4 ms·

Do you pay off the card the second you spend the money? Or wait until your billing statemen? Most people borrow with credit cards and in fact I pay as late as

Do you pay off the card the second you spend the money? Or wait until your billing statemen? Most people borrow with credit cards and in fact I pay as late as possible for the statement to arbitrage the interest difference between the 0% of the card for the first 30 days and the interest I can draw in the bank. I try to delay big purchases to the very beginning of the billing cycle as that's an extra month to earn interest before paying it.

dahfizz 4y ago
Just put it on autopay. Once a month the whole balance gets paid off. Does your arbitrage strategy really make enough money to make it worth it? Personally, I am not going to stress about a few extra bucks by leaving the money in a 3% HYSA for an extra week. That kind of micro-optimization is fun for some people but I just can't be bothered.
- notch898a 4y ago
  I mean it doesn't take me any more or less time to pay it one day vs the other. Why not make basically an extra free $60/yr if you're carrying aroudn $2k in balances? For the median worker that's basically an extra couple hours of wages for no difference in workload.
  - dahfizz 4y ago
    Yeah, that makes total sense. For me, the extra mental of thinking about when to charge something and when to pay it off just isn't worth $60/yr. Counter-factually: If autopay didn't exist, I would gladly pay $5/mo to have all my bills paid automatically.
    - sshine 4y ago
      I’m in the same boat. I’d love to care about $60/year, but I waste more money on under-utilized subscriptions. Not saying it’s an either-or, but if I can work to earn $60 more, I’d probably rather do that than save $60. :-)
JustSomeNobody 4y ago
> in fact I pay as late as possible for the statement to arbitrage the interest difference between the 0% of the card for the first 30 days and the interest I can draw in the bank. I try to delay big purchases to the very beginning of the billing cycle as that's an extra month to earn interest before paying it. No where near enough payoff for the mental gymnastics. I just pay the bill when I first get it and it is completely off my todo list.

dahfizz 4y ago

Just put it on autopay. Once a month the whole balance gets paid off. Does your arbitrage strategy really make enough money to make it worth it? Personally, I am not going to stress about a few extra bucks by leaving the money in a 3% HYSA for an extra week. That kind of micro-optimization is fun for some people but I just can't be bothered.

notch898a 4y ago
I mean it doesn't take me any more or less time to pay it one day vs the other. Why not make basically an extra free $60/yr if you're carrying aroudn $2k in balances? For the median worker that's basically an extra couple hours of wages for no difference in workload.
- dahfizz 4y ago
  Yeah, that makes total sense. For me, the extra mental of thinking about when to charge something and when to pay it off just isn't worth $60/yr. Counter-factually: If autopay didn't exist, I would gladly pay $5/mo to have all my bills paid automatically.
  - sshine 4y ago
    I’m in the same boat. I’d love to care about $60/year, but I waste more money on under-utilized subscriptions. Not saying it’s an either-or, but if I can work to earn $60 more, I’d probably rather do that than save $60. :-)

JustSomeNobody 4y ago

> in fact I pay as late as possible for the statement to arbitrage the interest difference between the 0% of the card for the first 30 days and the interest I can draw in the bank. I try to delay big purchases to the very beginning of the billing cycle as that's an extra month to earn interest before paying it. No where near enough payoff for the mental gymnastics. I just pay the bill when I first get it and it is completely off my todo list.