statement question

[thrasher865]

So, I'm sick of having to quit using a card for 3 or 4 days around the statement date. 

I want to know.  If I have, say $150 show up as the statement amount, and I make a payment of exactly the statement amount, but then some other charges show up before the payment...  Am I gonna get hit with finance charges for those?  Should I keep waiting for all purchases to show up before I PIF after the statement date?  Or can I keep charging and just pay the "statement amount?"

[haulingthescoreup]

The only things that would incur finance charges would be what shows up on the statement.

I think you're talking about what happens if some of your payments cross new charges? Again, if they didn't show up on that month's statement, you don't have to pay them that month if you don't want, and the interest clock shouldn't be ticking. Once they show up next month, you'll need to pay. (Hope I read your post correctly.)

[thrasher865]

yeah, but I was thinking since they apply payments to lower interest balances, would they have the balls to apply part of a payment clearly intended to cover the entire statement balance onto some of the newer charges, so that technically not all of the previous statement balance was paid?

I think I might have gotten people doing the dance to keep statements from showing up on CRs mixed up with trying to keep from paying finance charges.  But to be safe, I've always stopped using a PIF card for 2 or 3 days before I make the payment before I pay it so that all charges show up, then paying the "outstanding balance" instead of the "statement balance."  I should expect that "statement balance" would be the amount to pay to not incur finance charges, but CCCs are quite sneaky creatures sometimes.

Message Edited by thrasher865 on 07-13-2008 04:30 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

??

Confused, why do you have two different levels of interest going?

[thrasher865]

no no no.  I was comparing the practice of applying payments to lower interest balances to applying them to balances that would not be incurring interest, vs those from the previous month that would.  The art of applying payments in whatever way will screw the consumer the most.  I was saying that if I had a statement balance of $150, but at the time of paying this $150, my outstanding balance was $200, they could apply $50 of the payment to the new charges so that I really only paid $100 of last months balance.  So then I'd get hit with finance charges on $50 worth of purchases.

I'm hoping they don't stoop this low.  I have 2 statements on the 17th and 1 on the 18th, so it's a pain to try to quit using all three of those cards for a few days.  I'm hoping that what I'm doing is a result of paranoia, and as long as I don't care about a few dollars posting to my CRs I can keep using at least one of them while waiting for my statement to post.

[SCF]

I finally see what you're saying thrasher, and while I wouldn't put it past a CCC to try to do this, I don't think they can. It would make very little sense for them to apply a payment on a balance that is not yet due before one that is already due. They'd be effectively manipulating "when" (by forward dating some part of your payment to the next statement) they get your payment in order to make you late, and I'm pretty sure that's fraud of some sort.

I've never heard of a CCC or any loan company doing something like that, and if they do, I'd think you have the makings a of serious complaint or even a lawsuit. Imagine if creditors chose to do something similar with installment loans, it would be an awesome way to generate late fees, and lawsuits.

[Anonymous]

No, thrasher, they don't do that.  For balances at the same interest tier, they apply payments to the oldest charges first.

So if you are carrying a balance from one month to the next, as long as you pay the amount from one statement by the due date on that statement, you won't incur any finance charges.  They won't apply that payment to any new charges that haven't appeared on a statement until prior statement balances are paid off.

They don't do that because the T&C say you have a grace period on new charges.  They have to honor that.

Is that what you're getting at?

[thrasher865]

Exactly.  Thanks.