You set up automatic payment from your checking account to the credit card account for double the minimum payment on your card for a typical month’s spending, or $50, whichever is more. (If you normally spend $500 in a month, the minimum payment is $10. double that is $20. In practice, I just send in $50. That way, I know that as long as I spend less than $2500 ($50 is 2% of $2500) , there’s no way I can possibly get penalized for late payment, even if I flake out and stop paying my bills for six months. That’s becuase as my bank always sends in the $50 on time, even if I forget to pay the rest.

Then, I use google calendar to send me a reminder for the credit card on the day that the billing cycle ends. It says “WAMU billing cycle ends 24th of month; payment due 17th of next month. ”

I pay all my credit cards two days to a week after the billing cycle ends. No waiting for the week before the due date–pay it as soon as they bill me. And this way, I know that the $50 goes out 2 days after the billing cycle ends, and there’s no way after that for me to be “late” and penalized.

Try It! You’ll like it!