Save money by delaying payment with staggered statement dates.
My dad has a strange little finance family secret technique: He has staggered the due date on each of his four credit card bills so that they follow one week after another. I know I wouldn’t mind having a six-week grace period on all the purchases I make.
How does this work? He uses each credit card for one week immediately after the statement date. So, if the statement date for one card is on the 15th of every month, he uses that card from the 16th to the 21st of January then changes to the next card. The purchases that he makes in that one-week period won’t have to be paid for until around the 10th of March.
Why bother? Aside from the huge lead time he has on large purchases, which is enough time to save a little money if need be, he almost never has to pay for returned items. You know the hassle: you return something a week after purchasing it, and the purchase shows up on your bill but not the return. The return won’t show until the following month.
None of this is a necessity, but what’s the point of having the best credit card if you can’t make it work for you?
So, how do you stagger your due dates? Most credit cards, including all variations of the CitiBank credit card, allow you to change your payment date. Call customer service and tell them you want to change your bill date. Make sure to double check when the statement date is because different credit cards have different length gaps between the statement and the bill. Another important detail to find out is whether the company will change your date by giving you a shorter or longer cycle for one month.
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