Your Credit Card Bill: Making Payments Easier
How Should You Pay Your Credit Card Bill?
Assuming that you'd prefer not to actually write a check and stick it in the mail, you have other easy, online options to pay your credit card bill. You can approach this task from two directions -- either you have your credit card company deduct the payment from your bank account, or you use your bank's bill pay feature to send payment to your credit card company. Which method should you use?
Automated and Hassle-Free
If you want to be able to forget about your credit card bills and ensure that they get paid on time, then setting up an auto bill pay arrangement with your checking account at your bank may be your best option. Once you have set this up, your bank will take care of getting full payment to your credit card company by the bill due date.
The downside of this method of payment comes into play if you are unable to guarantee that you will always have sufficient funds in your account to cover the entire bill. Since you could set up the auto bill payment and forget about it, you might be more prone to overspending with your credit card or simply forgetting that your payment will soon be sent, and then overdrawing your bank account and potentially impacting your credit rating.
If You Need A Bit More Control
If you like to have a bit more control over your bill payment date and amount, then it might be a better option to have your credit card withdraw the payment from your bank account. This bill payment method enables you to ensure that you have sufficient funds to cover the amount that you will be paying towards your credit card bill, whether it is a partial or full payment.
On the other hand, if you are forgetful, then you are more likely to forget to authorize payment in time to meet your bill due date. This could result in late fees and possibly cause your credit card balance to begin accruing interest, even if you had been diligently paying your bill in full to avoid this. A significantly late payment might even negatively impact your credit rating.
The option you choose will depend on your personal preference and the likelihood that you will either overdraw your bank account or miss a payment.
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