Manage on Time Payment on Credit Cards

[user5387]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

I don't quite get the distrust of auto-pay, as any other method seems to have at least as many moving parts that can go wrong, and I feel, rightly or wrongly, that auto-pay pushes at least some of the responsibilty for mistakes onto them.   Obviously people differ!   

But maybe I am trusting it too much.  Has anyone had an issuer/bank problem with auto-pay when set up correctly (i.e. the bank account and routing number were entered correctly and there were sufficient funds for the payment)?  And if so, did the credit card company reverse any charges for late fees and interest etc? 

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I don't know of any specific stories, but I have heard some in the related area of bank / CU bill pay and direct deposit.  For example, where a direct deposit doesn't go through, and then bill pay fires off to pay a bunch of monthly obligations.

I'd rather not deal with the issues that occur when an automated system has a meltdown.

[Swapmeet]

I use a simple spreadsheet that has name of cc, CL, statement close date, next cli date, phone number to call for cli, and any log in information that is different than my usuals. Then I also use Manila to keep track of what I owe and the minimum payments and due dates. I only have a few cards, but an app spree is a comin.....and there are 6 cards on it.....

[heehawheehaw]

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@ksantangelo23 wrote:

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@AgentofGaming wrote:

I use mint.com to track the total balance of my credit cards. I then have a direct deposit goto one checking account and I always make sure the balance of that checking account is greater than the total balance of credit cards. With automatic full payments setup (I think the term was "Pre-Authorized Debit" in Canada) I didn't have to worry about the due date.

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Life without Mint.com - I cant imagine it!

I love the site, and its awesome Android App! 

Everything in my financial life is on there. I set up an account for my grandmother, too. (Yes, it's that simple and easy to use)

Its more than just credit cards; although it is one of my favorite features.

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I agree. Mint makes managing things easy. But even before Mint came out (I still do this), I assign payments of my cards according to my paycheck dates (which is the 1st and 15th of the month) and by whatever card that just had its closing date. Seems to work pretty well for me, as I have never had a late payment.

[longtimelurker]

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@user5387 wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

I don't quite get the distrust of auto-pay, as any other method seems to have at least as many moving parts that can go wrong, and I feel, rightly or wrongly, that auto-pay pushes at least some of the responsibilty for mistakes onto them.   Obviously people differ!   

But maybe I am trusting it too much.  Has anyone had an issuer/bank problem with auto-pay when set up correctly (i.e. the bank account and routing number were entered correctly and there were sufficient funds for the payment)?  And if so, did the credit card company reverse any charges for late fees and interest etc? 

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I don't know of any specific stories, but I have heard some in the related area of bank / CU bill pay and direct deposit.  For example, where a direct deposit doesn't go through, and then bill pay fires off to pay a bunch of monthly obligations.

I'd rather not deal with the issues that occur when an automated system has a meltdown.

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Right, but again, you are sort of in trouble anyway.   If the deposit has not gone through, you may not be able to pay the credit card bill through push, or send a check or whatever.  But I agree that monitoring is necessary with auto-pay.

[bribro]

All of my credit cards are set to auto-pay the balance in full, and they are all due on the 5th of each month. As the end of the month approaches, I check Mint.com to make sure I have enough cash in my checking account account to cover all my credit card balances. If I screw up, I'm lucky in that my bank won't charge for overdrafting, and my credit cards will still be paid on time.

[gogotexan]

I have a very detailed budget and have about 5 separate direct deposits of my paychecks (3 checking accounts and 2 savings account).  Two of the checking accounts have payments auto-drafted.  The third checking account receives my net balance.  My job allows up to 9 seperate bank acct deposits for each paycheck. 

Checking account no. 1 is used strictly for auto drafts of car payment, gym membership and life insurance payments...all of which receive a discount by having them auto drafted from my checking account; checking account no. 2 is used strictly for monthly recurring bills like rent and minimum credit card payments; Checking account no. 3 has the net balance deposited after all other accounts are funded).  I have two savings accounts...one for general savings and one dedicated to my daughter's college tuition (I pay for her classes twice yearly).

It makes my life stress free, I've never missed a payment.  In addition to the minimum payments on credit cards, I usually PIF mid-month or pay most of the balance of my credit cards.  Although here lately I've been carrying about a 9% balance on my credit cards.  Of seven cards, I only use 2 regularly. 

[yellowcake]

I push payments from my checking account every 2 weeks on pay day. 

[newUser0]

Thank you every one for your valuable suggestions.

I really liked Bribro Approach to have set all the due dates on ALL cards to one date and then pay of all at once.

[lg8302ch]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@DaveSignal wrote:

This is a miniaturized version of part of the spreadsheet that I created to keep track of this kind of stuff:

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Amazing!  Very much or similar to some of the info as on my DB including the rewards section.  I thought I was the only nerd with something like this.  Nice!

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wow...you guys are amazing. Looks really cool and I  wish I could create something like this   ... for the moment I set autopay for min on due date and have statement dates memorized. PIF 50% before and rest after statement cut date in general and when getting ready to app PIF a few cards more before statement cut date. What I would like that the autopay would realize that payent is done and stop kicking in automatically anyway. ...LOL  but better that way around than a late payment. I am simply too lazy to modify auto pay once I have PIFd.

[dave0311]

I've chosen the same due date for all my cards, so I don't need to memorize different dates. The day the bill comes in, I set up a bill payment on my bank's website. (I set up the payments all from my bank's website, not from each individual card's website.) As the due date gets close I'll double check to make sure all payments have been set up.

For recurring monthly charges, I have auto-payments (again, through my bank) set up to pay them the day they're posted. That helps keep my balances down somewhat.