Even as you accomplish control over your credit card and plan expenses accordingly, you need to keep in mind that if you have taken a loan, you have to pay it back. A credit card due date must always be an important date on your calendar.
Please remember that in using a credit card for purchases, you have been allowed to use money that you do not have. This means that you have an obligation to reciprocate with a timely repayment.
All major credit cards today – even those that are not in the circuit of either Visa or Mastercard – provide you with an interest-free window, and this window generally exceeds your regular monthly revenue cycle.
Hence planning is possible if you put your mind to it, where you just repay the principal and avoid any interest.
Amid your daily work schedule, you might sometimes forget your credit card due date and hence forget to make your credit card payments on time.
This is not fatal, only you will be presented with an interest-added (late fee) statement in the next billing cycle. However, that is not good planning, if you have decided to use credit cards as a mode of payment.
It is very important to make timely payments, not only to maintain a good credit history – which has to be one of your aims if you have decided to choose credit cards as a mode of payment – but also to avoid future financial difficulties that could have been avoided had you just been careful with your payments.
Another important thing to note is the minimum payment due option that you have.
This is a mere fraction of your overall due per month, and while you are not technically at default, you are setting yourself up for a major interest kickback in the statements that follow. Use this facility only if you are desperately in need of time and stretched for finances in that particular cycle.
However, first, how do you keep in mind the credit card due date? Here are some tips:
Reminder: Keep a reminder on your smarphone calendar or even through pre-scheduled emails, about a week prior to your payment date. This way, even you are caught unawares, you can quickly make some arrangement to meet the deadline. A reminder right on the payment date may be an added insurance. Since payment due dates are regular, set the reminder to a monthly status.
Use a Google calendar: Remember to use a Google calendar in which you can update on the cloud. This way, even if you have changed your phone (or have lost it), when you re-download the Google calendar in your new phone, you will still have all the entries.
The best thing about using a calendar on the cloud is that it does not matter if your phone is with you or not, if you set up an email reminder as well, the email will be sent automatically and then you can access this on your office computer or any computer for that matter.
- Reminder app: You can also download a reminder app to your phone. There many such available from the playstore, so you can pick and choose which one is moist suitable for you.
- Change credit card due date: If the due date set by the credit company does not suit you – maybe because your regular revenue lands at a different date – just send a polite mail to the company explaining the situation and asking them to change it to a date more convenient for you. For example, you possess a Bajaj FinservRBL Bank SuperCard, one of the finest credit cards on the market today, and say it has allotted the 1st of each month as your payment date. However, your salary lands in your bank on the 10th of each month. In that case you would possibly want the 12th to be your credit card payment due date. You would want to change this. This way you avoid any possible late payment fee.
- Auto debit date: Most banks offer the facility of auto debit.
- This means that Bajaj Finserv will be able to automatically debit the due amount from your account without you having to worry about it. For this you will have to give your bank a statutory clearance in advance. However, do this, if you are sure that on that specific date your account will have sufficient funds. This is very helpful if you are an extremely busy person and also a frequent traveller, in which case operating your bank account and making a payment will consume unnecessary time. This is also helpful if you regularly visit places where internet connection is an issue. The other advantage of such an arrangement is that while Bajaj Finserv will anyway provide you with a statement of the amount debuted, your bank statement too will show this. This comes in very handy while submitting your Income Tax Returns.
- The drawback: If you are setting an auto debit date at your bank, and in any particular month you want to just make the minimum payment due, your bank will nevertheless auto debit the whole amount from your account irrespective to your other expenses. That will create a problem.
- The way out of this is to talk directly to your bank and instruct them to hold the auto debit status for a month. You might have to write a formal letter and/or meet your bank officer.
Overall, the credit card due date issue is a critical one. If you are organized and careful with your finances, this due date will not be a problem at all. However, neglect it, and your entire financial planning might become unwieldy, leading to a bad situation in your effort to create a good credit history.