topic Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter? in Credit Cards

Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

lshwn — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 23:28:16 GMT

Hello,

If I am paying down my credit cards and not using them. Does it matter if I pay before the statement close date? Or can I continue to focus on the due date?

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

NoMoreE46 — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 23:51:09 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Hello,

If I am paying down my credit cards and not using them. Does it matter if I pay before the statement close date? Or can I continue to focus on the due date?

Due date is usually a few days Before the statement close date. I am a litte confused.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

JM427 — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 23:54:42 GMT

I am not sure I am understanding the question. If you make your payment on the statement close date then you are technically late on the payment, and any payment made on this date will not likely be reported until the next cycle, i.e the next month. Typically if you make your payment before or on the payment due date, then the statement balance will be reduced by the payment amount, plus the interest accrued if any. From a score management perspective, I would make the payment a day or two before the due date so that the statement balance is reducing each month when reported. Hop this helps.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

Cowboys4Life — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 23:56:06 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Hello,

If I am paying down my credit cards and not using them. Does it matter if I pay before the statement close date? Or can I continue to focus on the due date?

It very much matters. Miss the due date and you have late fees and a possible hit to your credit score. Make the payment by the due date and keep decreasing the balance and your score improves regardless of when the statement drops.

What I do if I am paying things down is pay the minimum on each card 3 days AFTER the statement drops. That way I know at least the minimum is paid and there is no chance of a late fee or 30 day late on the reports. Once that is over I calculate how much I want to pay on each card BEFORE the statement drops and then do that 1-2 days before statement drop.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

creditfan — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:13:20 GMT

it depend on how you would like to let your credit report works for you. Want it to show activities pay after statements close OR vice versa

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

lshwn — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:37:19 GMT

Thanks all! I obviously didn't ask my question the right way. Let me try again

I am paying down debt and not using my credit cards. If I have a credit card bill due the 10th of every month -- does it matter if I pay it 1-2 weeks beforehand? Or should I just pay it on the due date?

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

MrFiah — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:42:08 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Thanks all! I obviously didn't ask my question the right way. Let me try again

I am paying down debt and not using my credit cards. If I have a credit card bill due the 10th of every month -- does it matter if I pay it 1-2 weeks beforehand? Or should I just pay it on the due date?

If you aren't using them then no, it doesn't matter, as long as you pay by the due date.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:46:06 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Thanks all! I obviously didn't ask my question the right way. Let me try again

I am paying down debt and not using my credit cards. If I have a credit card bill due the 10th of every month -- does it matter if I pay it 1-2 weeks beforehand? Or should I just pay it on the due date?

If you are paying interest, you should pay as early as possible, so 1-2 weeks beforehand is good. But in any case always pay by the due date!

I think some of the other answers were confusing cycles. The due date is always AFTER the statement date, in that if the statement close date is say May 20, the due date will be around June 18 (say). Then a new statement will close June 20.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

lshwn — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:53:24 GMT

Thanks everyone!

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

MrFiah — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 01:12:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you are paying interest, you should pay as early as possible, so 1-2 weeks beforehand is good. But in any case always pay by the due date!

Yes, depending on the balance owed and if you are being charged interest it can definitely be beneficial to pay as early and as often as possible. For example, if you owe $25,000 and your APR is 25% you would be charged $17.12 of interest on the first day. The following day you would be charged interest on $25,017.12 , so about another $17.13. Your balance after two days would be $25,034.25. This would repeat daily until your next payment and interest would then be figured on your new balance.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

SouthJamaica — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 02:38:48 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Thanks all! I obviously didn't ask my question the right way. Let me try again

I am paying down debt and not using my credit cards. If I have a credit card bill due the 10th of every month -- does it matter if I pay it 1-2 weeks beforehand? Or should I just pay it on the due date?

It's best to pay before the due date.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

GatorGuy — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 03:50:11 GMT

@NoMoreE46 wrote:
@lshwn wrote:
Hello,

If I am paying down my credit cards and not using them. Does it matter if I pay before the statement close date? Or can I continue to focus on the due date?
Due date is usually a few days Before the statement close date. I am a litte confused.

The statement date is before the due date. The statement date is the at the end of the billing cycle. Then you usually have a few weeks (the grace period) before your due date which the date you must pay by or incur interest and late fees.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

calisig — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 05:08:50 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Hello,

If I am paying down my credit cards and not using them. Does it matter if I pay before the statement close date? Or can I continue to focus on the due date?

In addition to what others have posted about the statement close date, another reason a statement close date is useful to pay attention to is for those who want to raise their credit score. One's statement balance is due on or before the due date, which might lead one to believe they have a $0 balance if they pay in full. BUT - one may have made new charges since the current statement cut - that are NOT reflected in the current statement. So even if one pays their current statement balance in full every month, those new charges make up one's new balance - which, combined with whatever is left over after your Due Date payment, is the balance that is reported to the credit agencies! Maybe one's limits are lower than they like, so one way to raise a score is to reduce utilization. To do this, one can look up their total balance online, and pay the total balance down to BELOW 30%, 20%, 10%, or to zero - BEFORE the statement close date - depending on your ability and strategy (possibly keeping AZEO in mind). This will result in lower utilization being reported than would have been reported if one only took their due date payment into consideration, a higher credit score, and all the possibilities that come with a higher score. This extra payment can even be made after the due date - as long as you also made your planned due date payment, but has to post before the closing date. Note that there are a few cards that report your balance on a date other than your statement closing date, but most report your balance as of the closing date. cheers

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:47:19 GMT

@calisig wrote:
In addition to what others have posted about the statement close date, another reason a statement close date is useful to pay attention to is for those who want to raise their credit score. One's statement balance is due on or before the due date, which might lead one to believe they have a $0 balance if they pay in full. BUT - one may have made new charges since the current statement cut - that are NOT reflected in the current statement. So even if one pays their current statement balance in full every month, those new charges make up one's new balance - which, combined with whatever is left over after your Due Date payment, is the balance that is reported to the credit agencies!

