Question about Autopaying the Minimum

[dlister70]

I've been paying my credit cards in full each month, but I've been doing so by manually going to each website and paying it when my paycheck deposits.

I'm afraid that I'll forget one at some point, so I wanted to set up autopay to pay the minimum on the due date in the event that I haven't made a payment.

What happens if I PIF prior to the due date?  Does the autopay just do nothing, or does it still try to make a payment for what the minimum was when the statement cut?  For example, if I PIF when the statement comes out, but then make more charges prior to the due date, then there will be a balance there on the due date but I've already made my payment by PIF the statement balance.

Just curious how autopay works when you've already made the payment manually.

[Anonymous]

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wrote:

I've been paying my credit cards in full each month, but I've been doing so by manually going to each website and paying it when my paycheck deposits.

I'm afraid that I'll forget one at some point, so I wanted to set up autopay to pay the minimum on the due date in the event that I haven't made a payment.

What happens if I PIF prior to the due date?  Does the autopay just do nothing, or does it still try to make a payment for what the minimum was when the statement cut?  For example, if I PIF when the statement comes out, but then make more charges prior to the due date, then there will be a balance there on the due date but I've already made my payment by PIF the statement balance.

Just curious how autopay works when you've already made the payment manually.

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If you PIF before the auto payment date, then nothing will happen even if you have added new charges that will be reflected on next statement. 

Edit - I am mistaken.  There are some creditors noted below that will still take the auto payment 

Note that there are some creditors (Citi for example) that will still pull your auto payment even if you made an earlier payment that covered the minimum but did not pay off the statement balance.

[dlister70]

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If you PIF before the auto payment date, then nothing will happen even if you have added new charges that will be reflected on next statement. 

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Excellent.  That is what I was hoping would happen. 

[NRB525]

It depends on which bank the credit card was issued from. 

Some banks like PenFed and Bank of America have aggressive autopay. They will take the same amount every month, even if your CC is zero or negative. There may be a way to refine how BofA works, but I’ve been burned recently when I made a payment more than the minimum, expecting the autopay, and it skipped the autopay. 

AMEX and Citi are more consistent about taking only the autopay if you make other payments, or not taking it if nothing remains to pay. Capital One and US Bank are good about adjusting as well 

Chase only allows set-up of either Minimum or Full Pay.

So I would say it is an excellent idea to set up the autopay, but until you understand, from actual observation, how the bank handles that, do not rely on it. 

[Anonymous]

On all my accounts except one, autopay doesn't go through when the statement balance is paid before due date.

With my Comenity MasterCard account, they pull the minimum payment even if statement balance was PIF'd and charges have been made since statement cut. This just recently caused a $30 negative balance on my account. I had already paid my statement balance in full that month and then later paid off all charges shortly before statement cut date through a push from my bank. The minimum came out before the push payment went through and caused the negative balance.

[Anonymous]

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wrote:

It depends on which bank the credit card was issued from. 

Some banks like PenFed and Bank of America have aggressive autopay. They will take the same amount every month, even if your CC is zero or negative. There may be a way to refine how BofA works, but I’ve been burned recently when I made a payment more than the minimum, expecting the autopay, and it skipped the autopay. 

AMEX and Citi are more consistent about taking only the autopay if you make other payments, or not taking it if nothing remains to pay. Capital One and US Bank are good about adjusting as well 

Chase only allows set-up of either Minimum or Full Pay.

So I would say it is an excellent idea to set up the autopay, but until you understand, from actual observation, how the bank handles that, do not rely on it. 

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Yeah, forgot about BoA.  Caused me to have large negative balance

[LJ555]

Capital One will not process an autopayment if your balance is zero.

[Kree]

For Discover, if you make a payment less than the minimum, the full minimum gets charged. If you make a payment more than the minimum not autopay gets charged.

[arkane]

You may want to give this a read to make sure you don't overpay and/or overdraft: Which Banks Adjust Auto-pay to the Amount Owed?