 TITLE: Should I Pay My Credit Card Bill Early? CONTENT: Understand Your Billing Cycle\n-----------------------------\nThe imprecision in noting that your payment due date is _about_ 21 days before your payment due date has to do with a discrepancy between billing cycles and payment dates. The law requires that your bill be due on the same date each month, and of course the number of days in each month varies, but the number of days in each credit billing cycle is the same. Different card issuers use cycles of anywhere from 28 to 31 days.\nYou can check the length of your card's billing cycle in your cardholder agreement, or simply calculate the number of days between the start and end dates for the billing period listed on your card statement. The next statement closing date will be that many days from the billing period end date, no matter when your next payment is due.\nThe grace period for payments on most credit cards means you pay no interest charges as long as you pay the full amount that appears on your account statement each month. If you can afford to pay your balance in full every month, doing so before your monthly statement closing date has the benefit of ensuring that no outstanding card balance is reported to the credit bureaus—which can boost your credit scores.\n### When \"Early\" Payments Should Be \"Extra\" Payments\nIt's critical to note that \"early\" payments made before your statement closing date apply to the billing cycle in which you make them. If your payment eliminates your entire balance, that's fine, but if a balance remains, you'll still have to make a minimum payment by the due date listed on your next statement to avoid being considered late on your bill.\nFor that reason, if you routinely carry credit card balances from month to month, it may be better to think of pre-closing date payments as _extra_ payments, rather than _early_ ones. Making multiple payments to credit card accounts is a time-honored approach to keeping a lid on your debts and promoting good credit scores. END