The best time to pay your credit card bill is before your due date to avoid late fees and negative entries on your credit reports.
While paying your credit card bill early won't hurt your credit scores, it might reduce the amount of cash you have on hand for everyday purchases or emergencies.
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.
Make a credit card payment 15 days before the bill's due date. You might be told to make your minimum payment, or pay down at least half your bill, early. Make another payment three days before the due date. Then, pay the remainder of your bill—or whatever you can afford—before the due date to avoid interest charges.
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.
The golden rule of Credit Cards is simple: pay your full balance on time, every time. This Credit Card payment rule helps you avoid interest charges, late fees, and potential damage to your credit score.
Paying off your monthly statement balances in full each month is the path to avoiding credit card debt. As long as you pay off your statement balance in full before the due date, you can continue making purchases on your credit card without paying interest until the next statement due date.
Paying before the billing cycle closes can help reduce interest charges if you carry a balance. It also decreases the amount the card issuer reports to the credit bureaus, lowering your credit utilization ratio, which may help improve your credit scores.
For a score with a range of 300 to 850, a credit score of 670 to 739 is considered good. Credit scores of 740 and above are very good while 800 and higher are excellent. For credit scores that range from 300 to 850, a credit score in the mid to high 600s or above is generally considered good.
The only drawback to paying your credit cards early is reduced liquidity. Pay your full outstanding balance when you can to avoid interest charges and lower your credit utilization ratio. Consider making payments early to avoid late charges. These habits may help your credit score and improve your financial health.
A 700 credit score is considered a good score on the most common credit score range, which runs from 300 to 850. How does your score compare with others? You're within the good credit score range, which runs from 690 to 719.
INTEREST. Most credit cards carry an interest rate. While some may have introductory deals and offer 0.00% APR for a set period, at some point interest will start accruing. You definitely don't want to rack up a balance and then begin getting interest charged!
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.
Your payment due date is the deadline for making at least the minimum payment on your credit card balance to avoid late fees and penalties. On the other hand, the closing date marks the end of your billing cycle. It's when your credit card issuer calculates your statement balance and reports it to the credit bureaus.
What happens if you use your credit card on your payment due date? Usually, your billing cycle ends before your payment due date. Any charges made on the due date itself would apply to the current billing cycle, not the one that is due.
Most people are just fine as long as they pay by the due date. But if you're looking to bolster your credit or reduce your interest costs, consider paying earlier.
Keeping a low credit utilization ratio is good, but having too many credit cards with zero balance may negatively impact your credit score. If your credit cards have zero balance for several years due to inactivity, your credit card issuer might stop sending account updates to credit bureaus.
Use the debt snowball method
In order to use this method, list all of your credit card debts from lowest balance to highest balance. Now start concentrating on wiping out the credit card with the lowest balance while still making the minimum payments on the other cards. The point of this strategy is to build momentum.
Can I pay the Credit Card bill immediately after purchase? Yes, you can pay the bill immediately after a purchase, but the amount due will reflect in the next billing cycle. Paying promptly can help manage expenses efficiently.
Payment history: The biggest factor in determining your credit score is payment history. Every time you pay a credit card bill, car payment, house payment, student loan payment, etc., it gets added to your history. It's important that all of your payments are paid before the due date listed on your statement.
It may seem simple, but the most effective way to avoid credit card interest charges is to pay your full statement balance each month.
50% goes towards necessary expenses. 30% goes towards things you want. 20% goes towards savings or paying off debt.
According to cardholder reports, Bank of America uses a 2/3/4 rule: You can only be approved for two new cards within a 30-day period, three cards within a 12-month period and four cards within a 24-month period. This rule applies only to Bank of America credit cards, though, and not all credit cards.
Having 90 percent credit utilization on one of your cards won't reflect well on your score, even if your overall credit utilization across all accounts is much lower. That's why it's always a good idea to know what your balances are on all your cards and work to keep everything as low as possible.