i saw some guy in the facebook points group asking a question
and a lot of people misunderstood the question

so i typed up the following most useless lengthy respoinse:

Okay a lot of wrong answers here because the question itself was a bit confusingly phrased.

There are three types of payments:
A. Current Balance
B. Statement Balance
C. Minimum Payment Due

Your screenshot only shows the statement balance. But you are asking “do I just pay the payment due”?

This is confusing because a lot of rookies usually ask “do I pay the statement balance or the minimum payment due?” So everything contextually is pointing to making us think that you asked about B or C.

But I think you asked about A or B.

Let’s set up some hypotheticals:
A. Current Balance: $700
B. Statement Balance: $487
C. Minimum Payment Due: I have no idea whether Amex takes minimum payments.. let’s say maybe it’s like $100?

If you pay the current balance (A), you are paying a bit ahead of schedule. You are paying what is due this month (B) plus some of next month’s (700-487=$213) Which is fine, no one cares.

If you pay the statement balance (B), that’s the exact amount that you have to pay this month. The remaining amount is for next month. Most people set up autopay and have it pay B every month.

If you cannot afford to pay B this month, then it’s not good. If you can at least pay the minimum payment (C), then you will accrue interest for the remaining amount at the rate of the card APR every month. If you do not even pay C, then your card company will take adverse action, etc.

A lot of prevailing misconception among younger people is to just pay C each month, which lets the interest snowball into a catastrophic amount. Your question had all the signs of someone asking “can I just pay C, or do I have to pay B?”

However I think you are asking “do I pay A or B?”.

And the answer is “you can just pay your statement balance ?(B) due, which is the amount you are showing on your screenshot. That’s how almost everyone pays”.