AVERAGE DAILY BALANCE
It's easy to dismiss this figure, since its purpose isn't immediately clear. The bottom line: It's an amount used to calculate finance charges.
To determine your interest charge, the card company starts with the average daily balance — which is your balance at the end of each day during a billing period, divided by the number of days in the period.
That number is then multiplied by a monthly period rate, which is the annual interest rate divided by 12. This determines your financing charges for a given billing period.
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In some cases, banks use daily periodic rates, meaning they divide the annual interest rate by 365. The rates should be listed under a heading such as "Finance Charge Schedule."
So what does that mean for you? Paying off bills early — even before the due date — would lower your average daily balance and subsequently your financing charges.
Another thing to watch for is double-cycle billing. It can work in a couple different ways, but generally the idea is that interest is charged on past balances.
As an example, let's say you start a billing cycle with no balance, charge $500 and make an on-time payment of $450.
Under double-cycle billing, you would be charged interest on the full $500, rather than on just the $50 still owed. Card companies need to disclose whether they use the practice on solicitations for opening an account. You can also look for the term "double cycling" in the fine print on your cardholder agreement.
The new credit card law bans the practice. The American Bankers Association says many card companies have already abandoned the practice.
DUE DATE
Even if you mail your payment so it arrives by the due date, don't be surprised if you're slapped with a late fee.
One reason is that deadlines can be for a specific time, sometimes as early as 1 p.m. So if your payment isn't processed until later in the afternoon — boom — late fee.
"The banks that have it are probably going to keep enforcing it between now and February," said Ben Woolsey, director of marketing and consumer research of CreditCards.com.
The time that your payment is due is usually buried somewhere in the terms on the back of your bill.
According to Consumer Action, most card issuers (78 percent) immediately charge late fees if payments aren't received by the due date. The majority (90 percent) also said a late fee is levied even if the due date falls on a Saturday or a holiday.
Online and phone payments aren't always instantaneous either, so give some time for the payment to be processed and cleared.
"It's easy to fall into this euphoria that you can make the payment day before," Ulzheimer said.
The new law will push due date deadlines back to 5 p.m. and require that they don't fall on a holiday or weekend.
