I have a credit card through a well-known company specializing in them. This month I received the statement on December 27 with a pay by date of January 1. It seems to me that one is allowed 30 days to pay a bill. Anyone else have the same situation?

No. There's something wrong. Maybe it's Feb. 1?

I have three cards, and I use them by date, right after last month's cutoff date. That way I get to use their money interest-free longer.

The longest interval is that of MBNA. They allow me over a month interest-free after my last charge. (By that I mean that the cutoff date is more than a month before the payment-due date.)

The other cards are less favorable. But none of them have anything like a cutoff date of the 27th and a pay-by date only a few days later.

Are you sure you are not misinterpreting the statement? There is a "current balance as at [date]" and a "balance due by [date]", and the amounts are not the same necessarily.

Nope, no misinterpretattion. The statement date is 12/17, but they mail it late so it arrives late. This seems to be a modus operandi on their part. Now, I should say that there is no interest rate on a late payment, since I pay an annual fee for the card. But they have pulled this before.

I have several credit cards, with due dates ranging from the 6th to the 12th. I get paid on the last day of the month, and do all of my bill paying online. I have it set up to automatically pay these on the 1st - that way I never worry about being late or forgetting.

I don't wait for the statement, I check online and have a little checklist pinned to the wall above my desk. Two days before due date I pay online through my Credit Union. (It takes usually 0 to 1 day for the payment to reach the payee, so 2 days is lots.)

I'm fanatical about not paying the ridiculous interest c.c. issuers charge!

I don't like paying early because I have funds in interest-bearing and only make the online transfer into Checking when it's time to pay.

I know what you mean by late statements, one card whose payment is due Jan 4 only got here on the 30th.

This is not unique. One of my card services cheerfully sent out an account to December 19th, which arrived on December 30th. They'd taken the money from my bank on December 29th!

Must read the small print on their contract!My bet is that they happily proposed a date for direct debit from the bank, which date falls well before the 30 days, and I didn't pick up on that.Either that or they've moved their account date, which seems less likely.