CC Statement Date & Paying Off at End of Month

Jakestar

Hi all,

A thread I should have started ages, I make all my daily purchases on a credit card and pay off in full at the end of the month. Currently I manually do this (I get paid second to last working day, when I do, the credit card gets paid off.. wait a few days untill the payment has gone through and balance is £0 then start using again for another month).

This is fine, it would just be ideal if I could get it automate! In the past I tried this but found that due to my statement date being something like the 12th of the month, paying off the credit card was completely out of sync with my salary going in, and if I wasnt careful if I used the card on the 11th, the charge didnt go onto the card untill the 12th, the direct debit wouldnt cover that.

So effectively, I was always behind with what was owed and it was completely out of sync. is the following possible:

- Change my statement date to last working day of the month
- Change the date a direct debit (pay balance in full) payment is taken from whatever it currently is, to the last working day of the month?

If I could achieve the above, I could go back to paying the balance off by direct debit!

If the above is possible, am I correct in thinking that as long as I didnt use the CC for say 2 - 3 working days before the end of the month, the direct debit would caputre the whole balance?

The key thing is I need t know where Im at with living costs on the card vs salary then the rest goes to savings, this does not work if the direct debit never caputes the whole months balance!

Cheers

dobsoncrew

If you pay it off by direct debit it should take the whole of the statement amount

Jakestar

Your right, it did take the whole of the statement amount come to think of it.

So if I can change the statement date thr problem will be resolved. Is this an industry norm to be able to change, or are the fixed at the providers preference?!

dzug1

Many providers are willing to change the statement date - though they normally quote a range of dates rather than a specific one.

YorkshireBoy

Jakestar wrote: »

Is this an industry norm to be able to change, or are the fixed at the providers preference?!

You can request a statement date (to give the desired payment due date) during the activation call.

dzug1 wrote:

Many providers are willing to change the statement date - though they normally quote a range of dates rather than a specific one.

I've never come across that before. Indeed, all my statement dates (on every card I've had over the last 6 years or so...some 20+ of them!) have been set so the DD is collected on the 5th of the month.

Some have said only one change per year is allowed. One (can't remember which) said they'll do it as many times as you want, but will charge a fee for 2nd and subsequent changes. But, as I say, none have stopped me from choosing my own statement date.

pqrdef

There's always going to be a gap between the statement date and the due date. Usually it's about 20 days. But they won't increase it or reduce it.

The direct debit will always be timed to complete on the due date. But it will only take the balance as shown on the statement. It won't look at any spending you've done in the 20-odd days since the statement date.

If you want to reduce the running balance to 0, you can only do that manually.

Jakestar

pqrdef wrote: »

There's always going to be a gap between the statement date and the due date. Usually it's about 20 days. But they won't increase it or reduce it.

The direct debit will always be timed to complete on the due date. But it will only take the balance as shown on the statement. It won't look at any spending you've done in the 20-odd days since the statement date.

If you want to reduce the running balance to 0, you can only do that manually.

That has pretty much summed up what I was trying to explain in my long winded first post!! It's the gap between statement and due date that I wanted to eliminate, as I want a 0 balance at the 1st of the month inline with salary being paid in but want the statement date to be the last day of the month. Clearly this isn't possible so I shall continue to pay manually each month

CLAPTON

Jakestar wrote: »

That has pretty much summed up what I was trying to explain in my long winded first post!! It's the gap between statement and due date that I wanted to eliminate, as I want a 0 balance at the 1st of the month inline with salary being paid in but want the statement date to be the last day of the month. Clearly this isn't possible so I shall continue to pay manually each month

whateve is the benefit is it to do this?

why does it matter that the balance is zero on the 1st of the month?

as long as you are in control of your spending how does it affect you?

Jakestar

CLAPTON wrote: »

whateve is the benefit is it to do this?

why does it matter that the balance is zero on the 1st of the month?

as long as you are in control of your spending how does it affect you?

Its so that I know I have paid off last months spending. An example:

31/01/11 - Salary goes in (money for all spending / saving for 02/11). e.g. £1000.
01/02/11 - Savings go out e.g. £200.
So I have £800 for the month to spend in total
01/02/11 - 30/02/11 - money spent (all spending on credit card) e.g. £650

In the above example I would have a surplus of £150 for Feburary 2011 which I would then put into the ISA. This isnt budgeted for, its extra Ive been able to save during the month.

The cycle then repeats when I get paid on last working day of the month. Therefore the credit card gets paid off on the 1st day of each month. If I didnt have a 0 balance at the beginning of the month, I would not be able to identify if I managed to save an extra during the month!

Maybe I just look at it a little weird.. but it makes sense for me! If the direct debit came out during the month, or I didnt have a 0 balance, I would never end up saving any extra, as I wouldnt know how much id spent i the month (and it would just get spent on other things).

Is this logical or am I just bonkers? :rotfl:

CLAPTON

Jakestar wrote: »

Its so that I know I have paid off last months spending. An example:

31/01/11 - Salary goes in (money for all spending / saving for 02/11). e.g. £1000.
01/02/11 - Savings go out e.g. £200.
So I have £800 for the month to spend in total
01/02/11 - 30/02/11 - money spent (all spending on credit card) e.g. £650

In the above example I would have a surplus of £150 for Feburary 2011 which I would then put into the ISA. This isnt budgeted for, its extra Ive been able to save during the month.

The cycle then repeats when I get paid on last working day of the month. Therefore the credit card gets paid off on the 1st day of each month. If I didnt have a 0 balance at the beginning of the month, I would not be able to identify if I managed to save an extra during the month!

Maybe I just look at it a little weird.. but it makes sense for me! If the direct debit came out during the month, or I didnt have a 0 balance, I would never end up saving any extra, as I wouldnt know how much id spent i the month (and it would just get spent on other things).

Is this logical or am I just bonkers? :rotfl:

if it works for you then good luck with it

jennifernil

A bit bonkers I think!!

You are still covering a month of spending on the card out of a month's salary, just the month has slightly different dates.

You could request a different statement date, or a different payment date, but you cannot have an exact month's bill debited from your bank account as soon as it is made up.

You would also not be making use of the "interest free credit" period.

No.....it really is not sensible IMHO!