topic Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes? in Credit Cards

Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

sunshine7157 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:38:10 GMT

What's up with Chase?? I put my cell phone bill on my Freedom card last week, went to pay it today & it wouldn't let me, saying the payment ($26) was more than my outstanding balance ($0). It shows that the $26 cell phone transaction posted & my credit line reflects the $26 charge. Is this to mean that I'm not allowed to pay it before the statement comes out (and it now reports a balance) on the 14th? 'Cause if that's the case, I'm gonna be really, REALLY P.O.'d. I only did this to show my once-every-three-month activity on this card.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

Repo-ed — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:40:08 GMT

How long ago did you open the card?

I know amex won't let you pay early for the first 1-3 billing cycles, if you are a new customer.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

sunshine7157 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:42:44 GMT

In December. I could swear I've charged & paid chase before my statement in the past?? And for the record, I've always paid Amex early, right from the get-go. Never gave me a problem.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

trumpet-205 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:47:10 GMT

A lot of banks do this, including Chase and Citi.

Just push the money instead from your checking account.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

cashnocredit — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:02:59 GMT

My Chase Freedom card shows these three choices if you don't want to enter a specific amount:

Statement Balance

Current Balance

minimum payment

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

sunshine7157 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:07:06 GMT

@cashnocredit wrote:
My Chase Freedom card shows these three choices if you don't want to enter a specific amount:
Statement Balance
Current Balance
minimum payment

Yes, but because this is a new charge all 3 above show 0. I try to put in the $26 in the 'other amount' section & it wont let me.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

sunshine7157 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:08:12 GMT

@trumpet-205 wrote:
A lot of banks do this, including Chase and Citi.

Just push the money instead from your checking account.

Thats exactly what I'm going to do, Trumpet. Thank You. That had not crossed my mind. I was just sitting here absolutely fuming about this.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:25:01 GMT

I just made a pre-statement payment on my Freedom card today.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

AndySoCal — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:51:38 GMT

I agree I would on line bill pay rather thna paying ithe bill while logged into your Chase freedom account. it works for me

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

HenryJumbo — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:10:35 GMT

@sunshine7157 wrote:
What's up with Chase?? I put my cell phone bill on my Freedom card last week, went to pay it today & it wouldn't let me, saying the payment ($26) was more than my outstanding balance ($0). It shows that the $26 cell phone transaction posted & my credit line reflects the $26 charge. Is this to mean that I'm not allowed to pay it before the statement comes out (and it now reports a balance) on the 14th? 'Cause if that's the case, I'm gonna be really, REALLY P.O.'d. I only did this to show my once-every-three-month activity on this card.

I don't get it. You don't have to pay for purchases you made now unitl the next cycle due date. Yes they report you have a balance, but as long the balance isn't past the due date for the cycle in which it was purchased does it really matter if they report you have a balance when you pay zero interest if you pif? If you keep purchases under 30% utilization they can't mess up your utilizatin ratio either. So what's the problem again?

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

Revelate — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:18:26 GMT

@HenryJumbo wrote:
@sunshine7157 wrote:
What's up with Chase?? I put my cell phone bill on my Freedom card last week, went to pay it today & it wouldn't let me, saying the payment ($26) was more than my outstanding balance ($0). It shows that the $26 cell phone transaction posted & my credit line reflects the $26 charge. Is this to mean that I'm not allowed to pay it before the statement comes out (and it now reports a balance) on the 14th? 'Cause if that's the case, I'm gonna be really, REALLY P.O.'d. I only did this to show my once-every-three-month activity on this card.
I don't get it. You don't have to pay for purchases you made now unitl the next cycle due date. Yes they report you have a balance, but as long the balance isn't past the due date for the cycle in which it was purchased does it really matter if they report you have a balance when you pay zero interest if you pif? If you keep purchases under 30% utilization they can't mess up your utilizatin ratio either. So what's the problem again?

For the most part you're correct, in the sense that FICO is instant-in-time for it's revolving utilization calculation, and as such if it's paid before you apply for anything, it doesn't matter.

That said, there's another portion of the algorithm which anecdotally seems to have a calculation on the number of revolving accounts you have with balances, and testing found that having less than 1/2 of your revolving accounts reporting a balance (everything else reporting zero) was a boost to one's FICO score.

