Citi Posting Dates

[Matt9543]

Hey everyone,

I have some questions about Citi and their posting periods.

I have the Citi ThankYou Preferred card right now and I have noticed that over the last month it's been taking an average of 4 to 5 days for a charge to change from pending to posted, but then if I look in the details, it says it posts the same day as the transaction date, but I know for a fact that it isn't posting that same day. The only thing that it has been annoying me on is that I want to pay off the balance on my card, but because it's not a posted balance, their system won't let me pay it. Has anybody else been having these issues? 

[UpperNwGuy]

I'd recommend paying the statement balance soon after the statement cuts.  That way you won't have to worry about all the posting dates for individual transactions.

Another approach is to pay the current balance on the 15th and the 30th of each month regardless of the due date.  Just like the first method, you won't have to worry about the posting status of each transaction.

[Loquat]

OP,

The timing in which a charge post is dependent upon the merchant.  Lots of things stay in pending status...some longer than others.  The transaction date and post date will rarely change with Citi (if ever).  If you're wanting to pay for a transaction right after you make it then I would suggest using a Bill Payment service from your financial institution.  Pushing a payment eliminates the need to wait for a payment to post.  If you payment arrives before the charge post then you'll have a credit on your account...once the charge post then it'll cancel out the credit.

This would be the method I would choose if you want to continue to always be one step ahead of the charge.  Use bill pay and you'll never have to worry about when a charge post and it'll always cancel out the credit thus leaving you with a constant $0 balance.  

[mikesonthemend]

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@Loquat wrote:

OP,

The timing in which a charge post is dependent upon the merchant.  Lots of things stay in pending status...some longer than others.  The transaction date and post date will rarely change with Citi (if ever).  If you're wanting to pay for a transaction right after you make it then I would suggest using a Bill Payment service from your financial institution.  Pushing a payment eliminates the need to wait for a payment to post.  If you payment arrives before the charge post then you'll have a credit on your account...once the charge post then it'll cancel out the credit.

This would be the method I would choose if you want to continue to always be one step ahead of the charge.  Use bill pay and you'll never have to worry about when a charge post and it'll always cancel out the credit thus leaving you with a constant $0 balance.  

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AMEX rep gave me these exact instructions, with the caveat to not use the card for a few days after I placed the "zero out" payment.

[zerofire]

I would like to remind you that a credit card is not a debit card. You only have to pay everything to 0 by the statement date for it to be reported as 0 unless you have an Elan backend. Everything that hit the statement is due on the due date which is 21-28 days later. All of this still is at 0% interest unless you miss paying everything on the due date.

[Matt9543]

See, I understand the point behind not having to pay unless it posts, but it always finds itself posting by the closing date. If it's charged the day of the closing date, it will post that date. Otherwise, it takes 4-5 days for it to post normally.

[kdm31091]

There's obviously nothing you can do to speed up the posting of transactions, so I suggest you just try not to stress over it. There is no reason to rush and pay off charges immediately. One of the benefits of credit is that it allows you time to pay without interest - several weeks of float. There is no benefit to paying early, unless the charges are going to max out your card and spike utilization unacceptably. Just keep the money liquid until the payment is required.

If you really do want to pay periodically, I like the above sugggestion of the 15th and 30th of the month if you want to keep your balance down.

You can push a payment from your bank instead of having Citi pull it via their website, and then Citi has to accept the payment when they recieve it. Again, I don't see any benefit in constantly paying, but if it makes you feel better to do so, that's an option.

[SBR249]

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@Matt9543 wrote:

See, I understand the point behind not having to pay unless it posts, but it always finds itself posting by the closing date. If it's charged the day of the closing date, it will post that date. Otherwise, it takes 4-5 days for it to post normally.

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So what is your motivation behind trying to pay everything as soon as it posts? Are you trying to keep reported utilization low? Are you trying to stay on top of your spending as you go along? Is your CL limiting your spending if you don't pay charges down as soon as they post? 

If you are trying to manage reported statement balances, then the best way to do it is to push payments so that you either keep your account balance in credit or close to it. Another way is to just stop using your card for the week before the statement cut date. In the end, utilization has no memory and micromanaging it has very little benefit unless you are actually apping for credit, even then, the benefit is usually very marginal. 

If you are trying to keep on top of spending, I recommend a program that tracks spending or even an excel spreadsheet. 

If it's your CL that's limiting your flexibility, then you can likely move to a schedule where you pay everything off every X days or so. Unless your CL really is THAT limiting that you have to do it daily. 

Bottom line, sounds like this is causing you way more distress than it should. Pick a strategy and implement and don't think about it too much. 

[Matt9543]

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@SBR249 wrote:

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So what is your motivation behind trying to pay everything as soon as it posts?  

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I was getting near that end of my statement period and just wanted to have it report as zero. I agree, I'm probably stressing out more than I should, I just created the post to get input because I thought it was weird how they recently got slower at posting transactions, but still labeled the posted date as the same day.