Credit card?

Question

I'm a little confused about the billing cycle of my credit card. I don't use my credit card very often, so I think that's why I'm a little confused. My account is set up for my credit card payments to be due on the 7th of every month of the billing cycle. I know the billing cycle is about a month, but I still don't understand it very well. For example, I made a purchase on the 17th of January and another on the 19th of January. That was it. My statement came out and said that my payment for my purchases was not due until the 7th of March. Isn't that longer than a month's time between my purchases and my statement? I paid my balance in full on February 21st. Then, I made another purchase on February 28th, and I am wanting to make another purchase, but if I do does that mean my payment for both purchases will be due on the 7th of April or the 7th of May? If anyone can understand my question (I know it might be confusing), PLEASE help!! Thank you!!

Answer 1

Your statement should have two dates. One is the payment due date (in your case the 7th) and the other should be a closing date (probably around the 12th.) You already understand the payment due date. That's the day the bill is due.

The closing date is the one you care about. IF your closing date is the 12th, then all purchases made through that date will be on this statement.

For example, on Jan 11 you make a purchase of shoes for $65. On Jan 13 you buy gas for $22. You get your bill on the 20th and it must be paid by Feb 7. This statement will say you owe $65. That's because the gas was purchased after your closing date. The $22 will show up on the bill you get on Feb 20th and is due on Mar 7. If you time your purchases you can get almost two months before the bill is due.

Answer 2

I sold/worked with credit cards for approx. 2 years. This is not as confusing as you may think. Billing cycles for most credit card are typically 28 days. So if you have it set up that your payments are ALWAYS do on the same day (they will usually rotate following the billing period), then this may caus eyour statements to "overlap". They actually aren't over laping, you will see on the bill what expenses you've incurred, but they are typically about a month behind.

Also a thing to remember is that once you recieve a staement, you still don't have to pay that for about 2-3.5 weeks, making it seem like they are really far behind, or being really aggressive (ie you wait until the last minute.)

Just wait until you get into interest (if yiou haven't already) like 2 cycle daily balance methods (they will take the previous 2 cycles, total them and divide by 2, then apply the interest to that amunt, fun huh?)

You think credit cards are simple, everyday things, when in-fact they get thousands of people in trouble (People in the Northeast carry the largest credit card balances with an average of $3,527 each. Those in the Midwest have the smallest average balances with $1,712. Individuals in the South have an average of $1,929 on their cards and those in the West carry an average balance of $2,524.)

I don't think I totally answered your question, but I hope this helped.

Answer 3

The billing cycle is one month so from Jan 7th to Feb 7 would be the bill and you have one month to pay it and that wouls be March 7. However if you pay the bill before the cycle is over (Feb 7) most companies will not charge you interest. Therefore the cycle for the later purchases will end on March 7th making them due on April 7th.

Answer 4

be careful