Credit Card Rules to Live By (2024)

FAQs

What is the 15 30 rule for credit cards? ›

When you have a credit card, most people usually make one payment each month, when their statement is due. With the 15/3 credit card rule, you instead make two payments. The first payment comes 15 days before the statement's due date, and you make the second payment three days before your credit card due date.

What is the 5/24 rule? Many card issuers have criteria for who can qualify for new accounts, but Chase is perhaps the most strict. Chase's 5/24 rule means that you can't be approved for most Chase cards if you've opened five or more personal credit cards (from any card issuer) within the past 24 months.

To maintain a healthy credit score, it's important to keep your credit utilization rate (CUR) low. The general rule of thumb has been that you don't want your CUR to exceed 30%, but increasingly financial experts are recommending that you don't want to go above 10% if you really want an excellent credit score.

1-in-5 rule: This states that you can only apply for one American Express card every five days. 2-in-90 rule: You can only be approved for up to two American Express cards within a 90 day period.

Pay on time, in full, every single month

Many people see “minimum payment” on their bill and think that's the only amount that needs to be paid in order to avoid penalties. But the reality is, interest kicks in immediately for any unpaid balance. If you're just paying the minimum, you're losing.

Our 50/30/20 calculator divides your take-home income into suggested spending in three categories: 50% of net pay for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings and debt repayment. Find out how this budgeting approach applies to your money.

$5,000 in credit card debt can be quite costly in the long run. That's especially the case if you only make minimum payments each month. However, you don't have to accept decades of credit card debt. There are a few things you can do to pay your debt off faster - potentially saving thousands of dollars in the process.

According to cardholder reports, Bank of America uses a 2/3/4 rule: You can only be approved for two new cards within a 30-day period, three cards within a 12-month period and four cards within a 24-month period.

Always Make Payments on Time

One of the most essential rules to owning a credit card is paying bills on time. A single late payment within a year of on-time payments might not seem to be much, but it could be a slippery slope that leads to debt and low credit scores and it will impact your credit.

The minimum payment on a $3,000 credit card balance is at least $30, plus any fees, interest, and past-due amounts, if applicable. If you were late making a payment for the previous billing period, the credit card company may also add a late fee on top of your standard minimum payment.

How much of a $10,000 credit limit should I use? ›

One of the best ways to improve your credit score is to lower your credit utilization ratio. A good rule of thumb is to keep your credit utilization under 30 percent. This means that if you have $10,000 in available credit, you don't ever want your balances to go over $3,000.

Decreased credit score

Maxing out your credit card can affect your credit utilization ratio. This ratio is a percentage of how much credit you're using versus your total available credit. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says to keep your credit utilization ratio below 30%.

The rule would block card issuers with more than 1 million open accounts from charging more than $8 for late fees, unless they could prove higher fees are necessary to cover their costs. According to the CFPB, issuers collected more than $14 billion worth of credit card late fees in 2022, with an average fee of $32.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Releases Final Rule on Credit Card Late Fees, with Overdraft Fees on Deck. On March 5, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced the final rule governing late fees for consumer credit card payments, likely cutting the average fee from $32 to just $8.

By making a credit card payment 15 days before your payment due date—and again three days before—you're able to reduce your balances and show a lower credit utilization ratio before your billing cycle ends. That information is reported to the credit bureaus.

Making more than one payment each month on your credit cards won't help increase your credit score. But, the results of making more than one payment might.

As 30% or lower is the ideal credit utilization ratio, a single credit card payment is not your best option. Paying half your bill twice a month—such as with the 15/3 rule—would keep your credit utilization ratio at 22.5% or less throughout the month.

But despite what you may have heard, there's nothing special about the hack itself. Making multiple payments a month could help keep your balances low and avoid late payments, but there's no extra advantage if you do it 15 days or three days ahead of your statement date or due date.

By making a credit card payment 15 days before your payment due date—and again three days before—you're able to reduce your balances and show a lower credit utilization ratio before your billing cycle ends. That information is reported to the credit bureaus.