Credit Card - Monthly Payment, Receipts and Documentation
Whether you choose to use the Summary or Detail method of transaction entry, you need a system for making monthly payments and for managing the receipts and documentation that comes with having a credit card.
Monthly Payment of the Statement Balance
Most credit cards allow you to set up autopay to automatically pay the statement balance a few days before the due date each month. This is the method that we recommend, because you will never forget to pay on time, and the payment will consistently be the correct amount.
Consistency is the key. Pick a date and stick really close to it. Aim to have just one payment per month. If your payment due date is the 2nd of each month, you can pay it before the end of the previous month if you want, or wait until the 2nd, but whatever you do, make it consistent.
It is also really important how much you pay. The goal is to consistently pay the entire statement balance each month, not the current balance, the pending charges or the minimum due.
- The statement balance is the total of purchases made during the date range covered by the statement, minus any credits or returns. The purchases that make up the statement balance are listed on that statement.
- The current balance often includes more recent purchases that are not on the current statement, but will be included on the next statement.
- The minimum due will avoid penalties for non-payment, but will incur (usually significant!) interest charges.
If your statement is confusing you, and you find yourself just pulling numbers off the page, please ask for help. We can help you figure out how to read it.
Managing Receipts and Documentation
The “Credit Card Activity Report” is the star of this section. Every credit card holder should read and sign the “Credit/Debit Card Use Agreement” and should be required to use a “Credit Card Activity Report" every month to document their purchases. Original Receipts for all purchases should be documented on the Activity Report, stapled (in date order) to the Report, and turned in to the treasurer within 7 days of the end of the statement period.
Set up a system and make it work. Card holders will need to know that exceptions will be rare. Be kind but firm. If they are asked by the board to sign the “Credit/Debit Card Use Agreement" upon receiving their card, they will have less leeway to claim ignorance or privilege.
If your church has obtained a corporate card, where the card holders receive their own copy of the statement directly from the credit card company, that statement should be part of the packet they turn in to you. They can use the statement to confirm that they have all their receipts, then they fill out the Credit Card Activity Report, attach the receipts, and give it to you within 7 days of the end of the statement period.
When you are paying the credit card bill and entering it into Jewel, you will compare the Activity Reports with the statement to verify that all the receipts are present, make sure the receipts are stapled securely, then staple all the Activity Reports to the Credit Card statement and file it in date order in the “Statements” file in your file box.
This should be done every month without fail, so that any fraudulent charges are quickly discovered, so they can be disputed and the money recovered.
Compare this to having no system. To having receipts handed to you from all sides at various times through the month, (often after you ask multiple times for them) and when the statement comes, it is up to you to sort them, find the ones that go with the current statement and figure out what they were for. Nope. System, people! Your job is complicated enough without adding to it! Their convenience should not exponentially increase your workload.