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I have well publicized that I changed to the Citibank’s PremierPass Card Elite Level for all my credit card purchase to take advantage of their generous mile bonuses whenever I fly. (You can read the article here if you need a refresher).However, I found that there is one major difference between my Wells Fargo Credit Card and my new card that warrants a mention here because the new citi card might be costing me money in ways I never realized until recently.

The main difference I found with my citi visa credit card is that the time between the statement date and the due date is very short. For example, my statement date last month was 7/9 and my payment was due on 7/30. This means that if I made a purchase on 7/8, I will need to pay for it 7/30. As a comparison, my Wells Fargo credit card had a statement date of around the 25th of the month, with the due date on the 23rd.What’s the big deal? Here’s a little calculation. I’m going to assume that I buy $100 worth of stuff on my credit card each and every day and the following on the due dates and statement dates.

In the example I have given, my expenses in the month of July would be due on the following dates using the two cards:

Wells Fargo Card
$2500 due on August 23rd, $600 due on September 23rd

Citi Visa Card
$900 due on July 30th, $2200 due on August 30th.

This means that if I used the Wells Fargo Card, $900 dollars could have been earning interest for another 24 days. However, $1400 dollars actually earned 7 less days, with the rest of the $600 also earning 24 more interest days.

Summing it up, $1500 dollars earned 24 more days, and $1400 dollars earned 7 less days. Giving me a lost of $4.80 - $1.40 = $3.40, assuming that I get 5.05% APY on the money.Based on the calculation, it is nothing to worry about so I will continue to use my Citi Credit Card since the benefit is worth much more than the few dollar difference in interest.