So if I pay my credit card bill BEFORE the statement comes

[Jschmuck2]

I just want to get the credit card bill out of my face. Will paying the bill before the statement comes still reflect positively on me?

EDIT: I only ask because when I've used my Newegg account in the past and paid before the statement has come, the silly thing doesn't even show on my credit history.

 

[dabuddha]

Did you give your own thread 5 stars? 😀

 

[Yossarian]

no, it will be reported as late if you pay it early. wtf.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It's a bad idea because unless you're going to pay off the balance, the CC company will simply send you another bill due the date of the first one.

 

[aloser]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
I just want to get the credit card bill out of my face. Will paying the bill before the statement comes still reflect positively on me?

EDIT: I only ask because when I've used my Newegg account in the past and paid before the statement has come, the silly thing doesn't even show on my credit history.

I had the same exact thing happen; I apparently have a "history" of late/missed payments - even though the ONLY time a payment was late was when I was out of the country for a month and had no intrawebz access.

 

[Chryso]

Why pay it early? I wouldn't even know where to send it without the bill.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Chryso
Why pay it early? I wouldn't even know where to send it without the bill.

Billpay FTW 🙂

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
I just want to get the credit card bill out of my face. Will paying the bill before the statement comes still reflect positively on me?

EDIT: I only ask because when I've used my Newegg account in the past and paid before the statement has come, the silly thing doesn't even show on my credit history.

As long as the payment is made in the current cycle, then it will be OK.

If it is made in the previous cycle (so you make one payment and don't wait long enough to make the second payment), then if you don't pay it off entirely, you will still have a minimum payment for the cycle to make.

 

[imported_Imp]

That's weird. For the past 4 months, I've been making a habit of paying a large portion off (usually half) before the statement comes, so that I don't get hit by a 4 digit payment at once. It's worked out everytime for me. Not sure about this late/not recording stuff, but I haven't been charged interest once so that's good enough for me.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: aloser

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
I just want to get the credit card bill out of my face. Will paying the bill before the statement comes still reflect positively on me?

EDIT: I only ask because when I've used my Newegg account in the past and paid before the statement has come, the silly thing doesn't even show on my credit history.

I had the same exact thing happen; I apparently have a "history" of late/missed payments - even though the ONLY time a payment was late was when I was out of the country for a month and had no intrawebz access.

If there's inaccurate info on your credit report, dispute the false entries to have them removed.

 

[technophile82]

sometimes i pay off my credit account early, but then i still expect a bill at the end of the month and pay that off. it has worked out fine so far.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Let the money sit in your bank account so you can get interest and just pay it when it's due, no need to pay early and miss out on some interest. I realize it's not a lot, but it's just opportunity cost, could have had a few extra dollars every month, which at the end of the year might add up to something worth caring about.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Did you give your own thread 5 stars? 😀

I can't.

 

[RossMAN]

Your payment is due on or before your due date.

You're golden.

 

[nonameo]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Let the money sit in your bank account so you can get interest and just pay it when it's due, no need to pay early and miss out on some interest. I realize it's not a lot, but it's just opportunity cost, could have had a few extra dollars every month, which at the end of the year might add up to something worth caring about.

unless you owe a higher % on the CC than you can make in the bank acct.

 

[Mallow]

at one point when I was doing interviews for a job I got a discover miles card b/c I knew I'd be spending a lot. They end up giving me a $2000 limit and I was gonna be spending like 4-6K on traveling over a 2 month period plus my regular expenses. Long story short I had to make payments on my card like 3-4 times a month online b/c I was always hitting my limit. I didn't have any deleterious effects from doing so. Now I have the card for > 6 months and they finally upped my limit to 5K.

 

[TheVrolok]

I always pay my bill online the moment I'm able to; my statement usually comes in the mail a few days a later still requesting payment even though I have already paid it. I got the standard credit limit double after 6 months with the card, so I can't imagine I'm doing anything negative by paying it early. 🙂

 

[Special K]

I'm probably going to pay mine off before receiving a statement, but that is because I just got my first CC and it only has a $1k limit, and I don't want my credit utilization % to ever get too high.

Hopefully after a few months of on-time payments in full, they will raise my limit so I don't have to play games like this.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Special K
I'm probably going to pay mine off before receiving a statement, but that is because I just got my first CC and it only has a $1k limit, and I don't want my credit utilization % to ever get too high.