Likewise that's all instant-in-time, but the inability to pre-pay a balance you know is going to land before the statement date is annoying as nobody clears a payment in less than one business day, so you may be stuck if the transaction posts on statement date. I'll probably keep my BOFA checking account and card just for that reason (or keep an Amex charge card eventually) in that I can go negative on my current balance on my card, to makeup for the transactions which I know will land pre-statement cut.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

cashnocredit — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:29:55 GMT

@sunshine7157 wrote:
@cashnocredit wrote:
My Chase Freedom card shows these three choices if you don't want to enter a specific amount:
Statement Balance
Current Balance
minimum payment

Yes, but because this is a new charge all 3 above show 0. I try to put in the $26 in the 'other amount' section & it wont let me.

Oh, you must be talking about charges that are authorized but haven't yet posted. I always hated those, especially restaurant ones because when they post it's a different amount than the authorized amount. I haven't tried that with Chase.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

variableResistor — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:48:24 GMT

Be careful with Chase:

http://consumerist.com/2009/10/chase-sets-early-payment-trap-customer-falls-into-it.html
Daniel had a payment due on September 6th, so he paid it on August 22nd. Then, the day after that payment was due—that is, on September 7th—he made another payment for the next cycle.
The problem is, that new cycle hadn't started yet, so Chase applied it as a second payment to his past statement. Then when the new due date came and passed earlier this month, they reported him late and charged him a $39 late fee.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

cashnocredit — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 05:02:47 GMT

If a payment shows up in one statement then it doesn't count towards the next statement's minimum payment. This seems pretty obvious because the statement will not only list the payment, it will have a minimum due for the next payment. If you could skip that one the minimum due would be zero.

I have sometimes paid after a due date but before the statement cut because an authorized charge posted and I didn't want a balance to report. I've done this with all my accounts.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

DesertLife — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:56:16 GMT

I began making charges on my brand new Chase Sapphire Preferred card on July 12, 2012 and had never had an account with Chase previously.

My Statement ended August 04, 2012 (Due September 1, 2012) and I made an $1,100 payment (to keep my utililzation % down) on July 23, 2012. I have a green button that says "Make Payment" and used that.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

RockinRay — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:59:19 GMT

@trumpet-205 wrote:
A lot of banks do this, including Chase and Citi.

Just push the money instead from your checking account.

+1 - push the payment from your bank. That always works.

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

sunshine7157 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:30:54 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@HenryJumbo wrote:
@sunshine7157 wrote:
What's up with Chase?? I put my cell phone bill on my Freedom card last week, went to pay it today & it wouldn't let me, saying the payment ($26) was more than my outstanding balance ($0). It shows that the $26 cell phone transaction posted & my credit line reflects the $26 charge. Is this to mean that I'm not allowed to pay it before the statement comes out (and it now reports a balance) on the 14th? 'Cause if that's the case, I'm gonna be really, REALLY P.O.'d. I only did this to show my once-every-three-month activity on this card.
I don't get it. You don't have to pay for purchases you made now unitl the next cycle due date. Yes they report you have a balance, but as long the balance isn't past the due date for the cycle in which it was purchased does it really matter if they report you have a balance when you pay zero interest if you pif? If you keep purchases under 30% utilization they can't mess up your utilizatin ratio either. So what's the problem again?

For the most part you're correct, in the sense that FICO is instant-in-time for it's revolving utilization calculation, and as such if it's paid before you apply for anything, it doesn't matter.

That said, there's another portion of the algorithm which anecdotally seems to have a calculation on the number of revolving accounts you have with balances, and testing found that having less than 1/2 of your revolving accounts reporting a balance (everything else reporting zero) was a boost to one's FICO score.

Likewise that's all instant-in-time, but the inability to pre-pay a balance you know is going to land before the statement date is annoying as nobody clears a payment in less than one business day, so you may be stuck if the transaction posts on statement date. I'll probably keep my BOFA checking account and card just for that reason (or keep an Amex charge card eventually) in that I can go negative on my current balance on my card, to makeup for the transactions which I know will land pre-statement cut.

+1 Thank you for explaining that. I don't want more than one cc showing a balance, which was why I was so frustrated....

Re: Chase won't accept payments before statement closes?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:55:57 GMT

Another reason to pay before closing date for me: I am in garden and won't apply for any credit for 6 month, but I still need to keep my score high because I recently got a CC from Barclays and they are notorious for closing accounts after score drop!