But maybe this way you'll forget, itll post and make it to the next statement, until they can collect interest on it.

Yeah, that's my thinking. I check my balances constantly, and I have a database remind me when stuff is due... they're not making any interest on me. That's a big rule in our house: we don't pay interest! We use credit cards for everything due to the perks and protections, but we don't buy things we can't pay off before the end of the billing cycle. The only thing we have left with a balance on it that we're paying interest on is our house... and I'm doing my best to pay that down as fast as possible. Interest is what keeps people in debt!

"we don't pay interest! We use credit cards for everything due to the perks and protections, but we don't buy things we can't pay off before the end of the billing cycle"

That is exactly what I do. What I also do is pay the statement Balance 3 weeks in advance in full or 90%. then allow the Autopay to cover the rest. This is how you keep your Utilization figures low and increase your credit score.

I asked my bank that a few years ago. They told me it "rings bells" not only in the bank's internal operations, but can trigger a money laundering investigation from the feds, since they are in the business of lending, not "holding" funds. Now, I doubt your $500 is significant compared to that of drug king's, but I remember as an analyst for BofA, they were so afraid of doing anything that smelled even slightly wrong. That all seemed to change just before 2008 however.

Critical thinking just went off idle again. I remember back in the 1980 & 90s, I was paying down debt on the house fast, and knew that a big charge for a vacation was coming on the credit card. I wanted to pay early, since I was going to be gone a month in Italy and Austria.

When I got back, I had a really nasty letter from the credit card company for overpaying. They even threatened to cancel my card (oh, that really bothered me since I was getting a credit card application in the mail every two days or so.) So, it's not just websites doing it. Why some bank cards will gladly accept overpayment and others no? I have no idea.

Presently, I think BofA allows me to pay the current balance, which might be above the statement balance, I guess they can justify that. I never do, thanks to being able to do everything on the web these days. I'm not sure if they will let me make multiple payments in a period. That could be another way around the system. I'm not about to try though, in case they only allow 1 and then I'll get interest charges.

I've got several different credit cards. I've got Capital One, Discover, a few others, but I use American Express for most things. And American Express does let you pay over your current balance. That is nice. If I make a $2,000 charge, I can immediately make a $2,000 payment. They don't care. But it seems like every other credit card company does care.

5/3rd bank in our town would take your money but then not post it until 2a.m. then next morning.  If your payment is due on Tuesday and you gave them cash on Tuesday, the payment was late because they didn't "process" it until 2a.m. on Wednesday.  They made $39.50 every time they got someone with that trick.  

It sounds like trickery to tag vulnerable customers with late fees to me, but I may be jaded. :)

I hate that stuff. My daughter, when she was in college, got nailed because of something like that. She made a deposit, and let's say it was $100. Then she bought a bunch of coffees (3 coffees the next day in the morning), and later in the day, she made another charge on her card, which they approved, but that then set her negative in her account. What they did was they processed the big transaction first the next morning, so that caused her account to go negative first. Then they whacked her for like $25 for each of the $4 coffees she bought. She ended up having like $100+ in late fees.

So I marched straight to the bank, and I'm like, "Nope, you're not doing that." And they did correct it, but if we hadn't said anything, they would've gotten away with it. Banks love to play nasty tricks like that.

With my accounts, personally, I never use debit cards to purchase anything - ever. The only thing I have a debit card for is if I need to take cash out at an ATM. In that case, I lock and unlock it with their app.  In each of my checking accounts, I keep a floor of $1000. I consider that to be zero. I never go below that just in case something happens where I miscalculated or something comes out I forgot about, which doesn't happen because I use my Account Balances database to keep track of everything. :)

You gotta be careful with these financial institutions. They're out to squeeze every penny they can.

Unless, of course, I have any bankers here as students, in which case... you guys are cool.

@Richard Question, do you have to pay off your entire American Express each month? No "credit" allowed? That was the case back in the 80s when I had an American Express card. Maybe that throwback keeps them out of the "credit" game compared to other cards?

Amex now has a "pay over time" option which is basically like a normal credit card. Doesn't matter for me. My rule applies. If I can't pay it off that month, I don't buy it. I ain't paying 29% interest. I work hard for 6% or 7% gains in my portfolio... Not wasting it on credit card interest. I'm lucky that I got a 5.25% interest rate on my mortgage when they were still low.

I can't figure out how Congress lets them get away with these crazy interest rates. Ahhh, the price of freedom.

Usury at its best.