Hopefully after a few months of on-time payments in full, they will raise my limit so I don't have to play games like this.

Some cc's will pro-actively increase your limit just for the hell of it. My wife's VISA gets bumped by $500 - $1,000 every 6-9 months.

 

[Mallow]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Special K
I'm probably going to pay mine off before receiving a statement, but that is because I just got my first CC and it only has a $1k limit, and I don't want my credit utilization % to ever get too high.

Hopefully after a few months of on-time payments in full, they will raise my limit so I don't have to play games like this.

Some cc's will pro-actively increase your limit just for the hell of it. My wife's VISA gets bumped by $500 - $1,000 every 6-9 months.

Same thing with my former MBNA card before Bank of America bought them out. Started at 2K and they eventually bumped me up to 20K with small small increments. Kinda funny actually.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Mallow

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Special K
I'm probably going to pay mine off before receiving a statement, but that is because I just got my first CC and it only has a $1k limit, and I don't want my credit utilization % to ever get too high.

Hopefully after a few months of on-time payments in full, they will raise my limit so I don't have to play games like this.

Some cc's will pro-actively increase your limit just for the hell of it. My wife's VISA gets bumped by $500 - $1,000 every 6-9 months.

Same thing with my former MBNA card before Bank of America bought them out. Started at 2K and they eventually bumped me up to 20K with small small increments. Kinda funny actually.

10x your original limit? Wow.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Mallow

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Special K
I'm probably going to pay mine off before receiving a statement, but that is because I just got my first CC and it only has a $1k limit, and I don't want my credit utilization % to ever get too high.

Hopefully after a few months of on-time payments in full, they will raise my limit so I don't have to play games like this.

Some cc's will pro-actively increase your limit just for the hell of it. My wife's VISA gets bumped by $500 - $1,000 every 6-9 months.

Same thing with my former MBNA card before Bank of America bought them out. Started at 2K and they eventually bumped me up to 20K with small small increments. Kinda funny actually.

10x your original limit? Wow.

Heh, yeah MBNA has a way of doing that. Mine was my first CC as a freshman in college and I started off at $500. Now it's somewhere in the $25K area and I rarely use it anymore ever since I got my Costco AMEX.

 

[Mallow]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Mallow

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Special K
I'm probably going to pay mine off before receiving a statement, but that is because I just got my first CC and it only has a $1k limit, and I don't want my credit utilization % to ever get too high.

Hopefully after a few months of on-time payments in full, they will raise my limit so I don't have to play games like this.

Some cc's will pro-actively increase your limit just for the hell of it. My wife's VISA gets bumped by $500 - $1,000 every 6-9 months.

Same thing with my former MBNA card before Bank of America bought them out. Started at 2K and they eventually bumped me up to 20K with small small increments. Kinda funny actually.

10x your original limit? Wow.

Heh, yeah MBNA has a way of doing that. Mine was my first CC as a freshman in college and I started off at $500. Now it's somewhere in the $25K area and I rarely use it anymore ever since I got my Costco AMEX.

Same situation for me, first CC. The limit was bumped up to 10x original over the course of 8 years tho. I hardly ever use mine since I got my discover miles card, I love it 🙂

 

[thomsbrain]

You will still get a bill at the end of the normal billing cycle. The bill will include a credit for the amount you paid early. If you charged more during the standard billing cycle than you paid, you will still owe the remaining balance at the usual time. Essentially, the early payment is like a "negative charge" within the scope of your normal bill that reduces that bill. If you pay early and then don't charge anything after that payment, you'll get a bill for $0.

There is no point in doing this unless you need to charge more in a month than your credit limit. Then you can charge a bunch, make a payment, and charge some more. Some cards will let you create a negative balance, where you pay more than you owe, allowing you to sort of "extend" your credit limit temporarily. But any time you're charging more than ~25% of your limit, it can have a negative effect on your score.

 

[Eli]

No. You need to wait until the statement is issued, or it is like paying twice for the previous month.

Edit: Note that the cycle changes before you actually get the statement in the mail. If you pay an amount on say, August 25th, and then pay again on September 11th, but your payment is due on the 30th.. you will still owe the minimum payment for September's statement.