[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's Take Control Tuesday. That means Mansa Musa is on the phone with me. And Mansa off the air was talking about some strategies we've talked about in order to help during this time. And today we are starting a two part series on cash flow control.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Yeah, and let's get right into it because there's a lot of information here. And this applies to anybody that has a credit card, whether you pay your statement off in full every month, whether you carry your balance or whether you're behind.
So you really want to listen to this series to get the information because what we're talking about doesn't take any additional money. Randy. Oh, and it works.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: No additional money required.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: I am ready.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: So here's how it works. Every credit card has a billing cycle.
Usually it's about 30 days long.
Now, let's say your statement closes on November 10th.
That statement includes everything you bought on the credit card from October 11th through November 10th.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: And the payment will probably be due around December 5th. Okay. Anything you buy after November 10th doesn't appear on that statement. It rolls over to the next cycle, which closes December 10th.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Right.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Which means that that payment won't be due until early January.
So if you've made a purchase on November 11, you might not need to pay for it until January 5, about seven weeks later, interest free.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Ooh.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Now that ain't a trick. That's just timing.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Right.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: If you're somebody that pays your statement balance in full every month, using the closing date to plan big purchases, you still pay in full, but it allows you to keep your cash in your account longer. If you carry a balance, you know the date so that you save on interest.
And if you're building credit, this is for everybody. If you pay before the statement closing date, what is reported to the credit bureau is less. Oh, now, I'm not saying paying more. Now, you should pay as much as you can, but just the timing alone will improve your credit score.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Two dates you need to know on your credit card. Number one, the due date. It's important that you know what date the payment is due. You don't want to miss them. And number two is the statement closing date. And you manage that, you schedule payments. You don't just pay bills.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: You stay in control.
You give yourself time. Once again, we're not running out and getting in debt.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Right?
[00:03:08] Speaker B: But what we're doing is keeping our money longer just by holding the purchase one day.
The difference between the 10th and the 11th is the difference between whether I pay in December or whether I pay in January.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: Wow.
That makes so much sense to me. And I'm going to make sure from now on that I know when that closing day is and that due date, because that's just a strategy that everybody can use.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Absolutely. And it doesn't cost you any more money.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: I love it. MANTA and we're going to continue with this series coming up next week. Week to give you more powerful tools to use during this climate. MANTA as always, we can find
[email protected] and thank you so much.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Thank you.
