Your Credit Questions and Answers

Most of us never even think about our Credit Card Statement date.  However it can make a big difference in the timing of how you pay your bills.  Credit Card Statement Date This can be an important date depending on when you get paid or when you normally charge items.  Normally the statement date is 30 days after the day the credit card company issued the card.  So this can be virtually any day of the month except the 29,30,31 as all months don’t have those days.   Where to find Your Credit Card Statement Date This is the last day that charges are included on your bill for the last month. At the top of your statement it will state the time period that this bill includes. Changing the Statement Date I changed my statement date to give me the longest float and grace period to pay my Credit Card. You can change your statement date with most credit card issuers.  It will usually take two months and cannot be done more than once a year.   It is very easy, call your credit card issuer and

Do Not make Just the Minimum Credit Card Payment If you only make the minimum payment you are in effect getting a loan from your credit card company.  This is a very very bad idea. How the minimum Credit Card payment keeps you broke It doesn’t seem like much money for interest, the first time you just make the minimum payment.  You find yourself $500 or $50 short so you just make the minimum payment.  Interest and Balance add up Quick You now lose both the float and the interest free grace period. You are now just like 60% of credit card holders who carry a balance.  It is so easy to let the balance ride and not get around to paying it down.  If you ever listen to a Dave Ramsey radio broadcast you will hear a ton of people telling stories of how their credit got away from them.   Carrying just a $500 Balance is Expensive Here is an Example of carrying a $500 balance on your card. You carry a $500 balance and you spend $800 per month for gas and groceries on the card every month but pay

  Should I just close the account?  Will the late payment continue to show on my account? When I did not know better that is what I would have done.  The problem is your late payments will stay on your credit history for seven years on your account if you close the account.  It is unlikely you will be able to get the late payment taken off if you no longer have a business relationship with the company you were late with the payment.   ****My OOPs:  I had a Credit Card with Lowes that I did not have set up on autopay.  I missed a payment as I forgot I had charged something on it.  I owed them around $100.  I missed a payment and it showed up on my credit report.  Before the missed payment I was at 780.  The missed payment lowered me to 725.  I did not panic.  I paid the bill as soon as I realized I missed the payment.  I did not try to eliminate the late payment fee. My goal is to get the late payment removed, I don't care about this $10.00 fee. I then charged a couple of items on

This page links to all of the Articles in the Blog. Credit Basics What is Credit?   What is difference between your Credit Report, Fico Score, and your Credit Karma Score? Why is your Credit Score Important? How are Credit Scores Calculated? Where to get your Credit Report/Score for Free Why are Credit Cards Important? Debit Card Advantages and Disadvantages Debit Card Debacle Debit Card Fees The Credit Card Minimum Payment Trap Student Loans and Debt Building Credit Building Credit with No Credit History What is a Secured Credit Card? Secure Credit card Special Note What is a Credit Builder Loan? What is an Authorized User? How do Airline Miles work?    How to choose a Bank or Credit Union Managing your Credit No Grace Period or Float for You Managing your Credit Cards with Auto pay Credit Card Cash Advances Zero Percent Credit Card Offers The Tenth/Twenty-fifth Credit Card Game OOPS I missed a Payment How the Minimum Credit Card Payment will Break You Credit Card Statement Dates Neve

 This is a Credit Card Use Game to get the most float out of your credit cards. I have one card that has the statement date of the Tenth of the month and another card with the statement date of the Twentyfifth of the month.  Any purchases I make on the Eleventh of the month to the twentyfifth, I make on the card with the statement date of the tenth.  Any purchases I make from the twenty sixth through the tenth I make on my credit card with the 25th statement date. My cards I have on autopay and they pay ten days after the statement date.   This is a very simple game to setup and it gets me maximum float on my purchases.   You can change the statement date on any of your credit cards.  It will often take two months for the change to fully take effect.   This worked really well when I was spending a lot of money on my credit cards for my business.  It is a simple game that gets maximum float. If you only use one credit card you can benefit a little if you put off buying gas or making a s

  How Autopay works Autopay automatically takes money from a checking or saving account and applies it to your Credit Card payment or loan.  It is a little different with different credit card companies.  Some will require you to send in a signed payment transfer from your checking account.  Others you can sign up online.  You can sign up and autopay the whole balance, or just the minimum payment.  You can turn it off  or change from minimum to total balance at any time once you set it up. Usually you can set up Autopay with your Credit Card company to make the payment ten to fifteen days after your statement date. If you might not always have enough money in your checking account to make the whole payment, it is still a really good idea to have the minimum payment come out of your checking or savings every month. My Autopay Solution This is my solution for making credit card payments on time. I have over a dozen different credit cards. I have auto-pay set up on all of them.  I never w

 There are several fine print qualifiers on the Zero Percent Credit Card Offers.  With good credit in time you will get a lot of these offers. With a brand new card with a Zero Percent Offer you will be able to write a check or charge items on your card to start the Zero Percent Offer.     Usually there will be a t hree percent origination fee if you choose to write a check.  Sometimes if you charge the amount you are going to get the Zero Percent loan on you will not have to pay the three percent fee.  Three percent is not Zero Interest but what can you do? Small Business Using Zero Percent Credit Card Offers When I owned a small business, several times I used these Zero Percent Offers to buy inventory.  I had set up auto-pay so the payments were always made on time.  I also kept the offer from the credit card company in a file.  I would write down the date I received the offer and the date I used it.  I would track the terms of the loan and when I would have to pay it off to make sur

Cash Advances on Credit Cards Cash Advances do not get Float or Grace period. If you take a cash advance on your Credit Card interest will start being calculated the day the cash advance is processed. You will not get the float or the grace period on the cash advance and some card issuers will not give you float or a grace period on other charges you made after the cash advance. Cash Advance Special Promotions Sometimes in special promotions you can get a cash advance with zero interest. However there is always a "processing fee" usually of 3% or $5 whichever is larger. The interest free period on most of the zero interest promotions will be 12 to 18 months. However with most of these offers if you miss a payment your rate will jump to your normal rate on this card of 16-25 percent. My History with Zero Interest Credit Card Offers I used to buy inventory for my business with credit cards. I would often get Zero Interest offers from some of my cards. Usually they had a t

  NO GRACE PERIOD OR FLOAT FOR YOU That is right you do not get a grace period or float on your purchases if you did not pay off your credit card last month. What is Float ? If you have a zero balance on your credit card and you charge an item, Float is the time period after you charge an item until your statement prints.  Actually your payment becomes due on the statement date.   What is a Grace Period ?  After the statement prints you have at least 21 days (federal consumer protection laws) until the payment is past due this is your grace period.  The 21 days is your interest free grace period.  If you pay within the grace period you will not be charged interest as long as you paid your card in full last month.  If you do not pay within the grace period interest will be calculated from the statement date which is 21 days earlier! Who gets the Grace Period ? If you paid off your credit card last month you will not be charged interest until 21 days after statement date as long as you p