How to read your credit card statement (2024)

C

Cash advance

A short-term loan that lets you withdraw cash using your credit card. The amount you can borrow depends on your cash limit. You're charged interest as soon as you make a cash advance. Fees usually apply. Balance transfers and convenience cheques are treated as cash advances.

Cash advance fee

What you pay for using your credit card to borrow cash. You're also charged interest as soon as you make a cash advance.

Cash-like transaction

Buying items that are similar to cash or can be converted into cash. These items include casino chips, money orders, wire transfers, certain lottery tickets and traveller’s cheques.

Cash limit

The maximum amount of cash you can withdraw or transfer using a credit card. This includes cash advances, balance transfers and convenience cheques. Your cash limit is part of your total credit limit — it’s not extra money you can spend.

CIBC Pace It™

An Installment Plan from CIBC that lets you pay off large credit card purchases in monthly payments at a lower interest rate. This can help you pay for the big things that matter at a pace you choose. When you set up your plan, you may pay a One Time Installment Fee of the purchase amount. After the first payment, each monthly installment payment includes both the interest and the Installment Plan principal.

Closing date

Refer to statement date.

Convenience cheque

Cheques that are linked to your credit card. Use them to pay off another credit card or to make purchases at places that don’t accept credit cards. The amount you can write on your cheque depends on your cash limit. You're charged interest once the cheque is posted to your account. We may occasionally offer a promotional interest rate for balance transfers, which you may also request for convenience cheques.

Credit

When you get money back on your account, such as a refund, the amount appears as a credit. It’s subtracted from the money you owe.

Credit balance (also called negative balance)

When you pay more than the total balance on your credit card account. On your statement, the letters CR appear beside the total balance amount if you have a credit balance. A credit balance doesn't give you a higher credit limit. But it lets you spend more before reaching your limit. As you make new transactions, your credit balance decreases until you use it up.

Credit card balance

Refer to current balance.

Credit limit

The maximum amount you can charge to your credit card. You can set up alerts and check how close you are to your credit limit using CIBC Online or Mobile Banking.

Current balance (also called credit card balance or outstanding balance)

How much you owe on your credit card at any given moment. The current balance doesn't include pending transactions. If you pay your current balance in full, you’ll also pay off any CIBC Pace It Installment Plans and balance transfers on your account. Your current balance may be different from your total balance, which is how much you owed on your last statement. Transactions you make after your last statement period count towards your current balance and will show up on your next statement. Check your current balance using CIBC Online and Mobile Banking.

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How to read your credit card statement (2024)

FAQs

How do you read credit card statements? ›

How to read your credit card statement
  1. Account details. ...
  2. Summary of account activity. ...
  3. Payment information. ...
  4. Late and minimum payment warnings. ...
  5. Notice of changes to your interest rate and other account terms. ...
  6. Record of individual transactions. ...
  7. Fees and interest charges. ...
  8. Interest charge calculations.

How do you read a credit card disclosure statement? ›

How to Read Your Credit Card Statements
  1. Account Information. The top of the statement may include your name, address, account number and the date range for the billing cycle.
  2. Summary of Account Activity. ...
  3. Payment Information. ...
  4. Account Notifications. ...
  5. Transactions. ...
  6. Interest, Fees, and Interest Rates. ...
  7. Rewards.
Aug 27, 2023

How do you Analyse a credit card statement? ›

This includes:
  1. The total credit card balance. This is the total amount that is currently charged to your credit card. ...
  2. The minimum payment amount due. ...
  3. A calculation on how long it will take to pay off your balance. ...
  4. Available credit. ...
  5. Total interest and fees paid this year.
Nov 15, 2023

How do you read a line of credit statement? ›

Reviewing Your Line of Credit Statement
  1. Billing Cycle: The beginning and ending date of the billing cycle for this statement.
  2. Account Number: ...
  3. Customer Name: ...
  4. Summary of Account Activity: ...
  5. Payment Information: ...
  6. Year to Date Totals: ...
  7. Billing Statement Payment Information: ...
  8. Interest Charge Calculation:

How do you read a credit report for dummies? ›

The credit history of your credit report will include the following components:
  1. Current and closed accounts from the past seven to 10 years. ...
  2. Payment history. ...
  3. Current balances. ...
  4. Names of creditors and lenders. ...
  5. Credit limits or loan amounts. ...
  6. Account opening and/or closing dates.
  7. Account status.
Mar 27, 2024

What does your statement tell you? ›

what does your statement tell you? A credit card statement provides information such as how and when you've used your credit card, how much you owe, how much interest you're paying to use the card, how much your minimum payment is, and how much credit you have left.

Where is the ending balance on a credit card statement? ›

You can typically find your balance in the account summary or payment information section. The summary shows the charges and credits since your previous balance or the balance at the end of the last billing period.

What is the balance on a credit card statement? ›

Your statement balance is the amount shown on your monthly billing statement. It doesn't reflect any new activity since your last statement ended. Instead, a statement balance represents the purchases and payments on your card during a set period, known as your billing cycle, which falls between 28 to 31 days.

Why is my credit card bill higher than what I spent? ›

If you only see your account information on your monthly statements, the balances will be the same. However, your current balance can be higher than the statement balance if you have spent more than you've repaid. This happens during the grace period you have to pay your bill.

What is the credit card reader method? ›

When a chip card is dipped into a chip card reader, the chip and reader communicate with each other in an encrypted language. A new code is created for each transaction and the data is encrypted the moment the card is dipped. The encrypted data is then sent to the acquirer as explained above.

How to analyze credit card offers? ›

What to look for in the box
  1. APR. This stands for "annual percentage rate" and is the range of finance charge interest rates for carrying a balance month to month. ...
  2. 0% period. Note whether a 0% period is for transferred balances or new purchases.
  3. Balance transfer fees. ...
  4. Foreign transaction fees.
Jul 3, 2017

What are the numbers at the bottom of a credit card statement online? ›

Near the bottom of your statement you'll see an interest charge calculation which includes the APR for both purchases and cash advances. These two interest rates are often different with the cash advance rate typically set higher, but they can be the same depending on the credit card issuer.

How do I read an account statement? ›

To understand your bank statement, review key sections: Bank Information (bank's name, address, contact info), Account Information (your name, address, account number), Statement Period (start and end dates of transactions), Opening/Closing Balance (account activity summary), Deposits (money added to your account), ...

What happens if I overpay my credit card? ›

There's no penalty for overpaying your credit card. If the negative balance isn't significant and you use the card regularly, you can just spend the statement credit on purchases. Once you've spent it, you'll be using your regular credit line again. Request a refund.

Does credit card statement show what you bought? ›

The summary of account activity is a collection of all transactions on your credit card account. It includes any payments made, credits, balance transfers, fees, purchases, and more. If you need to see a complete record of all the activity on your card, this is it.

Do credit card statements say what you bought? ›

Credit card statements usually do NOT show the details on what items you bought. But they would clearly show the company/store/vendor, and the transaction amount.

How does credit card statement balance work? ›

Your statement balance is the amount shown on your monthly billing statement. It doesn't reflect any new activity since your last statement ended. Instead, a statement balance represents the purchases and payments on your card during a set period, known as your billing cycle, which falls between 28 to 31 days.

How do you know your credit card statement date? ›

You can find your credit card billing cycle listed on your monthly statement. You'll notice the start and end dates for your billing period are typically located on the first page of your statement, near the balance. Your card issuer may list the number of days in your billing cycle, or you'll have to do some counting.

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