topic Re: How exactly does PIF work? in Credit Cards

How exactly does PIF work?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 13:06:26 GMT

Ok my Cap1 statement cut. I had a zero balance for a few weeks but somehow it reported $8.55 as the balance ($5 of that is the AF). I immediately PIF'd.

So I think Cap1 told me the statement balance is what they will report. In that case, will there ever be a way to have a 0 balance report?

Am I paying interest on the $5 AF?

I was so excited to see the effect this 0 balance would have on my scores and now it doesn't look like it will happen. ;(

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

twist7d7 — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 13:22:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ok my Cap1 statement cut. I had a zero balance for a few weeks but somehow it reported $8.55 as the balance ($5 of that is the AF). I immediately PIF'd.

So I think Cap1 told me the statement balance is what they will report. In that case, will there ever be a way to have a 0 balance report?

Am I paying interest on the $5 AF?

I was so excited to see the effect this 0 balance would have on my scores and now it doesn't look like it will happen. ;(

If you pay BEFORE it closes then it will report 0. You only pay intrest on a ballance carried over into the next month. so if you were to charge 150 let the statement cut and pay the min 35 payment. You would pay intrest on the 115 provided you didnt make another payment before the payment due date.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 13:25:25 GMT

Thanks but how do you make a payment if the balance is already 0? It was 0, statement cut, then it was $8.55.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

twist7d7 — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 13:43:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks but how do you make a payment if the balance is already 0? It was 0, statement cut, then it was $8.55.

Weird. Ive never heard of that. Ive also never payed AFs so maybe thats just how they are billed. hopfuly someone that knows better will chime in soon. Maybe a call to a CSR will be more helpful. also you might be able to get the AF waved

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

taxi818 — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 16:08:34 GMT

Ez. Pay in full on due date. Don't use card for 3 days after your due date. And it will have 0 balance on statement. Even if you use on day 3. It will still be pending and will not reflect on statement.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

red259 — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 17:11:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ok my Cap1 statement cut. I had a zero balance for a few weeks but somehow it reported $8.55 as the balance ($5 of that is the AF). I immediately PIF'd.

So I think Cap1 told me the statement balance is what they will report. In that case, will there ever be a way to have a 0 balance report?

Am I paying interest on the $5 AF?

I was so excited to see the effect this 0 balance would have on my scores and now it doesn't look like it will happen. ;(

You only pay interest if you carrt a balance (meaning do not pay the full balance by the DUE date). To not let a balance report in the future you want to pay off any amount you owe the card company a few days prior to the statement cut and then not use the card, until the statement is cut at the end of the cycle. If you have pending charges that have not cleared yet and its preventing you from paying and your worried about it reporting then you cn do a PUSH payment from your bank where you tell your bank to send the card company a check in X amount to cover any opf the pending charges.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 17:55:58 GMT

@taxi818 wrote:
Ez. Pay in full on due date. Don't use card for 3 days after your due date. And it will have 0 balance on statement. Even if you use on day 3. It will still be pending and will not reflect on statement.

This doesn't work with annual (or monthly) fees. OP, is your monthly or annual? The issuer will add these on the day the statement cuts, so you have to push some payment from your bank a few days before to make the balance 0.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

DaveSignal — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 19:13:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@taxi818 wrote:
Ez. Pay in full on due date. Don't use card for 3 days after your due date. And it will have 0 balance on statement. Even if you use on day 3. It will still be pending and will not reflect on statement.
This doesn't work with annual (or monthly) fees. OP, is your monthly or annual? The issuer will add these on the day the statement cuts, so you have to push some payment from your bank a few days before to make the balance 0.

+1. With any kind of fee that posts with the statement on the statement date, pushing payments is really the only way to make this card report $0 when the fee is going to be billed. Is this card worth the annual fee? Maybe you could try to get it removed entirely, or use a different card to report a $0 balance, since this one requires more advance planning.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 19:53:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ok my Cap1 statement cut. I had a zero balance for a few weeks but somehow it reported $8.55 as the balance ($5 of that is the AF). I immediately PIF'd.

So I think Cap1 told me the statement balance is what they will report. In that case, will there ever be a way to have a 0 balance report?

Am I paying interest on the $5 AF?

I was so excited to see the effect this 0 balance would have on my scores and now it doesn't look like it will happen. ;(

if you want it to report 0 balance just send then you balance plus 5.00 or whatever the fee is before statement cuts, lets say you have a 100 balance and the fee is 5 send then 105 so when they add the 5 fee the balance will be 0

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

taxi818 — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:36:45 GMT

Cap. 1 does not have card that charge. 5 af each month. So I'm not
Sure if op knows what he is talking about.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:48:30 GMT

@taxi818 wrote:
Cap. 1 does not have card that charge. 5 af each month. So I'm not
Sure if op knows what he is talking about.

Cap One has some old cards (from Orchard maybe) that have an annual fee of $59, which may be payable monthly.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 23:41:57 GMT

Hahaha. I wish I didn't have this card. It's a Cap1 platinum with $500 balance and a $60 annual fee, which is charged $5 per month.

Had it since 2008 so it's helping my AAoA and I don't want to close it. I've never had a CLI or asked to waive fee.

For a long time I thought credit cards were bad so I closed several with much higher CLs and kept this one for emergencies.

Last statement I had a balance so I guess it's just residual interest from that before I PIF'd. I'll pay $5 next month even though it's at zero.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 23:43:25 GMT

Shoot, not $500 balance, $500 limit 0 balance. Can't edit on phone.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

jm1991 — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 00:26:26 GMT

i had a similar question...lets say my last stament balance was 250. So i keep using my card throught the billing sycle and before the payment due date my outstanding balance is now 1000. If i make a payment of $800 and have a balance of 200 reporting for the next billing cycle is that considered paying in full? I paid more than what my statement balance was but i did not 0 it out.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

red259 — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 00:43:30 GMT

@jm1991 wrote:
i had a similar question...lets say my last stament balance was 250. So i keep using my card throught the billing sycle and before the payment due date my outstanding balance is now 1000. If i make a payment of $800 and have a balance of 200 reporting for the next billing cycle is that considered paying in full? I paid more than what my statement balance was but i did not 0 it out.

Yes, in your scenario you would only need to pay $250 by the due date to PIF in that cycle. PIF means paying the full amount of the balance that is due by the due date.

Re: How exactly does PIF work?

jm1991 — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 01:16:46 GMT

thank you for the clarafication.