Six important things to check in your Credit Card Statement

Credit card statement shows a detailed report of your monthly credit card usage, the payments to be made and other important information related to your card. Most cardholders only look at the minimum due and total dues and do not pay attention to the rest of the components. However, other sections of your statement are equally important and must not be skipped. If you already have a credit card, here are the 6most important things that you must check in your statement.

 

  • Total Due and Minimum Due

On your credit card statement, the first thing to check should be the dues. You will find two due amounts- total due and minimum due. Total due, as the name suggests, is the total amount that you owe on your card whereas minimum due is a portion (usually 5%) of the total due. Minimum due also includes any active EMIs, charges, penalties and GST. If you cannot afford to pay the total due, issuers give you the option to pay just the minimum balance by the due date to avoid late payment charges and save a negative impact on your credit score.

However, when you pay the minimum balance, the remaining balance will start attracting interest (finance charges) which can go up to 49% p.a. and even higher in some cases. Not only this, your new purchases will also be ineligible for the interest-free period which means they will also attract interest from the first day. Hence, you should always try to clear the total dues on your card as these penalties can quickly push you into deep debt.

 

  • Payment Due Date

 

Another important element of your credit card statement is the due date, which is the deadline to pay either the total amount or the minimum amount. Note that if you manage to pay off the minimum amount due on or before the due date, late payment charges will not be applicable and your credit score will also be safe from negative impact. However, as said above, remaining balance as well as new purchases will start attracting finance charges.

  • Billing Cycle

Not many cardholders are aware of their billing cycle and how to make optimum use of their interest-free period. A billing cycle is of 30 days and the payment due date falls 15-20 days after the statement generation date. This gives you a total interest-free period of up to 50 days. You can avail maximum benefit of the free credit period by making big-ticket purchases at the beginning of your billing cycle. For example, if your billing cycle is from 1st to 30th and the payment due date is on 15th of next month, a transaction made on 2nd March will have to be paid off on 15th April. If you have multiple cards, you can plan your purchases according to the billing cycle on each card.

  • Transaction Details

This section of your credit card statement contains complete details of each transaction, including the date, name of merchant and amount. You should thoroughly review this information to ensure that there are no unauthorized transactions made on your card or to spot double charges. Such errors should be reported to the issuer and rectified at the earliest. This will also give you a clear picture of where you are spending the most, if you are trying to keep a check on overspending.

 

  • Reward Points

Your credit card statement also includes the details of reward points earned in the given cycle along with the total number of points you have earned till date. It will also show the number of reward points that are going to expire soon so that you can redeem them at the earliest. Reward points, if used judiciously, can result in significant savings for cardholders.

 

  • Available Credit Limit

Your credit card comes with a credit limit which is the maximum amount you can use. As and when you make purchases using your card, the amount is deducted from your available credit limit and when you make payment towards your card bills, the amount gets added to your available limit. It is important to check the credit limit available with you. It will help in planning your future purchases in a way that a decent credit utilization ratio is maintained on each of your credit cards.

In addition to these, you can also find the details like account summary, deals and offers, etc. on your credit card statement. Understanding important details related to your credit card will help you make smart decisions when it comes to future purchases.

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