How To Avoid Late Payments On Your Credit Card

First, it dawns on you. You forgot to make a credit card payment.

Second, you panic. You’re an adult, you know this stuff is important, how are you messing up at life so much?!

Third, the shame comes. You feel that shame deep in your gut, you don’t want to call the company and your embarrassed.

Fourth, you get into action. You log-on and make the damn missed payment already.

Fifth, you get angry. I’m a responsible human!! Why is my credit going to be impacted because ONE payment was TWO days late?!

Did I nail it?

It’s because I have been there too. And let me tell ya, when you are a money coach and miss a credit card payment that step about shame… about doubles.

But I want to let you in on a little secret: The system is set up for you to fail.

Why else would credit card companies make their statement cycles on random dates (e.g. the 18th to the 18th) when the rest of the world lives on the monthly cycle of the 1st through the 30th??

Your mortgage doesn’t have a weird cycle cut date. I bet your utilities don’t either. But you are supposed to remember the three different random cycle dates for your three different credit cards?

The system is set up for you to fail.

This is why I dislike credit cards. They can be a useful tool, but only when you understand that you are playing a game and you know how to play to win.

The credit card companies are like the big casinos in Vegas… and you know the old adage the house always wins? Yea, 100% true.

And most people don’t know the rules of the game.

So let’s make sure that shame cycle we opened with never happens again. (TAKE THAT big credit card company!) And I’m not talking some big spreadsheet to keep better track of what payments are due on what days… no. You don’t need another system.

What you need is automated payments.

If you set your credit card accounts to auto pay the minimum amount due, you won’t have to worry about forgetting a payment ever again.

Done. Easy peasy.

But I know what you are thinking… “I’m a responsible human who wants to pay more than the minimum!”

Perfect. You are a Money Coaches dream.

The automatic payment will process on the random processing date it has been assigned. THEN on a day that works for YOU and your monthly cash flow you can make a second payment for the remainder of the balance.

So, let’s summarize. You will make two credit card payments per month. One will be the small minimum payment that will process automatically. The second will be the larger payment that you initiate when you are ready to pay it.

Voila! You now have one new tool to use against the credit card companies. And have defeated the late payment shame cycle for good.