Is there really an argument against making multiple monthly payments?

[Anonymous]

Hello all.

I've read a number of posts indicating that one should limit credit card payments to 1 or 2 per month. 

Why?  Unless the card issuer has a specific monthly limit on the number of monthly payment, and assuming that all payments are well over the monthly minimums, what is the harm?  Is there any negative backlash in doing so or not?  

Thanks!

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello all.

I've read a number of posts indicating that one should limit credit card payments to 1 or 2 per month. 

Why?  Unless the card issuer has a specific monthly limit on the number of monthly payment, and assuming that all payments are well over the monthly minimums, what is the harm?  Is there any negative backlash in doing so or not?  

Thanks!

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I have no idea about this. I'll wait along with you to find the answer.

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[smallfry]

I don't like to make any more than 2. Usually make 1 payment. Depending upon the credit limit it might give the appearance of living week to week.

[MidnightOwl]

The rule I follow for myself is, if I'm going to charge something on my CC, I better be able to pay the entire balance when the bill arrives so, That keeps me to the 1 payment rule. However, I do realize that emergencies come up when people may have to charge more & can't make the entire payment all at once. I guess it's because I learned the hard way in the past when I screwed my credit up. I actually feel pretty good about myself since I keep my balance showing on all 3 reports as $ 0. I just wished I did that all along instead of going through that nightmare that I did in the past ( completely my fault )

[Anonymous]

I pay more times a month depending on how much I put on the respective card.   If I really spend a ton, I sometimes pay 4 or 5 times a month.  It doesn't affect my score negatively and Amex and Discover don't touch my limits.  I really don't get the argument that doing so is a negative thing if my balance always reports zero.  Now, if I was paying 4 times a month and leaving an increasing balance then I can see the argument that one may be living week to week.  There are many more important things to worry about than how many payments you make to keep a zero balance.  Just my two cents.

[laz98]

i don't usually make more than 3 payments.  right now i'm still working my way towards paying in full on some of our cards, so when i have extra money, i make an extra payment.  no big deal to me.  gets my balance down faster.

[-RED]

It does nothing, and I have fantastic scores to back it up!

I use a rewards card with no cap, and so just about every dollar I decide to spend goes on that card.

I pay many times per week sometime depending on the balance, and how much I need to use etc.

One thing I have noticed is all my payments in one month are added together to count as one monthly payment on my CR's.

That makes complete sense though! 

[Uborrow-Upay]

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smallfry wrote:  I don't like to make any more than 2. Usually make 1 payment.  Depending upon the credit limit it might give the appearance of living week to week.

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+1

My feelings exactly.  Well said, smallfry!

[Jazzzy]

I have also had no ramifications from making multiple monthly payments. My multiple payments usually go to AmEx because that's the reward card we use most. We've never had any negative ramifications.

Paying multiple times won't affect your FICO score, and I haven't seen any evidence that the creditors are worried about it. I would think just the opposite....it shows them how much you use their card.

I think we may be talking about two different scenarios, however. In some cases, there are multiple payments because the card holder is close to the limit and want's to free up the available balance. In others, cardholders may pay weekly, for example, as a budgeting and discipline measure.

I've not seen any hard evidence posted here that shows the cc cards do not like it. Everyone has to pay according to their own beliefs/experiences.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all so much for your input, I really appreciate it!

I've been making multiple monthly payments to reduce and eliminate balances - we're planning to move in a few months, so I wanted to get my credit in the best shape possible. 

We need to get about $2K worth of unexpected car work done next week (grumble grumble) so I've tailored our budget to completely pay off 2 of 4 cards by tomorrow, with the other 2 at < 20% utilization.  I want to continue throwing every extra amounts on our cards (payments are always well over 10 times the monthly minimum payment amount) but wanted to make sure I wasn't hurting myself in doing so.

Thanks so much, I am really enjoying the insight available here.