What's a Good Credit Card Rate?

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
I must say again: only pay off your statement balance. If you pay off your entire balance each month, you’re a sucker. I’d rather the CC company give ME another interest-free month to pay off NEXT month’s bill.


That's what I do. If my balance due is $1497, I will make one payment for a few dollars more, in this case $1500, and then there is no interest charge on that months charges. And then the next month I do the same thing again.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
I must say again: only pay off your statement balance. If you pay off your entire balance each month, you’re a sucker. I’d rather the CC company give ME another interest-free month to pay off NEXT month’s bill.


That's what I do. If my balance due is $1497, I will make one payment for a few dollars more, in this case $1500, and then there is no interest charge on that months charges. And then the next month I do the same thing again.


Bubbatime and Gathermewool,
can you please explain? I just don't get it...

Much appreciated!

In my case, I pay the owned amount in full, or if promotional period (0% for x months) split the owned amount by x-1 months and pay that monthly.

The only time I did pay extra was on my first low card with a $300 limit:
-do a purchase of $200, pay amount next night
-do a purchase of $150, pay amount next night
-do a purchase of $250, pay amount next night

I ended the month with nothing owned and no interest charge while i used in that month more than the limit...

 

[gathermewool]

Like your utility bill, you pay for the last period of use, up to the statement date. If you make purchases after the statement date, they will appear on the next statement. The due date shown is to pay off your last statement’s balance, not the additional charges between this past statement’s end date and the due date to pay for charges shown on the current statement.

Overly-simplified example:

—You spend $1000 in April, between April 1st and April 30th

-$1000 shows up on your April statement, made available May 1st, with a payment due date of May 10th

-You spend $200 between May 1st and May 10th

-You log on to your account on May 10th to pay your bill and see two balances:
1. Statement balance: $1000
2. Total balance: $1200

To prevent an interest charge, you need to pay ONLY your statement balance of $1000. The additional $200 will be on your NEXT statement and is not due now.

If you pay off a penny more than your statement balance, you’re not taking advantage of the above and paying for something before you need to. Kinda like asking your utility how many kWh you’ve used since your bill was made available and then asking if you can pay them now for the usage (few days, ten days worth of electricity???, the day you’re paying the bill? “Uh, sir...why? Even if we could figure this out for you, why would you not want to just wait until next month, when that bill comes???”