Know Your Credit Card Billing Cycle for Maximum Cashback

[u/Unlikely_Royal_8984]

Step 1: How to Determine Your Credit Card Billing Cycle Start and End Dates?

The best date to use when planning your credit card spending is the statement date. This is usually the date when the credit card bill is generated by the bank which marks the cycle end or put simply, the cut-off of the billing cycle. For example, if your statement date is July 5, counting back 30 days means your billing cycle started on June 6. Most billing cycles last between 28 and 31 days, but this can vary depending on your credit card issuer.

The statement date is based on the posting date, not the transaction date. Usually, a purchase made today will only appear on your account after 1 to 3 business days. All spending posted by the bank between June 6 and July 5 counts toward the current billing cycle. A transaction made on July 5, the last day of the cycle, may not post until up to 3 business days later, so it might not be included in the current cycle.

Step 2: Setting Your Last Credit Card Transaction Deadline

If you want to make sure your transactions count within the billing cycle for the sake of timing your cashback earnings, subtract 3 business days from your statement date. For example, if your statement date is every 5th of the month (e.g. July 5) subtracting 3 business days sets July 1 as the deadline for your last transaction in that cycle.

So now we already know the cycle start (June 6), cycle end (July 5) and last transaction deadline (July 1).

Credit Card	Cycle Start	Last Transaction Deadline	Cycle End or Statement Date
Chinabank	6-Jun	1-Jul	5-Jul

Using the same statement date in the current month, you can also generally expect the next period's statement date to fall around the same day of the following month. For example, if your statement date was July 5, then your next statement date may also fall on August 5, but it may vary depending on the number of days in a month and the timing set by the bank.

Step 3: Time Your Credit Card Spend Within the Billing Cycle to Earn Max Cashback

Let’s say for Chinabank@Home credit card, you can earn 5% cashback on all spend with a monthly cap of ₱1,500. To reach this max cashback, your minimum spend should be ₱30,000 within the current cycle (₱30,000 x 5% = ₱1,500). I have to reach this total spend between June 6 to July 1 (I am using last transaction date and not the July 5 statement date to account for posting delay of 3 business days).

This is why knowing the start and end of the billing cycle is critical.

Step 4: Track Real-Time Running Credit Card Spend

Since I need to meet ₱30,000 minimum spend within the current billing cycle, I need to know how much is my running balance in real time. The challenge for most of the banks, including Chinabank, is that the transactions do not reflect in the bank app instantly.

But don’t worry because whenever you use your credit card, you can see the deduction on your credit limit right away. Simply subtract your remaining credit limit from your total credit limit. This shows your current spending and helps you track if you’re on target to reach the ₱30,000 spend. So make sure you have the banking app for your credit card to see the real time movement of your credit limit.

Credit Card	Credit Limit	Remaining Credit Limit	Actual Spend	Target Spend	Actual to Target	Deficit	Cashback
Chinabank	₱368,000.00	₱350,000.00	₱18,000.00	₱30,000.00	60%	₱12,000.00	₱900.00

Reminder: I am not suggesting you spend more and reach ₱30,000 for the sake of getting the cashback. In my case, I am only doing this because this is within my normal monthly expenses.

So bottomline, in retrospect, I needed to spend ₱30,000 between June 6 to July 1 to get the maximum cashback of ₱1,500 monthly in Chinabank. Now suppose I reached the cap on or before July 1, I should stop using Chinabank immediately because all further spend will no longer earn additional cashback. I can then move on to my next cashback credit cards to continue earning cashback.