1362106592
March 2nd, 2013 at 02:24 am 1362191081
We never pay interest on the cards we have. We don't every carry a balance past the due date, thus no interest. Thus we are credit card debt free!
March 2nd, 2013 at 06:16 am 1362204963
April 8th, 2013 at 01:44 pm 1365425047
but that's not how credit cards work. As long as you pay your "statement balance" on or before the due date, you won't pay interest. I think this was discussed in a previous thread where you were describing how you sent money to your credit card like very other week or something? I think we explained the issue that you could actually end up messing up your payment because you're not waiting for all the charges to clear before trying to pay the card off.
Time elapses between your closing date and the date that you get the statement. This time is there to allow pending charges to clear and give the CC company time to do their paperwork. Then they send you a bill with a due date, usually a few weeks later. (Like creditcardfree, I think we get about a month, as well. I think it closes on the 24th and is due the following 22nd.)
As long as you pay the bill off in full before (or on) the due date, you will not be charged interest. Now, I'll admit that I don't know how it works if you have carried a balance previously. I've never carried a balance on a credit card. I can imagine that for one month there could be some sort of residual interest charge.
But if it's now paid off and you're planning on paying it off every month going forward, there's no reason to confuse yourself by trying to pay before you're sent your statement. So in general I would say that you should wait until you get your statement, then pay the balance a day or two before it's due. Or a week before if it helps you sleep at night.
(Remember, you pay the STATEMENT BALANCE, not the CURRENT BALANCE, which will be higher.)
Now, I believe that you can ask to have your closing dates moved around, but I question if you really want to have all of your credit card bills due out of one paycheck. Do you WANT to have to owe all the money at once? Wouldn't it be easier for you to spread it out over a couple paychecks?
April 8th, 2013 at 01:45 pm 1365425124
"I don't like paying when I get the bill. That means interest is applied. No one wants that."
But it didn't work!