A Better Way to Manage Your Everyday Money - Book - Page 93
2. The monthly payment due day. This day never changes. (You can request that a credit
card payment day be changed, which will also change the closing day.)
The payment due day is at least 21 days after the statement closing day. There is no advantage to
making a payment before the payment due date. There is, however, an advantage to paying
attention to your credit card closing dates. Using two credit cards for day-to-day purchases and
timing your purchases correctly can give you the maximum time to pay for purchases.
Lois and I have two credit cards for day-to-day use.
● Our Amazon Visa card always closes on the 4th with payments due on the 1st of the
following month.
● Our Costco Visa card normally closes on the 19th, but can close as early as the 17th or
18th. The payment is always due on the 15th of the following month.
We switch cards on the closing dates. We start using the:
● Amazon Visa card on the 4th;
● Costco Visa card on the 19th or earlier when the closing date is changed. (The closing
date for the next statement is displayed on the credit card company’s website.)
By switching to a card on the day the card closes, we give ourselves the maximum time before
we pay for purchases.
Statements
On a credit card closing day each month, the credit card issuer tabulates account activity and
sends you an account statement. Each statement has:
● new balance amount (everything owed),
● minimum payment amount, and
● payment due date (which never varies).
If you pay the statement's new balance amount in full on or before the payment due date, no
interest is charged.
If you make a payment that is less than the statement's new balance amount on or before the
payment due date, interest is charged on the new balance amount after your payment has been
deducted.
Regardless of the payment amount, when you make a payment after the payment due date, both a
late fee and interest on the entire statement's new balance amount are charged.
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