Credit Card Accounts and Promo Deadlines Register

Who this is for

Every card you hold, and when each cheap rate runs out. Limits, rates and payment days for every card, and the monthly payment that clears each promo balance in time.

Anyone holding several credit cards, people who have moved a balance to a promotional rate and need to clear it before it ends, and anyone tidying up their cards before a mortgage application.

What this helps you track

• Each card, its limit and the standard rate it reverts to
• Statement day, payment day and how each card is paid
• Every promotional rate and the date it ends
• The days left and the monthly payment that clears each promo balance
• The soonest end date and the total needed each month

How to use it

1. List each card with the issuer, the last four digits only, the limit, the standard rate and the statement and payment days from its statement.
2. Note how each is paid, such as an automatic payment of the minimum or the full balance, and when the annual fee is next charged.
3. For each promotional balance, enter the type, the promotional rate, the end date from your statement and the balance on it now.
4. Count the payments that will reach the card before the end date and enter that number; days left and the monthly amount needed are worked out in the browser and the workbook.
5. Update the balances as each statement arrives, and set yourself a reminder well before each end date.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Why do I count the payments left myself?

Statement and payment dates fall differently on every card, so the safest count is the one you make from your own calendar. Count only the payments that will reach the card before the promotional rate ends.

What happens when a promotional rate ends?

Any balance left moves to the rate set out in the card's terms. Check your own agreement for that rate and the exact end date, and write the rate in the cards table so the cost of missing the date is plain.

Does the amount needed include interest?

No. It divides the promotional balance by the payments left, which assumes no interest on that balance during the promotion. If your promotion carries a rate or a fee, check the figure against your statement.

Should I write the full card number?

No. The last four digits are enough to tell cards apart. Keep the cards themselves safe; the register is a record of terms and dates, not a copy of the card.