A Guide to Understand your Credit Card Statement

Paying attention to your expenses and evaluating it is the easiest way to stay on track to your financial goals. Credit card is one of the most common financial tools that we use. But how many of you have ever viewed the credit card statement beyond the payable amount and due date? The banks are liable to send you a copy of your card statement once a month via mail or home address. Proper information on this statement will help you to keep track of your credit card spending and payment dues.

Here is a guide which can help you understand the credit card statement.

Components of a Credit card statement

Account Summary

Account summary provides you an overall idea of your credit card account status for the month. The Account Summary lists: Account Number, Previous Balance, Payment Credits, Purchases, Balance Transfers, Cash Advances, Fees Charged, Interest Charged, New Balance, Past Due Amount, Credit Access Line, Available Credit, Cash Access Line, Opening/Closing Date, and the Days in Billing Cycle. 

Payment Information

This section lists down your monthly bill and the new balance. This includes your balance, your minimum payment and the due date. If you pay less than the minimum or your payment is received after the due date, you could be charged a late fee.

Late Payment Warning

The late payment warning explains what will happen if the card issuer receives your payment late. If you had an earlier past due payment, the payment information section would include that due amount.

Minimum payment warning

The minimum payment disclosure gives you an idea on how long it will take you to pay the remaining balance if you have paid only the minimum amount. You can also see the total amount you will pay and the interest charges for the minimum payment here. 

Rewards Summary

If your card offers rewards, the overall summary of the same will be shown here in this section. This section generally lists your reward balance, rewards earned this period, and amount of rewards available for redemption.

Account Changes

This section highlights the changes that a card issuer wants to make to your account. These changes could be specific to your account or could be for all the cardholders. The statement must also include the effective date of these changes.

Payment Coupons

The statement will include a payment coupon, which you can cut off and include along with your check if you are making the card payment via mail.

Interest Charges

This section explains how the card issuer calculates the interest. Further, it may have sections like purchases, balance transfers, and cash advances if they all have different APRs. You can also find information on promotional APRs here, if they apply to your account.