@DaveSignal wrote:
@TRC_WA wrote:
@NoAnchoviesPlease wrote:The other thing to note is that if you didn't PIF last month and you do PIF this month, you'll still get charged some interest. So you may want to overpay a little bit.
I PIFed my accounts last month and ended up with 3-4 pocket change balances reported, which of course contributed to an AA for "too many accounts carrying a balance" despite the fact that they didn't even add up to $20.
Same here... Got that same excuse on a recent CLI request even though said balances across all cards in question was less than $10... That's what I get for making small purchases so a statement is generated and I get another monthly payment added to my history.
Also learned GECRB will not generate a statement if you have a $0 balance.
I don't currently have any GECRB cards, but I bet a statement would generate if you charged something during the month and then paid it before the statement. They probably just don't issue a statement when there is no activity at all.
You're probably right. As I recall I didn't have any usage that month. Will have to try what you said...
@Anonymous wrote:
@DaveSignal wrote:
@NoAnchoviesPlease wrote:The first time you PIF, assuming you don't always PIF, you get residual interest on the next statement, to my understanding. At least that's what I saw in my case.
Well, you are being charged interest for each day that the unpaid balance continues past the statement date... this is not billed until the next statement.
But you are also being charged interest on all new purchases from the day that they post until the next statement.
When you pay the next statment in full, you reinstate your grace period and will no longer be charged interest for new purchases.
It might be a confusion in the wording here, but I wanted to clarify that you ARE billed interest each day after the statement date if a balance is carried over... UNTIL the account is paid in full. On the day the previous balance is paid in full, interest stops, including on new purchases.
So if your statement date is May 20 and you carried a balance of $100 over, and you PIF on May 25, you will be billed for 5 days of interest on that unpaid balance. Any new purchases made between that period will be assessed interest until May 25. Any new purchases made AFTER May 25 will not be billed any interest.
Source: Supervisor at a CCC and explaining (and usually waiving) residual interest is 20% of my every day life. Haha.
Thanks isuspectnargles. I hadn't thought about the grace period reset, tended to think in terms of whole months although I knew I'd pay less interest on the previous balance.
I'm going from carrying a balance for 7 years on most of my cards, to having paid off all but my newest card. And I saw the interest through the proverbial May 25 from your example, when I PIF'ed a couple of smaller accounts in the last 6 weeks.
I don't think it's unreasonable to overpay a few bucks to get to zero balances. It's not deceiving or defrauding anyone, although some might say it's dumb to loan a credit card company $3 for a week (it's far from the dumbest thing most of us have probably done 
). I'm okay with paying interest for the time I owe it, but I'd rather not have the ding on my report for a month after I've paid and sock-drawered a card..
If I can get to very few accounts reporting a balance, and get in the habit of PIF or at worst carrying balances briefly on very few cards, I'll be happy.
@NoAnchoviesPlease wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@DaveSignal wrote:
@NoAnchoviesPlease wrote:The first time you PIF, assuming you don't always PIF, you get residual interest on the next statement, to my understanding. At least that's what I saw in my case.
Well, you are being charged interest for each day that the unpaid balance continues past the statement date... this is not billed until the next statement.
But you are also being charged interest on all new purchases from the day that they post until the next statement.
When you pay the next statment in full, you reinstate your grace period and will no longer be charged interest for new purchases.
It might be a confusion in the wording here, but I wanted to clarify that you ARE billed interest each day after the statement date if a balance is carried over... UNTIL the account is paid in full. On the day the previous balance is paid in full, interest stops, including on new purchases.
So if your statement date is May 20 and you carried a balance of $100 over, and you PIF on May 25, you will be billed for 5 days of interest on that unpaid balance. Any new purchases made between that period will be assessed interest until May 25. Any new purchases made AFTER May 25 will not be billed any interest.
Source: Supervisor at a CCC and explaining (and usually waiving) residual interest is 20% of my every day life. Haha.
Thanks isuspectnargles. I hadn't thought about the grace period reset, tended to think in terms of whole months although I knew I'd pay less interest on the previous balance.
I'm going from carrying a balance for 7 years on most of my cards, to having paid off all but my newest card. And I saw the interest through the proverbial May 25 from your example, when I PIF'ed a couple of smaller accounts in the last 6 weeks.
I don't think it's unreasonable to overpay a few bucks to get to zero balances. It's not deceiving or defrauding anyone, although some might say it's dumb to loan a credit card company $3 for a week (it's far from the dumbest thing most of us have probably done
If I can get to very few accounts reporting a balance, and get in the habit of PIF or at worst carrying balances briefly on very few cards, I'll be happy.
