Credit Cards

[CreditMENA]

Just curious if you guys have any method to the madness of CC bill closing dates...do you have them all close on the same day? Seperate them out 2 weeks? Survey says...

[trumpet-205]

I moved all of my CC due date to the 1st or the 2nd of every month.

[jsucool76]

All of mine close on the same day too. Just makes it easier. 

[webhopper]

all of mine are due around the 22nd or 23rd.  On GE backed cards, I have no idea when they close.  I pay them in full after I make the purchase.

I pay cards on the 1st and 15th. also, around the 9th. Our income is sort of scattered. Paychecks and disability pay on the 1st, Child Support on the third, Rent arrives from the 5th to the 15th - delay caused by ACH processing times. Paychecks on the 15th. My husbands incentive check on the 22nd.

I do a cash flow spreadsheet every month that tells me where money goes and when it goes out. Makes it easy to manage that way. Also, it makes it easy to make sure that all the bills get paid on time and in full.

[John060675]

I actually am in the process of moving them all together.  I think it makes more sense to just remember one date to pay instead of having them spread out over a couple weeks.

[trumpet-205]

@webhopper

I use GnuCash to manage all of my cash flow. I typed in all of my transaction and review it periodically.

[webhopper]

---

trumpet-205 wrote:

@webhopper

I use GnuCash to manage all of my cash flow. I typed in all of my transaction and review it periodically.

---

I'm very simple when it comes to accounting for my budget and my business expenses.  Simple spreadsheets seem to be most effective to me. I've tried different software in the past but it winds up being too complicated. I like the "tag" function of Amex.  That will make it super easy come tax time.  I have reports for my husbands work expenses (he works 2 hours away from our home)  so his rent, and travel, and food away from home will all be deductible.   I also have a report I can run for my business expenses.  Very nice reporting ability, props to Amex.

[bribro]

Here's a thread I started a few weeks ago on the same topic: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Changing-your-CC-Due-Dates/td-p/1433860. Personally, I like all the due dates to land at the same time, the 5th of the month in my case so I have a few days to double-check my autopays when a new month starts.

[bichonmom]

I haven't changed any of my due dates. I believe (at least *some*) credit card companies will only let you change the date one time ever, so I have just left the dates they assigned at this point.

One benefit of staggering dates is if you want to PIF before the statement cuts, you need to stop using those cards between the time you make your payment and the statement date -- to prevent pending transactions from posting to the balance. If all of your CCs close the same time, you would have to stop using all CCs between the time you pay and the statement date. If you have at least one on a different date (like a week or 2 later), then you can use that as an alternate until the other statements cut w/zero balance.

It's not a huge deal. But since so many people here do pay before the statement so zero bal w/report, it's worth mentioning. A couple of months ago, I missed the statement cut-off date by a couple of hours on a CC and it posted w/$12 balance ($2500 CL). My FICO dropped 10 points!

[ItchyAppFingers]

I have my CC billing dates scattered all throughout the month. Each week a new set of CC bills. I always remember to pay them. I got these due date recorded in my mind like the times table. What I do to keep track of each CC bill is write them down in a notebook and note the amount I am paying for each. Its hard to forget also the due date because I have the CCC notify me by email or text message when my billing date is approaching.