Paying off CC charges throughout the month?

[taaren]

I truly don't mean any disrespect, but why do you (general you) pay off the bill more often than once a month? I pay mine in full every month and never get hit with interest. Is it a discipline thing (i.e., that way you don't spend that money on other stuff)? Do you feel you get an added benefit from it? (For the PP who has to pay it off due to a low balance - that I get.)

If I had a balance on my CC that I couldn't pay that month, I can totally see making extra payments, because I'd want to accrue the least amount of interest as possible, but that'd probably be the ONLY reason I'd do that.

Again - no disrespect - just trying to understand...

It varies from person to person. Some on here have mentioned they have a low credit limit, so if your limit is say, $1K, and you usually charge $250 a week but want to be able to charge up to $750 at any given time, you pay it off weekly.
Others have mentioned that they get paid twice monthly, and its just easy for them. We do that some months ... I pay off our CC's during the first paycheck of the month, then the second paycheck we pay all the "other stuff" - mortgage, electric, savings, then if there's any leftover we put it into keeping the next CC bill lower by making an extra payment then. Mostly because I don't want DH thinking that there's cash in the checking account he can spend. Same idea as putting the money in a savings account, since if our next CC bill is lower that's where the money will end up anyways unless the bill was extra high because we had a lump sum insurance payment or something.
Another reason I sometimes pay off multiple times within particular months is if its a non-regular expense. I have a specific fund dedicated to Disney vacations, and tend to make our DCL payments in large installments. When I make a $500 payment on a cruise, I usually go to make a payment from the vacation checking account right away since I want to get it "off the books" and not shock myself into thinking we spent too much on the CC that week. Plus it would have to be a separate payment anyways since its coming from a different checking account. Same thing for expenses on the house we rent out, its being paid from a different account so might as well just pay it as soon as I charge it.
I'm sure others have different reasons.

We accrue rewards exactly the same as if it wasn't zeroed out before or after the closing date on all of our cards.

 

[vivianmarie244]

I don't regularly make several payments on my cc but I do occasionaly when I make a large purchase that I don't want to eat up my credit limit. For instance, this month we had to buy my DD a new bed. I charged it to get the points and immediately when home and paid that amount. Our credit limit isn't horribly low but it's not big enough to account for those occasional high $$$ purchases.

 

[ktmo]

I pay it off throughout the billing cycle. I just don't like to get a BIG bill at the end of the month, so I pay a little bit at a time. If the money sits in our checking account, I feel like I have more money than I really have. So, instead of getting hit with a big bill at the end of the cycle, I make little payments throughout.

Also, our billing cycle ends near the end of the month. If I waited, I would have three large bills all coming out at the same time - mortgage, daycare and CCs. I know I could change the billing cycle, but just haven't.

Oh, and I like having a zero balance every now and then. That makes me happy. If I only pay it once a month, it would never be zero. Maybe I am a little crazy. Yes, I could stop using the CC, but that is a whole other issue.

 

[nunzia]

I truly don't mean any disrespect, but why do you (general you) pay off the bill more often than once a month? I pay mine in full every month and never get hit with interest. Is it a discipline thing (i.e., that way you don't spend that money on other stuff)? Do you feel you get an added benefit from it? (For the PP who has to pay it off due to a low balance - that I get.)

If I had a balance on my CC that I couldn't pay that month, I can totally see making extra payments, because I'd want to accrue the least amount of interest as possible, but that'd probably be the ONLY reason I'd do that.

Again - no disrespect - just trying to understand...

I do it when I get money from other sources than the regular paycheck or have a big purchase..for the most part, I only pay extra when I'm loading up on trip costs..so I'll charge the train tickets and then transfer money from the vacation fund and pay it off immediately. Or I transfer in money from PayPal for ebay sales and then put that on a trip expense so less needs to come out of savings. Other than that..for normal purchases (I do alot of online shopping and right now my CC has 5% cash back for gas and restaurants) I'll just pay off each payday, so twice a month.

 

[Pesky]

I do this a lot and rarely is there an issue. I make as many as 3-4 payments a month so I'm not going crazy but just paying it off quickly so I can see how much we are really spending. Helps keep things in perspective.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I truly don't mean any disrespect, but why do you (general you) pay off the bill more often than once a month? I pay mine in full every month and never get hit with interest. Is it a discipline thing (i.e., that way you don't spend that money on other stuff)? Do you feel you get an added benefit from it? (For the PP who has to pay it off due to a low balance - that I get.)

If I had a balance on my CC that I couldn't pay that month, I can totally see making extra payments, because I'd want to accrue the least amount of interest as possible, but that'd probably be the ONLY reason I'd do that.

Again - no disrespect - just trying to understand...

I do it when I pay my child's college tuition. It is several thousand so I make a payment to the cc with the college fund money. It's easier to track that way. Not a big deal to make an extra payment.

 

[Karenj2]

What you all have said makes sense... Thanks!

Another question - when the statement comes in, what is the amount for - only what's left to pay?

 

[budafam]

I always wait till I get the bill. Not sure why you would do it earlier unless you have an issue with keeping track??? There's no interest added onto your first bill.