Due date. Anyone know WHY they only let you pick certain dates?

[Anonymous]

I have 4 cards and I'm trying to get it to where they are all due on the 15th. I suceeded with 3 of them, but on one they are giving me a choice of the 4th, the 12th, the 16th, the 22nd. I picked the 16th, because that's the closest. Being off a day is not a huge deal...... I'm just wondering why they don't let you pick ANY day that you want?

(It's Capital One, if anyone is curious)

[Anonymous]

If I had to guess, they want to keep their processing numbers as consistent as possible. They dont want to process and send 35k statements on day and 5k the next.. It's most efficient to process as close to the same amount each day of the month.. What is 'available' is whatever days they currently have lower volumes to process..

[Anonymous]

I've wondered the same thing and was trying to match Cap One with Discover's and ended up having to be a day different there as well.  The thought that it has something to do with batch processing is an interesting one and makes sense.

[elim]

On a side note, If you use myFICO for monitoring it compliments the service to let your cards report about a week apart as any balance changes will trigger a score pull. I let my balances report (firmly planted) and have due dates spread throughout the month. I get mega alerts.

Prism Bills and Money alerts me when one is due and I just swipe my phone to pay.

[Anonymous]

I sort of figured that that's what it was. So.....If a million people wanted their due date on the 15th, the servers would probably crash trying to keep up with the traffic. 

[Anonymous]

Omg! I've been having the same issue! Amex won't give me the 24th and I've been trying for months! So annoying!

[zerofire]

Capital One uses computers for a lot of what they do. Cutting statements is one of those things. It is a good practice to balance out the daily workload to make sure that the system that cuts statements and processes payments does not take too long to handle the daily load. Also imagine all the people that that have to cut open your envelope and stamp the check. They too can only handle so many. Also you have to remember that there is a minimum time (21 days) that has to be between due date and statement date and giving you too long will cause you to forget. The idea of adjusting dates seams easy but banks are usually bending over sideways when they allow you to change them.

[redpat]

I use my own due date so I never have to worry about them.  I pay all my cards on the 25th of the month the same month that my statements cut, My last statement is the 15th.

Auto reminder on phone "Pay cards" one day a month and done.