One of the absolute hardest things to do when maintaining multiple credit cards is keeping all of your payments in order. Missing just a single payment will cause a negative impact to your credit and you don’t want that in case an attractive card offer comes along.
There are many ways people track credit card due dates. Some put them in a calendar while others keep spreadsheets. I don’t like either of those options, so instead, I came up with my own way of keeping track of which credit cards are due when.
Set-Up Automatic Payments To Never Miss A Payment
No, this isn’t the method that I use, but it’s arguably the easiest way to make sure you don’t miss a payment. With each card simply go into the payments page of your online banking portal and set-up auto-pay. You can set the payment date to either the statement closing date or the due date or any day in between. Additionally you can set the amount for either the statement balance or the minimum balance due. Either way you manage auto-pay it will ensure that you never miss a payment.
However, I see one major flaw with auto-pay. The issue is that it encourages you to not look at your statement before paying your bill. I see this as a problem because every single time I’ve found fraud on my account it’s been when I’m reviewing my monthly statement. A few weeks back I found a $25 Red Box charge on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. The amount wasn’t large enough for me to notice when reviewing my month end balance, but it was suspicious when I saw “Red Box” listed as a charge. In that case I alerted Chase and the bank adjusted the charge.
Likewise, several months ago Hertz charged both my personal and corporate card for a car rental. When I booked the car I had mistakenly selected my personal card as payment. When I arrived to Hertz I realized the mistake and handed them my corporate card. Then, when reviewing my credit card statement, I noticed a charge from Hertz for a few hundred dollars which shouldn’t have been there. I then called Hertz and sorted out the mistaken charge. Again, had I been using auto-pay I’m not sure that I would have noticed.
Change Credit Card Due Dates
Since I refuse to use auto-pay I’ve instead decided to change all of my credit card due dates to the same day. Doing this is pretty easy and it should only take a few minutes per card. Typically, the date that a card issuer approves you for a credit card dictates your statement closing date. So if you are approved for a card on the 25th of the month your statement date could be the 25th going forward.
Because I like to have all my due dates on the same day I immediately call the card issuer and have them adjust my statement date to the 15th of the month after I’m approved for a card. Some card issuers only let you choose even days while others only allow odd days, but either way I try to set up all payment dates for as close to the 15th of the month as possible.
Doing this has simplified everything so that I no longer worry about missing a payment. Toward the end of the month I log into my credit card portals, review charges, and pay off each card in full. By doing this I have never missed a payment date and I’ve found a few instances of fraud. I don’t really like when I find fraud on my account because I then have to get a new card, etc., but I’d rather that then pay for charges that I didn’t authorize.
How To Change Your Chase Payment Date
In the past, whenever I wanted to change a payment date I had to call the card issuer. Luckily a few card issuers now let you change your statement date online. Yep, you guessed it, Chase is one such issuer.
You can change your Chase credit card payment dates online via the Chase website. After logging on to the Chase website you should see a listing of your active card accounts. When you click on a card you’ll see your current balance as well as some other account information. On the far right corner of the tile you’ll see a drop down titled “Things You Can Do.” At the bottom of that drop down you’ll find an option titled “Update Settings & Preferences.” When you click the settings and preferences option you will again find another list of options.
The first option under the second drop down should say “Payment Due Date.” Clicking this option brings you to a page which allows you to set your payment due date. When you click this option Chase gives you a brief disclaimer on how changing your due date affects your account. Next, you’ll be on a page with a list of numbers to chose from. I personally chose the 15th of each month, but feel free to set your payment due date to whichever date makes sense to you.
If the above steps aren’t clear or seem too complicated just know that you can always call Chase and have them adjust these dates over the phone.
How To Change Your Barclays US Payment Date
Just like Chase, Barclays US allows you to adjust your payment date online. Barclays actually makes it a bit easier than Chase because finding the option online is more intuitive.
After logging on to your Barclays account you should be on a page titled “Account Summary.” On this page you should see a lot of information about your card, but most importantly, across the top of the page should be a few drop down options. On the far right of these options you should see a drop down simply titled “Services.” When you click this option you’ll see a ton of account services options, but there is only one we care about right now.
In the center of the “Services” drop down you should see an option to “Chase Payment Due Date.” Click on this option to, well, change your payment due date. When you click this option you’ll find yourself in the center of a page where you can click to change your payment due date.
The request will take a few days to update, but it should work. Again, if this is too complicated or you fear that it was not done correctly you can always call Barclays US to put in the request by phone.
How To Change Your American Express Payment Date
Call Amex. As far as I can tell you are unable to change your payment date online.
How To Change Your Citi Card Payment Date
Again, I couldn’t find anything online, so it seems you must call Citi to get this changed.
Final Thoughts
Changing my payment due dates to all sync up works for me. I find that it simplifies my life and I no longer have to set reminders as to when to check my credit card statement. Instead, I wait until I get paid and my statements close around the same time. I then review my statements, pay my bill, and move the excess funds to savings. More recently it’s been review, transfer from savings, pay bill, but I’m working on that.
I currently only have credit cards through Citi, Chase, Amex, and Barclays which is why I wrote about them specifically. I’m not sure which other card issuers let you adjust your payment date online, but not matter what you can always call the card issuer to request the change.