Totally agree on all points. And you are more than welcome to overpay the account a few dollars. And then if you're off a few cents, you can call up the company and force them to take the expense of mailing you a $0.31 check 
It always feels nice when you stick it to big corporations. (And hey, I get paid by one that I'm very happy to work at and I still feel that way!)
We are snowballing our debts right now, I did the same thing as you about carrying high balances. For awhile I didn't have a choice... by the time I'd paid the cards there was no money left, so my living expenses went right back on the cards and they were always hovering within $100 or so of the CL. For now I am focusing on PIF my new cards and snowballing my old ones. All the cards with the exception of my Navy Fed will be paid in November and then we'll start on my car note and student loans! Woohoo! Anyway, I will be PIF on all cards in the not too distant future and I'll probably try to keep overall util down by watching the statement balance as well. Good luck!
@DaveSignal wrote:It should be noted that paying ahead of time (ie: before the statement) is not normal and is a trick to increase FICO score. You won't get charged interest if you pay the statement balance by the due date every month... thats all you have to do. If you don't pay every month, it isn't really "residual interest" that you are charged. You simply lose your grace period by not paying in full by the due date, therefore, interest will be added to all new purchases from the date they post. Once you PIF by the due date for 2 consecutive months, you now again have a grace period.
+1
@NoAnchoviesPlease wrote:
@dave024 wrote:
@NoAnchoviesPlease wrote:
I PIFed my accounts last month and ended up with 3-4 pocket change balances reported, which of course contributed to an AA for "too many accounts carrying a balance" despite the fact that they didn't even add up to $20.
What creditor took adverse action against you for having $20 in balances? Also what action did they take? I carry thousands of dollars in balances accross several cards and I haven't had any adverse action in well over five years. In fact I am getting CLIs, and pre-approvals for new accounts. I would like to know who I should stay away from.
AA may have been the wrong term, but I had a CLI declined by BofA specifying lates from 2 years ago as well as "too many accounts with balances." The decline specified the FICO score and such so I figured it was an AA.
I realize that the reasons given aren't always equal or even precise. I know that the lates 2 years ago are more likely to be higher in their consideration than a few sub-$20 balances. Just saying that if you're heading into a case where someone may look not-so-closely (i.e. automatically) and see the number of accounts with balances, it can be worth compensating for the last month's interest.
+1 Never precise.
Thats the name of the game, when it comes to the plastics.
@xerostatus wrote:There seems to be a bit of confusion here, with the original question at hand being how to get cards to report zero, and then someone also mentioned residual interest, etc. These are two entirely separate issues altogether.
To simplify the concept, there are 4 main things that you ought to be concerned with: Current Balance, Statement Balance, Payment Due Date, and Statement Cut Date.
If you want to PIF to avoid paying interest each month, it's simple: Pay the full sum of the Statement Balance before the Payment Due Date. However, your statement balance each month WILL in fact be reported. (i.e. will not accomplish 0% util). But, insofar as interest goes, as long as you do pay your full statement balance before your payment due date, then you will not be charged any interest.
If you want to PIF to both avoid paying interest AND cut a 0 balance (i.e. 0% util), then you have to pay the entire sum of your CURRENT balance (which would be your posted charges + your statement balance - any payments you made prior) before the statement cut date.
You will notice, that if you cycle through each month by paying-in-full before statement cut date, that your "statement balance" will perpetually be zero, and you will also see that your "minimum payment due" will also be perpetually zero, since you're paying in full even before the statement cuts.
+1, This is where your "grace period" kicks in....Assuming you had a "0" previous balance.
@black_citi wrote:
Ok I am a little confused lol. I want my cc balance to report zero as well and this thread brings up a great question.
I have 3 cards. Only one has a balance. The highest balance on my card was $492. I had to pay at least the minimum ($25) by may 15. I paid $392 on april 23 and left $100 on there. The card is Citi diamond and has a $1000 CL with 0% interest for 12 months (I have 8 months left).
I can pay that $100 on may 7, 8 days before the due date. At that point the card will have a zero balance. But I am wondering, when I gave the 392 on april 23 did Citi report that? When I give that 100 dollars on the 7th will they report it as zero or $100 since I paid that $392 first and they only report once per statement period?
You are confused because you are not understanding how "grace period" works.....once u understand what grace period is, really, its simple as pimple.