The payment due date shown on your billing statement is the day that a payment is due. It usually falls on the same day each month, and a minimum amount will be due. The due date is a firm deadline, and there is often a specific time of day when your card issuer must receive your payment.
Credit card bills are due on the same date each month—or the next business day if the due date falls on a holiday or weekend. But because months have a different number of days, the exact length of the billing cycle may vary from one month to the next.
The Takeaway
The 15/3 credit card payment rule is a strategy that involves making two payments each month to your credit card company. You make one payment 15 days before your statement is due and another payment three days before the due date.
You can calculate your monthly credit card payment by multiplying the monthly interest rate by the outstanding balance. The monthly rate can be obtained by dividing your APR by 12 for the number of months in a year. The simplest way to do that is using a credit card calculator.
With the 15/3 rule, you make two payments each statement period. You pay half the credit card balance 15 days before the due date and the second half three days before the due date. This method ensures that your credit utilization ratio stays lower over the duration of the statement period.
Paying your credit card early could help your credit score
By making an extra payment toward your current balance before the billing cycle ends, you can help lower your credit utilization ratio—the total percentage of available credit you're using.
Bottom line. Paying your credit card bill early is not intrinsically good or bad, but it can help you avoid negative habits such as high credit utilization and late payments. Paying your credit card early won't directly influence your credit score, but it can help in creating good financial habits down the line.
It will take 47 months to pay off $20,000 with payments of $600 per month, assuming the average credit card APR of around 18%. The time it takes to repay a balance depends on how often you make payments, how big your payments are and what the interest rate charged by the lender is.
Let's say you have a balance of $20,000, and your credit card's APR is 20%, which is near the current average. If your card issuer uses the interest plus 1% calculation method, your minimum payment will be $533.33. That's quite a bit of money to pay for your credit card bill every month.
Example: Your card issuer requires you to pay 3% of your outstanding loan balance. You owe $7,000 on your credit card. The minimum payment is 3% of $7,000, or $210.
The 15/3 credit hack gets its name from the practice of making your monthly payment in two installments: the first half 15 days before your due date and the second half three days before your due date. This hack, popular on various social media platforms, claims to be a shortcut to good credit.
Helping your credit scores
When you make multiple payments in a month, you reduce the amount of credit you're using compared with your credit limits — a favorable factor in scores. Credit card information is usually reported to credit bureaus around your statement date.
You may have been doing a variation of it already without even realizing it. Essentially, this hack asks you to make two credit card payments per billing cycle instead of just one—one payment 15 days before your credit card statement due date and another payment three days before.
It's a good idea to pay off your credit card balance in full whenever you're able. Carrying a monthly credit card balance can cost you in interest and increase your credit utilization rate, which is one factor used to calculate your credit scores.
Due date is a term that is often used in everyday life, especially related to bill payments. This term refers to the final date or due date for paying off a payment, such as a credit card bill, loan installment, or other monthly payment.
To avoid paying interest and late fees, you'll need to pay your bill by the due date. But if you want to improve your credit score, the best time to make a payment is probably before your statement closing date, whenever your debt-to-credit ratio begins to climb too high.
The best way to pay off $3,000 in debt fast is to use a 0% APR balance transfer credit card because it will enable you to put your full monthly payment toward your current balance instead of new interest charges. As long as you avoid adding new debt, you can repay what you owe in a matter of months.
Adam McCann, Financial Writer
Yes, $25,000 is a high credit card limit. Generally, a high credit card limit is considered to be $5,000 or more, and you will likely need good or excellent credit, along with a solid income, to get a limit of $25,000 or higher.
$20,000 is a lot of credit card debt and it sounds like you're having trouble making progress,” says Rossman.
The Bottom Line. Making timely payments for the full or minimum amount due is always a good idea. Partial payments are usually considered late or missed payments, which can impact your credit—and not in a good way.
Paying your balance more than once per month makes it more likely that you'll have a lower credit utilization rate when the bureaus receive your information. And paying multiple times can also help you keep track of your spending and cut back on any overspending before you fall into debt.
This is because your total available credit is lowered when you close a line of credit, which could result in a higher credit utilization ratio. Additionally, if the account you closed was your oldest line of credit, it could negatively impact the length of your credit history and cause a drop in your scores.