Credit card payments before minimum payment is due?

princess*daisy

Hello :wave:

If my credit card statement is produced on 16th of the month and minimum payment is due around the 10th of the following month, is it possible to pay small amounts that are less than the minimum payment in themselves (e.g. £1 a time), so long as I make it up to the minimum payment by the time it is due?

The reason I ask is that I have joined the "payment a day" challenge on DFW, but don't get paid til the 20th. If I paid a couple of quid before I made my main payment, I wouldn't get charged for not paying the minimum all at once would I?

Advice appreciated, thanks

piglet39

Hi princess*daisy

I do this. Payment due date is the date by which you must repay the minimum - it doesn't seem to matter a jot whether it is in one lump sum or a series of smaller payments so long as you have paid a total of the minimum due by the due date. Just be careful - some CC's take longer to apply payments to the account than others. Capital One for instance now seem to show payments same day (i.e paid by online banking in the morning and payment was showing as being made when I logged on later in the day) some other credit cards seem to take longer to update your account.

Check the small print on the back of the statement and if it says, for instance, direct transfer takes x number of days to be applied to the account make sure you have made enough PAD's by then.

I noticed a real difference in my estimated interest due month on month by making lots of smaller payments as the CC provider estimate interest due based on your payment hitting the account on the day it's due IYSWIM.

Too broke to PAD this weekend:o - roll on payday!

Good luck!

Piglet

piglet39

...meant to add. Do you have a direct debit set up to pay the minimum payment. If so check your card T's and C's. Some will still take the DD for the minimum payment even if you have made additional payments if you still have a balance on the card.

x

dibuzz

As long as you do pay the minimum before the due date there will be no problem.
I often check my internet banking and realise I have a spare £10 so just pay it off my card.

chattychappy

Yes you can do that. And if you are paying interest this is the best way to go. Interest is calculated daily, so by sending as much as you can as soon as you can you are reducing the amount of interest charged.

Just bear in mind:
1) any interaction with a DD you have set up
2) only payments made between the statement date and due-by date count against the minimum. If you pay before the statement is generated, it won't count against the minimum. (Though it still reduces the balance and therefore interest.)

princess*daisy

Thank you for all your helpful replies that's fab. I will be paying over the minimum when I get paid anyway but just wanted to check that my tiny PADs in the meantime wouldn't cause me any trouble

Cheers

Ben8282

While I can't see anything wrong with the idea as such, I am just wondering if a credit card company could react unfavourably to being paid £1 a day every day .... they might think you are messing them about or something ...

camuk81

Mine don't have a problem intact the smallest I've done is £1.89. However it makes a big difference in the interest you are paying. I've made 12 additional payments from my account to a credit card this month on top of normal payments to pay it all off and the credit card are aware of my intentions I've called and cancelled the direct debit and set up a Standing order for more then the minimum

chattychappy

camuk81 wrote: »

I've called and cancelled the direct debit

Yep.. DDs really don't work well if you want to make multiple ad-hoc payments throughout the month. If you're into interest, you're best off paying as much as you can as soon as you can, not leaving money in a current account waiting to be scooped up by a DD.

Ben8282

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with making multiple payments during a statement period to reduce interest. It makes perfect sense.

What I am saying is that paying the mimimum payment in the form of daily £1 instalments is a bit strange.

chattychappy

Ben8282 wrote: »

What I am saying is that paying the mimimum payment in the form of daily £1 instalments is a bit strange.

I doubt if any systems would pick it up and do anything about it.

Slightly OT, I did notice a strange thing with Tesco. I clear the balance each month. One month the balance was £1.23. So the minimum was also £1.23. I paid this off as usual.

However I noticed on my CRA report that for that particular month I had a minimum payment marker - which I would take to mean that I had "only" paid off the minimum. Really I had no choice!

I remember a while back a post from a guy who paid off his account manually despite having a DD set up. He didn't realise that the DD would be taken anyway. The DD bounced - lack of funds in the current account. But the strange thing was he got a "late payment" recorded on his CC. Of course it wasn't late as he had already paid. The CC agreed it was an error and removed it.

I suppose the moral is, don't rely on IT systems to get it right - especially if you doing things out of the ordinary.