Overpaying bill to avoid interest charge reporting?

[Anonymous]

PIF'd the balance on one of my cards. But since I'm carrying a balance from last month, they'll add interest charges. I'd prefer it reports as a zero balance on my CR. If I make another payment before the due date for the expected interest that will be charged bringing my account balance into the negative, will my statement balance report as zero?

[scarrollprint]

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@Anonymous wrote:

PIF'd the balance on one of my cards. But since I'm carrying a balance from last month, they'll add interest charges. I'd prefer it reports as a zero balance on my CR. If I make another payment before the due date for the expected interest that will be charged bringing my account balance into the negative, will my statement balance report as zero?

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If you PIF'd how are you still carrying a ballance? 

EITHER way as far as payments: pretty much all ccc only allow you to make payments agaisnt charges that are posted. Any interest would eventually need to be calculated and posted but then again, you'd have a balance to pay against anyways so it wouldn't matter. Some companys let you pay over your current balance (cap 1 is 10%) others don't let you do it at all. You could always force the payment to them by doing an auto bill pay thing with your bank. I don't think a CCC would refuse money that is being sent to them, and if they accept it they must apply it to your balance (even if its $0)

[Anonymous]

I paid the balance in full, so now the balance this month is zero. However, because I carried over a balance they'll add some interest charges at the end of the month.

Looks like I CAN pay over the balance, so I'll try that and see what happens. 

[OhioCPA]

If you PIF by the statement date there shouldn't be a charge for interest in the current month. At least I wouldn't think. If you had a balance on your statement from June, that you didn't PIF by the July statement date, there would be interest on the July statement. Then if you pay the July balance in full by the August statement date you shouldn't have to worry about an additional interest charge.

[p-]

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@Anonymous wrote:

PIF'd the balance on one of my cards. But since I'm carrying a balance from last month, they'll add interest charges. I'd prefer it reports as a zero balance on my CR. If I make another payment before the due date for the expected interest that will be charged bringing my account balance into the negative, will my statement balance report as zero?

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Ok,  Not sure exactly what's going on with your balance.  It sounds like you PIF'd the statement, but have had additional charges, and want to have a 0 balance at your statement cutoff.  If that assumption is correct, here is your answer:

You don't have to wait for a bill to pay your balance off.  You can send a payment at any time.  Depending on your card issuer and payment method, you can pay more than the posted balance, but it does you no good to do that.  

If you want to make sure you are always 0 at statement time, use two different cards with different statement dates.  Run up and PIF one before statement cut, then move the other one to the front of your wallet.  When that one approaches cutoff, switch back, and PIF.  That way you can continue to use the card for everyday spending without ever posting a balance at statement time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I guess I was just confused from a recent experience.

I PIF'd my Capital One card after having carried a balance for a couple months. After the due date, my online account status stated that my balance was zero. Between the due date and the statement date, however, Cap1 added a $2 charge for interest in that month for the portion of the month that I carred a balance. So my statement then said I was carrying a $2 balance (and the $2 was reported on my CRs). I asked Cap1 about this and they said that they add interest charges for the month after the payment date and the only way to have a zero statement balance would be to have two consecutive months of a zero balance. So, my NEXT Cap1 statement will read zero.

I didn't want the same thing to happen with the card at issue (HSBC Card), so I was asking about overpaying. But if I'm reading the responses correctly, it appears that Cap1 may be an anomoly in adding interest charges after the due date.

[Anonymous]

PAY the STATEMENT by the next Due Date - 25 days -  avoid an interest charge.  

Purchase Items next day after Statement Day, 45-56 days to pay it in FULL.

PAY account balance by the STATEMENT DATE, then you have a "0" for the Credit Report ( CR ).

Just cents or a dollar, not paid by the DUE Date, then CaPOne or WellsFargo will charge you the FULL amount of interest for their PROFIT.

great experience to save for my next meal, $11.77.

[Walt_K]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I guess I was just confused from a recent experience.

I PIF'd my Capital One card after having carried a balance for a couple months. After the due date, my online account status stated that my balance was zero. Between the due date and the statement date, however, Cap1 added a $2 charge for interest in that month for the portion of the month that I carred a balance. So my statement then said I was carrying a $2 balance (and the $2 was reported on my CRs). I asked Cap1 about this and they said that they add interest charges for the month after the payment date and the only way to have a zero statement balance would be to have two consecutive months of a zero balance. So, my NEXT Cap1 statement will read zero.

I didn't want the same thing to happen with the card at issue (HSBC Card), so I was asking about overpaying. But if I'm reading the responses correctly, it appears that Cap1 may be an anomoly in adding interest charges after the due date.

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No, you're not confused.  I think everyone else is.  What you are talking about is normal.  If you are revolving a balance month to month, it generally takes a couple months of paying in full to get no interest charges.  That's because of so-called "residual interest."  Because you've been revolving, they are calculating interest daily.  So when you get your bill, that is the interest calculated through the date of the bill.  When you pay in full, perhaps a few days after the bill, they then have to calculate the additional interest for those few days.  That is why you were seeing the $2 on your Cap1 bill, and your HSBC card is likely set up the same way.  You would need to try to figure out what that interest charge would be and pay it in advance if you are trying to see a $0 balance report on this cycle.  You'd have to review your card agreement to see exactly how interest is calculated to determine the amount to pay.  Or just pay extra and have a credit for later (or ask for a refund after the fact if you no longer use the card).