Credit Card Interest-My Little Wake Up Call
I have previously covered a few topics related to credit cards, reminding everyone to pay on time, keep track of their bills. Well last week I got charged credit card interest, a whopping $1.00 but I was mad..not at those evil credit card people, but at myself because I was clearly really not as organized and on top of it as I thought. It all started when I signed up for a new credit card when I started my co-op job this past January at Canadian Tire which became my 2nd credit card that I had. The reason I signed up was simply because I would get an additional 17.5% off everything in store plus whatever sale price was happening and start accumulating Canadian Tire money. The first card I signed up for in my 1st year and have always kept on track of payments which were always at the end of the month. This new card had a different payment date which completely threw me off.
It Was Only $1 of Credit Card Interest
Yes, I am aware that $1 of credit card interest really isn’t that much at the end of the day, but I actually forgot to pay my credit card all together! The due date for my minimum/bill payment had come and gone and I hadn’t even realized until my paper bill showed up in the mail for the next month. It’s something that made me really wonder if I could be a little more focused on my finances and be a bit more organized as well.
Making Some Changes
So after this MASSIVE ordeal..I’ve decided to test out a few iPhone apps to see if I can get myself a bit more organized and keep track of the variety of bills I have to pay each month. I’ve always been a big fan of “mental” reminders and keeping tracking of these things in my head only, but once I added this other credit card I really thinking it tipped the scale. My system may be a bit flawed so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping technology can help keep me on the right track.
So I decided to test out a few iPhone apps to see if I could change my ways and become a bit more organized with my bill payments. There are a few apps out there and one is called Bills Monitor which is a SUPER expensive $0.99 which in the end really isn’t that expensive at all, I know people that have dished out a good $10 or so on Candy Crush (I’m addicted too but haven’t spent any money) so $0.99 isn’t too bad to stay on track.
I also gave BillMinder a try and at $1.99 it isn’t much more expensive but I didn’t find it was worth it to spend that extra dollar (I did have to pay that $1 of interest the other month so that’s my logic there) for something comparable to Bills Monitor and was updated more recently as well. In the end I decided to go with the free option, which was putting bill payments in as events in my Google Calendar and then I will get notifications that way. I spend a ton of time on email and checking them so I will see if that works out.
On A Side Note-Keeping the Extra Credit Card?
I’m still on the fence as to whether or not I will keep my second credit card once I’m done working come the end of August. I won’t have the discount anymore, but will still have the opportunity to accumulate Canadian Tire money. I honestly don’t think it’s necessary but I do know that it can help build my credit rating to have the second card. It’s a dilemma I will have to figure out within the next few months.
Have you ever forgotten to pay a credit card or other bill (utilities etc.)? How did you make sure it didn’t happen again?
