Timely payment is one of the most crucial steps in managing a credit card account.

If you own a credit card, it is a must to pay attention on how you submit your credit card payments. Do you have a definite schedule in paying your bills? Or do you often have to beat your deadline of payment? Are you usually late in paying off your charges?

Planning Your Credit Card Purchases

It’s always a smart move to plan the purchases you’ll charge to your credit card. For example, if you want to make a large purchase where you may have to carry over your balance for the next billing period, you may consider getting a 0% interest rate card. Thus, you can focus on paying off your charges without worrying about the additional interest costs.

Better yet, you may call your credit card issuer and request for an adjustment in your interest rates especially if you’ve been a long time cardholder. Most importantly, check your account to make sure that the charges on your bill are correct. In case you find false charges, you can inform your issuer right away and dispute those charges.

How to Set a Credit Card Payment Schedule

Setting a definite schedule will help you avoid delays. It will help you become more alert or conscious of your dues. Without a doubt, the best time to submit payments is way before your deadline. There’s no need to wait for the last day of payment. As much as possible, make it a point to pay off your balances ahead of time. Such a habit will save you from the risk of bad debt and bad remarks in your credit report.

Timely payment also saves you money. Additional costs can add burden to your financial obligations and everyone knows how high credit card fees can be. However, late penalty charges and interest rates can be avoided just by paying off your entire balance on time.

So how do you set your own payment schedule? Again, you should try to pay off your bills at the soonest possible time. Creating a schedule will depend on your financial status. It is advisable to work out a schedule that matches your payday. In fact, if your payday happens to fall by the end the month, you may request your credit card issuer to adjust your due date. This way, you can immediately pay off your balances as soon as you receive your paycheck.

Being punctual with your payments will also depend on your credit card use. Before charging anything to your credit card, carefully consider whether you have the means to pay off your full balance on your due date. Even if you enjoy a higher credit line, you should never maximize this limit. Financial experts advise credit card holders to stay below 40% of their allotted credit limit. This will not only save from the risk of uncontrolled debt, it will also protect your personal credit status.