I'm confused by this! I thought that, with a few exceptions (Elan/US Bank reporting balance at end of month, Chase reporting when balance is zero) it was the statement balance that is reported to the credit agencies. Charges made after the statement cut won't appear till the next statement and so will be reported then, unless you have paid something before the cut.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

calisig — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 17:13:28 GMT

Your NEXT statement's balance - is the balance that will be reported. This is the reporting balance you still have control over - depending on how much you pay BEFORE your current statement's closing date. Your current statement's balance is the balance that was last reported ...

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

Maker_Bayfield — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 18:06:31 GMT

To piggy back what has been said. This really affects people with low credit limits.

Lets say you have a card with a credit limit of $500. The due day is the 10th and the statement cut is the 15th. If you pay your balance in full by the due date, you are avoiding interest, BUT anything you charge on that card between the 10th and the 15th is what gets reported. You may be doing everything right, paying off, avoiding interest never late, but if you have $400 worth of charges after the 10th and before the 15th, you've just reported a credit ultization of a whopping 80% keeping your score down and thus keeping your limits low.

It doesn't have nearly the same adverse affect with larger limits. Two people can have the exact same spending habits, have the exact same routine down to the penny, never spending more than that $400, but if one is using a card with a limit of 10,000 his credit utilization reported is a stellar, 4% thus usually enabling him to have more, whereas the second person is using 80% and thus a risk in the credit bureaus eyes.

Now if the 400 charge happens on the 16th, literally exact same scenario, then that low limit card is reporting zero.

So if you do have a card, and you use it for only a recurring whatever...pay attention to when that recurring hits, if it falls in that 5 day window, you are really screwing yourself with a high utilization if you have a low limit.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

calisig — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 18:50:41 GMT

Let's say your statement date was May 30, and your credit limit is $2000. Your May statement balance is $1000 = 50% utilization. You recieve your May statement on June 5 (but you could look it up online June 1). This - your May statement - is your current statement - even though you get it in June. Your payment due date is June 25. You pay your current $1000 statement balance IN FULL on or before your June 25 due date. BUT - you made $900 charges AFTER your current May 30 statement closed.

Question: What balance will be reported on June 30?

Answer: $900 - EVEN THOUGH YOU PAID YOUR $1000 STATEMENT BALANCE IN FULL by June 25! This = 45% utilization - not good.

So if you want to use your statement closing date to your advantage, you can look up your TOTAL BALANCE online on June 30, and pay an additional $320 = $580 reporting balance = 29% uitlization = good, or pay an additional $520 = $380 reporting balance = 19% utilization = better, or pay an additional $720 = $180 reporting balance = 9% utilization = maybe best, or pay an additional $900 = $0 reporting balance = 0% utilization = maybe best - before your June 30 statement closes.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

SoCalGardener — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 19:17:47 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Thanks all! I obviously didn't ask my question the right way. Let me try again

I am paying down debt and not using my credit cards. If I have a credit card bill due the 10th of every month -- does it matter if I pay it 1-2 weeks beforehand? Or should I just pay it on the due date?

What are we talking about as far as "matter" goes? Does it matter....in what way? At any rate, here's what I do--and I have stellar credit: I pay all bills once a month; I do not pay multiple times per account per month; I pay AT LEAST one week (usually more) before each bill's due date; I never pay just the minimum, always more than that and usually PIF (pay in full). That's it! If you follow a similar routine, whatever it is you're wondering whether it matters shouldn't be an issue.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

MrFiah — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:30:58 GMT

@lshwn wrote:
Thanks all! I obviously didn't ask my question the right way. Let me try again

I am paying down debt and not using my credit cards. If I have a credit card bill due the 10th of every month -- does it matter if I pay it 1-2 weeks beforehand? Or should I just pay it on the due date?

Is everyone missing this? The cards aren't being used! Why continue to round and round about statement date, closing dates, due dates, blind dates, first dates, etc....If the cards are being paid down, the sooner the better.

Re: Statement date versus due date - Does it matter?

SoCalGardener — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:51:23 GMT

@MrFiah wrote:
@lshwn wrote:
Thanks all! I obviously didn't ask my question the right way. Let me try again

I am paying down debt and not using my credit cards. If I have a credit card bill due the 10th of every month -- does it matter if I pay it 1-2 weeks beforehand? Or should I just pay it on the due date?
Is everyone missing this? The cards aren't being used! Why continue to round and round about statement date, closing dates, due dates, blind dates, first dates, etc....If the cards are being paid down, the sooner the better.

I do feel like I'm missing something! How does that have any impact on the OP's question? Just because the OP isn't *currently* using the cards doesn't mean the cards have zero balances. They're paying them down, they're receiving bills every month, the bills have due dates, closing dates, etc. The OP still needs to pay these cards even though they're not adding new charges to them!