First credit card... I'm confused on when I need to pay and when interest starts accuring

[Anonymous]

I have a credit card through my local CU, and they use gotomycard.com for the online portal for their MasterCard.

The payment due date says 5/25/12, but I never recieved an email or any mail from them on this date. I made a payment the day before the "due date" so my utilization was around 15%. When do I need to pay by so I don't accre any interest?

I signed up for paperless statements, why haven't I recieved any emails???

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a credit card through my local CU, and they use gotomycard.com for the online portal for their MasterCard.

The payment due date says 5/25/12, but I never recieved an email or any mail from them on this date. I made a payment the day before the "due date" so my utilization was around 15%. When do I need to pay by so I don't accre any interest?

I signed up for paperless statements, why haven't I recieved any emails???

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   In general, you need to pay the statement balance by the due date to avoid any interest.   So assuming you got statement on 4/30 for charges in April, that statement balance would have to be paid by 5/25 to avoid any interest.   The charges you make in May will show up on 5/30 statement and be due by 6/25 to avoid any interest. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a credit card through my local CU, and they use gotomycard.com for the online portal for their MasterCard.

The payment due date says 5/25/12, but I never recieved an email or any mail from them on this date. I made a payment the day before the "due date" so my utilization was around 15%. When do I need to pay by so I don't accre any interest?

I signed up for paperless statements, why haven't I recieved any emails???

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Shame on them for not sending you an email but I would always put a reminder alert on your phone or your computer so that you remind yourself.  Think about it why would they want you to pay them ontime when they get more money from you if they accidently forget to email you??  In my humble Opinion you should always pay a couple days early just so your giving it time to hit the system sometimes system maintenance or online upgrades can get in the way from you payment also weekends if your due date falls on an odd weekend and let's say your trying to pay on a sunday or something dosen't always work so just make  sure you give yourself some wiggle room for them to accept the payment and hit the system in time.  Don't worry about this month it's done and over with now just focus on getting back on track so that your always paying it off every month and don't get charged intrest. 

[Anonymous]

Check your spam filter, if it is not there, call them and check your email.  It could be either or...

[Anonymous]

I'm honestly really confused....

I was trying to get a util over 0% report, so I thought paying most of balance off before the due date was the correct way to do it?

Now it says:

Current Balance: $32.99

Last Statement Balance: $0.00

Minimum Payment Due: $0.00

Payment Due Date: 5/24/12

Last Payment Amount: $160

Last Payment Date: 5/23/12

How am I even suppose to manipulate my util% if it takes days for charges to apply to the current balance?

[LS2982]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a credit card through my local CU, and they use gotomycard.com for the online portal for their MasterCard.

The payment due date says 5/25/12, but I never recieved an email or any mail from them on this date. I made a payment the day before the "due date" so my utilization was around 15%. When do I need to pay by so I don't accre any interest?

I signed up for paperless statements, why haven't I recieved any emails???

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I would suggest calling the CU and getting the due date along with the statement closing date.

[Anonymous]

Find out when the CU reports to credit bureaus by calling and asking.  Most likely they report on statement date.  So you need to pay before the statement is generated if you want it to report lower util.  Pay by Due Date to avoid interest. 

[bichonmom]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm honestly really confused....

I was trying to get a util over 0% report, so I thought paying most of balance off before the due date was the correct way to do it?

Now it says:

Current Balance: $32.99

Last Statement Balance: $0.00

Minimum Payment Due: $0.00

Payment Due Date: 5/24/12

Last Payment Amount: $160

Last Payment Date: 5/23/12

How am I even suppose to manipulate my util% if it takes days for charges to apply to the current balance?

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This doesn't usually matter. With most CCs, it's the payment date that matters. So, let's say you pay on the 10th, the pmt will be dated the 10th, even if your balance doesn't reflect the pmt until the 12th.

You can call you CU to be sure, but in general, pmts will be reflected based on the date you pay them. If you're trying to pay BEFORE the stmt cuts, for your FICO, then I'd call your CU and ask them how long it will take for a pmt to be reflected on the balance if you want your stmt to report a zero balance. I've done this for most of my cards, just to be sure. With some I've been able to make the pmt the same day, but with others, it has to be a day or 2 before the stmt date. Walmart is the slowest, and needs to be paid several day before the stmt date. So, it does depend on how your CU does it.

When paying AFTER the stmt cuts, I ALWAYS make sure my pmts made at least 2 to 3 days BEFORE the due date, just so I'm covered in case there is a problem. Also, I pay attn to weekends and holidays. Like this month, one of my CCs was due on 5/28. I didn't even realize that it was a holiday when I scheduled the pmt. Fortunately, because I always give myself the leeway, I had scheduled the pmt for the 25th. If I had scheduled it for the 28th (w/o realizing the holiday), the pmt would have been late, because it would have been dated the next biz day, which is 5/29.

Even tho the pmt may not clear until after 5/28 (because of wknd & holiday), it does not change the fact that the pmt is on time and my stmt bal w/reflect the pmt.

From what you have posted, it looks like they will report a bal of $32.99 to the CRA. (Unless you made those purchases after the stmt cut, which I can't tell from the info.)

[kimmiller112]

Most of my credit cards are paperless statements and I don't get email reminders.  You should know when your due dates are and not rely on the company to tell you.

[annielorie]

I also would recommend a sticky note on computer or calender or set up for automatic payments on the date that gets you to 0 before the statement cuts.