How to Change Your Credit Card Billing Cycle, and Which Date to Pick

If your credit card bill falls due 2 days before your salary arrives, you can often move it. How to change your credit card billing cycle depends on where you live: in India the central bank gives every cardholder the option at least once, and elsewhere it is your card company's call, though many let you move the due date online or by phone.

What matters is where the new date lands. Below is how to ask in each country, what happens in the month you switch, and a simple way to choose the date so the bill always arrives after the money does.

Why move the date at all

A due date a few days before payday turns every month into a squeeze: either you pay from money that hasn't arrived, or you pay late. A due date a few days after payday makes the same bill easy, without changing a single thing you spend.

There is a second reason if you have several cards. Due dates scattered across the month are easy to lose track of; moving them to one or two days you choose makes them a routine.

How to change your credit card billing cycle in India

The Reserve Bank of India's rules say cardholders "shall be provided option to modify the billing cycle of the credit card at least once, as per cardholders' convenience". "At least once" is a floor, not a limit: your bank may let you change it more often.

On how, the RBI's own FAQ says you can choose "any date as the starting or closing day of the billing cycle", and that card companies may offer the change through a helpline, a dedicated email address, phone banking, internet banking or the mobile app.

In practice, look in your card's app or net banking for an option to change the billing cycle or statement date, and if it isn't there, ask the helpline. Ask for a new statement date (the day the bill is generated); the due date then follows it at your card's usual gap.

How to change a credit card billing cycle or due date in the US and UK

US. It is up to the card company, and many will do it. Experian, a US credit bureau, says you may be able to change it by logging in to your online account or calling your card issuer. Expect a wait: Capital One says an approved change "may take one to two billing cycles to go into effect". And in the US the new due date then stays on the same day each month, as the rules require.

UK. It is also the card company's decision, and some set limits. On the Amazon Barclaycard, for example, you can change the date in the app, but not if you have already changed it twice there in the last 12 months, 4 times in total in that time, or during your current or last statement period.

Changing the date doesn't count against you: Experian notes it usually won't affect your credit score.

The month you switch

Moving the dates means one cycle can't be a normal length. Say your statement closed on 3 March and you move the statement date to the 10th. The next bill closes either on 10 March, covering just 7 days, or on 10 April, covering 38, depending on how your card company handles the change.

Either way it happens once. Check that first new statement closely: confirm the new dates are on it, and pay that bill by the due date it shows, which may arrive sooner or later than you are used to. After that, every cycle is back to its usual 28 to 31 days.

Which billing cycle date to pick

Work backwards from payday:

• The due date you want: 2 or 3 days after your pay usually arrives, so a weekend or a slow transfer can't push the bill past it.
• Your card's gap: the number of days from your statement date to your due date, on your last statement.
• The statement date to ask for: the due date you want, minus the gap.

With a gap of 25 days, which is common, it works out like this (a day or two either way, because months differ in length):

If your card's gap is shorter, as it often is in India where the minimum is a fortnight, use your own number: a 15-day gap and a due date on the 4th mean a statement date around the 20th.

Moving the date doesn't give you more interest-free days per cycle. It changes which days of the month they cover, so the bill meets your pay instead of chasing it.

Our personal finance app, Wealth Mutant, makes the new dates stick. Change the card's statement day and due day in the app, and its page and its reminders use the new schedule, so the first bill on the new dates is one you see coming. You log purchases yourself in moments, no bank account is linked, and there is one price, paid once.

Change your date in 4 steps

1. 1

   Note payday and your card's gap

   Your payday, and the days between your statement date and due date. Both are all you need for the sum above.

2. 2

   Pick the statement date

   Choose the due date you want, take away your card's number of days, and you have the statement date to ask for.

3. 3

   Ask for the change

   Use the card's app or online account first, then call the card company on the number printed on the card. In India, net banking, the app, phone banking and email are all ways your bank may offer.

4. 4

   Watch the first statement on the new dates

   It may be a short or a long cycle. Pay it by the due date it shows, then let the new rhythm take over.

What changes when the date suits you

The bill stops arriving before the money it needs. Payday comes, the due date follows a few days later, and paying in full turns into a routine instead of a juggle.

Find your card's gap on your last statement, pick the date with the table above, and ask. Then update the card in Wealth Mutant (setting up a card shows where the two days go), and see the billing cycle explained for how the closing date, the payment date and the interest-free days connect. Your other accounts and debts have screens of their own, and the tour shows them.