Each month you’ll get a billing statement from your credit card issuer. Typically, billing statements come through the mail but if you’ve signed up for electronic billing or e-statements, you’ll have to go online to get your billing statement. No matter which method you choose to receive your billing statements, you should read the entire bill for some important information.
Minimum Payment and Due Date
At the very least, you should confirm the minimum payment that’s due and date you need to send the payment. If you send less than the minimum or your payment arrives after the due date, you’ll face late payment penalty up to $25 or the amount of your minimum payment. If you do it two months in a row, the credit card issuer can charge you a $35 late fee and increase your interest rate.
Payment Instructions
Your billing statement will include information about where to send your credit card payment. It’s important that you send your payment to the correct address to make sure it’s credited to your account on time. Your statement will also include instructions for making phone or internet payments if one of those methods is more convenient for you.
Transactions
Before you send off your credit card payment, review your transaction history to make sure everything is correct. The amount of each of your purchases should match your receipts and all the transactions should be ones you made. If you see anything suspicious, report it to your credit card issuer immediately. The sooner you report billing errors, the less likely it is that you’ll be responsible for the error. If you wait more than 60 days to dispute the billing error, the credit card issuer doesn’t have to correct it.
Minimum Statement Warning
So that you’re completely informed, your credit card billing statement has to include a warning about how long it will take you to pay off your balance at minimum-only payments. It will also include total pay off amount so you understand how much interest you’re paying on your purchases. You will also find the monthly payment you have to make if you want to pay off your balance in three years.
Balance and Available Credit
On your billing statement, you’ll find the amount of your credit card balance, credit limit, and available credit as of the date your billing statement was printed. Your actual balance could be different – higher or lower – from your balance on the date you receive your statement if you’ve made any new purchases or payments on your account.
Don’t take for granted that everything on your billing statement is correct. Take time to review your statement to confirm the accuracy of the details.
Don't forget to let me send you future guides and tutorials. Just subscribe to the RSS feed, or just enter your email below; I'll make sure the updates are emailed to you.
