Billing cycle: Definition, how long it is and more

Understanding how your credit card’s billing cycle works can help you manage your money and prepare for upcoming bills. You may even be able to use this knowledge to make strategic decisions that can give you more time to pay off purchases or improve your credit scores. 

Keep reading to learn about what a billing cycle is, how it works, how long it lasts and more.

What you’ll learn:

• A credit card billing cycle refers to the period of time between two billing statement closing dates—typically 28 to 31 days.

• When a billing cycle ends, credit card issuers add up all the transactions that occurred during the billing period and carry over any additional balances from the previous billing cycle to provide a credit card statement.

• It’s helpful to understand how your billing cycle works to help you plan for upcoming purchases and make on-time payments.

A billing cycle is also called a billing period or a statement period. It’s the time between two statement closing dates. At the end of a billing cycle, your transactions from the billing period and previous balances are added together to determine your statement balance. The bill for your statement is usually due around three weeks later, although it depends on the credit card company. Then, the next billing cycle begins right away.

At the end of each billing cycle, your card issuer adds up all the transactions that occurred during the period. Your issuer will also add any balance that wasn’t paid off from the previous billing cycle. Then, it will  send you a credit card statement with a summary of the account activity, statement balance, minimum payment and due date. 

Transactions that may be included when calculating your balance include:

• Purchases

• Payments

• Interest charges

• Statement credits

• Fees

• Cash advances

Many credit cards have a grace period. That’s the time between the end of a billing cycle and the bill’s due date when you may not be charged interest on your purchases. For example, Capital One’s grace period is at least 25 days. Grace periods are usually between 25 and 55 days. And if you pay your bill in full each month, you won’t be charged credit card interest on your purchases.

Credit cards often have a billing cycle of around 30 days. But billing cycles can range from 28 to 31 days depending on the timing and the card issuer. 

To comply with federal regulations, your card issuer must use equal billing cycles. But there’s a little wiggle room to accommodate weekends, holidays and months that are longer or shorter than others.

You can review your credit card agreement or credit card statement to find out exactly how long your card’s billing cycle is.

You generally can’t choose the length of your card’s billing cycle. But some issuers, like Capital One, may let you request a new due date for your bills. If approved, the change may take one to two billing cycles to go into effect.

Understanding how billing cycles, statement balances, grace periods and due dates work can help you make strategic decisions about how and when to use a credit card.

Knowing when a billing cycle ends can help you budget for the upcoming bill. Paying off your credit card in full can help you avoid interest charges.

Some credit card issuers send balance updates after each billing cycle to the three major credit bureaus, Equifax®, Experian® and TransUnion®. The exact timing depends on the issuer. But the reported balance and credit limit can impact your credit utilization ratio, which is a measure of how much available credit you’re using and an important credit-scoring factor.

If you’re wondering about your credit score, you can use CreditWise from Capital One to monitor your credit. Using it won’t hurt your scores. And it’s free to everyone, even if you’re not a Capital One cardholder.

Billing cycles are typically around 30 days. Knowing the exact length and your payment due date can help you prepare for upcoming bills. Capital One cardholders can use the Capital One Mobile app to check balances, pay bills, lock their cards and enable near real-time spending alerts.^1,2