For those of you who pay off in full each month

cakeforbrains

...when do you 'pay' your credit card?

So, if you're somebody who does all your household shopping on a credit card and then pays it off, in full, the following month, which month's paypacket do you allocate to paying the card? The month you're spending in, or next months?

Err... or another way... say you used your CC for all your grocery shopping in May, would you save back money from your May pay packet to pay the bill in June, or would you budget for June's pay to account for the bill? Or do you have enough of a slush fund in your account that it doesn't really matter?:D

tanith

It matters not ..

lee111s

Depends on when in the month the statement is produced I'd imagine.

swaite53

As somebody who used to pay off in full each month (before I defaulted), I always allocated the following month's money to it - which is probably where I went wrong. If I'd had the money at the time of purchase, I would have paid for it on a debit card. So I was effectively spending money I couldn't guarantee I would have when my bill came.

My view these days is that people who can afford to use a credit card properly, don't really need one (other than for oversees / insurance cover). People who can't, shouldn't have one (myself included).

[Deleted User]

For me, I'm lucky enough for it not to matter. But I have always had the mindset that I don't spend money I don't have.

So June's paypacket covers the July credit card statement.

SeduLOUs

swaite53 wrote: »

My view these days is that people who can afford to use a credit card properly, don't really need one (other than for oversees / insurance cover). People who can't, shouldn't have one (myself included).

I budget my credit card spending as if it's my current money, so would only use the credit card if I could safely use the debit card instead. I could pay the bill in full at any moment.

My view on it is that if you are using June's pay to fund May's shopping you are technically living in debt, and basically always taking advances on your wages (even though on paper everything looks hunky dory and you're not being charged interest).

I don't 'need' the credit facility of my credit card, but the S75 protection and cashback are nice perks, plus the actual money I'm spending sits in my bank account a little longer and earns a bit more interest - it all adds up!

Voyager2002

For groceries I just spend it, but for any major purchase... if I don't have the money this month I don't buy it this month. As soon as I have spent money on my credit card that money has gone, but I keep in an interest-bearing account until I need to pay the bill.

molerat

I run a spreadsheet and every spend comes off the current month's available money, the bottom of the spreadsheet has a box with what is left to spend. My current account column is sitting at £2759 credit but the bottom box shows only £70 left to spend. Especially important now as I normally pay in full but both my cards currently have 0% on purchases so I am only paying the minimum whilst the cash is building up in my 123 gathering 3% interest.

PeacefulWaters

If you use the card to spend money you already have you cannot go wrong.

molerat

swaite53 wrote: »

As somebody who used to pay off in full each month (before I defaulted), I always allocated the following month's money to it - which is probably where I went wrong. If I'd had the money at the time of purchase, I would have paid for it on a debit card. So I was effectively spending money I couldn't guarantee I would have when my bill came.

My view these days is that people who can afford to use a credit card properly, don't really need one (other than for oversees / insurance cover). People who can't, shouldn't have one (myself included).

That is using the card as an overdraft, you must allocate current cash to spends if you don't want to end up in the doo doo. If it was cash you would not be able to spend it until after pay day, why should a CC be any different. As you correctly say, the only people who should have a CC are those who don't need one.

SeduLOUs

molerat wrote: »

I run a spreadsheet and every spend comes off the current month's available money, the bottom of the spreadsheet has a box with what is left to spend. My current account column is sitting at £2759 credit but the bottom box shows only £70 left to spend. Especially important now as I normally pay in full but both my cards currently have 0% on purchases so I am only paying the minimum whilst the cash is building up in my 123 gathering 3% interest.

Similar thing here but managed in YNAB. My current account balance is £4,200 (earning 3%) but my real 'available to spend' for the rest of this month is only £80.

I have about £2.5k on 0% purchases card (Santander 1-2-3) that it would be daft to clear, so I have a DD for minimum payment and just manually pay a bit off here and there to make room for more cashback spending whilst keeping the balance as close to the limit as I comfortably can.

My backup cashback card (1% Amex) for the stuff my Santander doesn't pay cashback on doesn't have a 0% purchases period, so that one gets paid in full by DD.

My fella can't get his head around it all and just keeps asking why we aren't going on holiday when he sees the bank balance...