Do you pay your credit card in full each month?

If you only make the minimum payment each month, it will take you forever to pay off, especially if the balance is fairly large. Best idea is to pay off the balance each month, if not able to do that, pay as much as you can. Paying only the minimum on multiple cards is how so many people get into financial troubles. Having a credit card may be good for your credit score, but only if you can keep the balance under control. Cathy

In my case, I always pay my credit card bills in full each month since I do not want to pay for in interest and penalties for late payments. And I always ensure that everytime I swipe my card to purchase something, I have some amount to pay for it when the bill comes. It's always wiser to do that I think. Because when you just pay your bill the minimum amount due, you will incur interests and penalties and the credit card company will be very happy with that. For almost 10 years that I am using a credit card, paying in full did not hurt my credit score. In fact, the credit card company always increase my credit limits as well as the type of card they give me from silver, to gold, and just recently they upgraded my card to platinum, and a free membership fee for one year. So better think to your advantage first and always. Good luck!

No unfortunately I cannot afford to pay the full balance. As of late I am having trouble making the minimum payments. I am in the process of paying off my debt and I am starting with the store cards. I have 2 of them back to $10-15 payments but a few of them I am having trouble because they want like $100 minimum and I can't make it. So I am trying to work it out with them so I can get back on track.

that is the best idea - this way you will not be in debt, but at the same time you are establishing credit AND if you have the right credit card you can make it work for you - in other words, while not owing them any interest or yearly fees they still give you cash back or points towards a major purchase you intend to make.

i used to do that, until i found out it actually hurts yer credit rating, and thats exactly why id gotten the cards to begin with. apparently in order to have "good" credit, you HAVE to go into debt. if you pay yer blance off in fll every month, the company doesnt make any money off of you, and therefore have no real desire to raise yer limits or offer more incentives to you. if you oly have them so you dont have to carry cash.. id think it was fine to pay it off in full every month. if yer tryng to rebuild yer credit, or just improve yer score.. dont. i make a habit of paying double th minimum every month. that way it still gets paid quicker, but i make the company happy by paying interest as well.

I nearly always pay the full amount off because otherwise I have to pay interest, and it is a lot of interest. I hate the way they work out the interest as it is based on the day you made the purchase, not the date of your statement. Or at least, that is how it is with my card. Some credit cards rewards with cash back, so if you are looking for a new card, make sure you do your homework. Others offer interest free credit for a certain amount of time, so you can transfer your balance to your new card and pay it off over, say 6 months, without having to pay more interest. There is usually a fee for transferring balances of 1% or 2%, so do your sums before doing this.

We paid our cards off a few months ago. Now when we use them, they get paid off in full every month.

no. i pay minimum amount only. :)

Hey Bd200789, I don't have a lot of time to read all the comments, so i cover it as quick and thouroughly as possible, (by the way I'm a banker by proffesion). First of all go here to get up to speed by reading the ... http://www.howstuffworks.com/credit-card.htm And now the short version... Basically a credit card is like having a pre-approved loan that you can use over and over. As long as you've paid part or all of it you can use whatever is available again. If you pay the full amount on or before the due date, then you don't pay any interest, if you only pay the minimum or any amount that won't cover the full amount owed you get charged interest on the balance. paying the minimum doesn't help you, it just keeps you from getting a late fee and from getting your card blocked. paying the full amount is what you should do whenever you can. example one: you purchase a $300 coat and pay it back in full before the due date - you don't pay interest. example two: you buy a bow flex home gym for like $500 but can only afford to pay back $300. You simply get charged interest on the remaining $200 until you pay it all back down to zero again, and you can re-use the $300 within a day or so, you don't have to pay the full amount before you can re-use what you have repaid, but if you never pay all of it off, then you keep getting charged interest on what is owed. hope that clears it up. and make sure you pay at least the minimum payment *before* it is due - in my country you get charged $30 for paying late - even if you pay more than the minimum, once it's late the fee applies. = (

Its better if you can pay the balance every month. That way you avoid interest charges. But you can build credit with just paying minimum payment. I try to pay the balance but there has been times I could only pay the minimum.

I dont have a credit card so cant comment on that but i do pay all my bills in full even if i could spread them over a certain amount of time. I have always been a firm believer in cash and not cards that way if i can't afford it i dont have it lol!

I ALWAYS pay off the full amount each month - the key word is control, self-control. We know how much we can afford to spend each month and may well have saved up for a certain purchase. We tend to use the card as a cash substitute rather than a loan system. The charges are horrific if you let them build up.

I wish i can pay my credit card bill in full monthly. But i can hardly pay my minimum amount. I will pay in full one day and will be very relaxed. All i wanna say is use credit card less and be happy. Lol