Your credit card payment due date is the deadline to pay the bill, and it is printed on every statement. It usually falls 2 to 4 weeks after the statement date (when the bill is closed), depending on your card and on where you live.
How many days you get, what time the money has to arrive, and what happens when the due date lands on a Sunday all have exact answers, and some of them are set by law. Here they are, country by country, with the rules behind them.
How a credit card payment due date is set
The card company closes your bill on the statement date and gives you a number of days to pay it. That gap is set by your card agreement, inside whatever minimum the law sets where you live, so the due date keeps about the same distance from the statement date every month.
In the US the due date also has to stay put: it must be "the same day of the month for each billing cycle", a requirement of Regulation Z, the main US credit-card rulebook. A card with a due date on the 28th is due on the 28th every month.
What you pay by that date decides what the card costs:
- The full statement balance, everything the bill lists: that month's spending costs nothing in interest, provided last month's bill was cleared too.
- The minimum payment, the floor the bill sets: you are on time, yet interest begins on the remainder.
- Less than the minimum, or nothing: the payment is late, with the costs set out further down.
Credit card payment due date: how many days you get, by country
| Where | Days between the statement and the due date | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| US | At least 21 | The statement must be mailed or delivered at least 21 days before the payment due date (Regulation Z) |
| Canada | At least 21 before interest on new purchases | "Federally regulated financial institutions must provide a minimum 21-day grace period", counted from the last day of the billing period (Financial Consumer Agency of Canada) |
| India | At least 14 (a fortnight) before interest | The cardholder must have "sufficient number of days (at least one fortnight) for making payment before the interest starts getting charged" (Reserve Bank of India) |
| UK | Set by the card company; usually about 3 weeks or a little more | HSBC's example: with a 31-day cycle, a purchase on 1 October can be paid by 25 November without interest |
So in the US and Canada you always get at least 3 weeks, and in India at least 2. In the UK and many other countries the card agreement decides, and about 3 weeks or a little more is common. Your own number is on your statement: count the days from the statement date to the due date once, and it holds, give or take a day or two, every month.
What time is a credit card payment due?
A payment counts when the card company receives it, not when you send it, and the card company sets a cut-off time on the due date.
In the US that cut-off can be no earlier than 5 p.m. on the due date. An online payment you authorise after the cut-off counts from the next business day, and a payment made in person at one of the card company's branches counts until the branch closes.
Elsewhere the time is in your card's terms. Whatever the country, a transfer from another bank can take a day or more to arrive, so paying 2 or 3 working days early takes the timing question away entirely.
What if the due date falls on a weekend or holiday?
US. If the due date is a weekend or federal holiday on which the card company doesn't receive mailed payments, a mailed payment that arrives before the cut-off on the following business day is on time, according to the US banking regulator's help site. The rule is about mail: if the card company accepts online or phone payments that day, a payment made by those methods may still be due on the weekend date itself.
UK. Some card companies move the date for you. Barclaycard, for example, says your payment date "will always fall on a working day" and changes it if it lands on a weekend or bank holiday.
India and elsewhere. The Reserve Bank of India's card rules don't move a due date that falls on a holiday, so treat the date on the statement as the deadline and check your card's terms.
The safe habit is the same everywhere: if the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, pay by the working day before it.
Work out your next due date
Type the day of the month on your statement and how your due date is set. You get the next due date, how many days away it is, and how many days a purchase today has to pay.
If it falls on a weekend, you will see the weekday.
Working out your dates.
Due dates are easier to keep when something else is watching them, which is why we built that into Wealth Mutant, a personal finance app. Set a card's statement day and due day once, and the card's page shows the payable amount and how long is left to pay it, with new spending on its own line; reminders arrive when the bill is ready and ahead of the deadline. Every purchase is entered by hand in seconds, nothing is connected to your bank, and the app costs a single payment.
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Buy — $99 onceWhat happens if you miss the due date
Missing it by a day costs less than people fear, and missing it by a month costs more:
- A late fee, in most countries, set by your card agreement.
- Interest on whatever stayed unpaid; most cards also stop the interest-free days until the balance is cleared in full.
- Your credit report. In the US, late payments are reported to the credit bureaus once you are at least 30 days past the due date, according to Experian. In India, a card company may only report a card as past due, or charge a late fee, once it is more than 3 days past the due date, counted from the due date itself.
If a payment goes in late, pay as soon as you notice, at least the minimum, and call the card company: a first late payment on an account that is otherwise paid on time is worth asking about.
Never miss the due date
Find your due date and your gap
Both are on your statement: the due date, and the number of days after the statement date it falls. The gap stays about the same every month.
Set up an automatic payment
Pay at least the minimum automatically from your bank account, or the full statement balance if you can. Then a busy month can't turn into a late payment.
Get a reminder 3 days before
A reminder a few days ahead leaves time for a transfer to arrive, and for a weekend or holiday to be worked around.
Common questions
How many days after the statement is a credit card payment due?
It depends on the card and the country. In the US it is at least 21 days, in Canada at least 21 days before interest on new purchases, in India at least a fortnight (14 days) before interest. In the UK the card agreement sets it, often about 3 weeks.
Is the credit card due date the same every month?
In the US it must be the same day of the month for each billing cycle. In other countries it usually is, though some card companies move it to a working day when it lands on a weekend or holiday.
What time is a credit card payment due?
By the card company's cut-off time on the due date. In the US that cut-off can be no earlier than 5 p.m. Elsewhere it is in your card's terms.
Is a payment on the due date itself on time?
Yes, if the card company receives it before the cut-off time that day. In the US, a payment that arrives after the cut-off counts from the next business day.
What changes once the due date is set up
The due date stops being a date you remember under pressure. You know how many days your card gives you, the time the money has to arrive, and what a weekend does to it, and an automatic payment covers the months you are busy.
Take your last statement and note 2 things: the due date, and how many days it sits after the statement date. Then add the card to Wealth Mutant and switch on its due-date reminders. For where the due date sits among the other dates, see the credit card billing cycle, explained. From loans to net worth, the tour walks you round the rest of the app.