What Your Credit Card Statement Is Really Telling You — and How To Use It to Your Advantage

• Written by Ethan Steinberg
  

  Ethan Steinberg

  Credit cards, reviews

  Ethan Steinberg is a seasoned journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering credit cards, airline loyalty programs, and award travel strategy. He previously served as a senior writer for The Points Guy and has also contributed extensively to Business Insider, Forbes and CNN, where he broke down complex topics in personal finance, miles and points, and international travel. Ethan’s passion for award travel was sparked during his time living in China after college, where navigating foreign loyalty programs and long-haul flights on a student budget taught him the real-world value of points and miles. Since then, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles using rewards points and built travel itineraries that maximize both luxury and value. He specializes in translating the fine print of credit card benefits into actionable advice and has a particular love for obscure redemption sweet spots. He is currently pursuing a dual MD/MPH degree at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he continues to draw on his experiences living and traveling abroad to explore the intersection of global health, policy, and accessibility.

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• Edited by Amen Oyiboke-Osifo
  

  Amen Oyiboke-Osifo

  Generational wealth, credit card travel rewards

  Amen Oyiboke-Osifo is an editor at GOBankingRates and CardCritics, and has been in the personal finance space since 2019. She specializes in personal finance, credit cards, and generational wealth money trends. Amen brings over a decade of experience in digital, broadcast, and print journalism. She previously served as the executive producer of The Richer Way Podcast, presented by GOBankingRates, where she highlighted wealth-building strategies and financial insights from industry leaders. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications from Prairie View A&M University and her master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Southern California. Amen’s current work focuses on demystifying credit cards, rewards, and debt payoff strategies.

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• Reviewed by Jasmin Baron
  

  Jasmin Baron

  Credit Cards, Travel Rewards, Loyalty Programs, Family Travel, Credit Building, Credit Scores

  Jasmin Baron is CardCritics’ senior editor, responsible for editing and writing credit cards, travel rewards, loyalty program, and other credit-related content. She is passionate about personal finance education and enjoys sharing tips and tricks for making the most credit card points and miles with her readers. Her expertise in maximizing credit card travel rewards originated from over two decades of aviation industry experience, including 18 years working as a pilot and college professor/flight instructor in her native Canada. Her work has appeared on sites such as CNN Underscored Money, Business Insider, The Points Guy, and point.me. When she’s not planning her next trip with credit card rewards, you’ll probably find her tinkering around in the kitchen, hanging out with her three kids, or playing with her dog, Benji.

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• Last Updated Aug 14, 2025

It can be all too tempting to throw your credit card statement in the trash when it arrives each month. “I’m going to pay the bill — what else could I possibly need to know?” But your credit card statement is more than just that top-line number — it’s a snapshot of your financial health, a checkup to make sure you’re not paying more than you need to, and an overview of your rewards, all wrapped into one document. Making time to review your statement each month can help you stay on top of any potential problems before they begin compounding against you. 

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Let’s take a look at some of the most important sections in your monthly credit card statement.

New Balance and Minimum Payment

The most important piece of your credit card statement usually sits right at the top: your new balance, minimum payment due and payment due date. This should be an immediate gut check on your spending habits — does this number make sense to you, or is it bigger than you expected?

While you should always try and pay your bill in full every month to avoid expensive interest charges, that may not always be possible for everyone. Thankfully, credit card issuers are required to give you a clear and easy-to-understand breakdown of how much interest you could end up paying if you carry over your balance. If you’ve been on autopilot, just making the minimum payments each month, reading through this section can help you understand the true cost of carrying a balance.

Account Activity (Purchases and Payments)

Most of the space in a credit card statement is taken up by the account activity, an itemized summary of all new purchases, payments and other credits applied to the account over the last statement period. A quick skim of this list for anything you don’t recognize can help protect you from fraudulent charges, and likewise, a look through the payments section can help make sure any refunds or returns got correctly credited to your card.

Just remember that this account activity only shows transactions that posted during the statement period, so if you make a charge on the last day before your statement closes, it might not post until the following day, meaning it would appear on next month’s statement. 

Interest Charges

Your credit card statement will also show you any interest charges applied to your account, whether that’s interest on purchases, cash advances or balance transfers, as well as total fees and interest charged year to date. If you’re carrying a balance, this section might not be fun to look at, but it’s important to be aware of how much you’re paying in interest each month. 

Many credit cards, especially travel rewards cards, have sky-high annual percentage rates (APRs) that can exceed 20%. This means that even a small balance can grow out of control quickly, and if you’re carrying a balance, you may want to look for cards offering a 0% intro APR on balance transfers. Many people are also unaware of the costs associated with using your credit card for a cash advance — for example, withdrawing money at an ATM on credit — so looking at your interest charges on your monthly credit card statement can be a great way to double-check you’re not paying any surprise fees or charges you were unaware of.

Rewards Summary

The most fun section to read on your credit card statement is the one that tallies up all the rewards you earned in the previous month. Whether it’s cash back, travel rewards points or airline miles, your statement should give you a clear explanation of your monthly earnings (including points earned from any bonus categories your credit card offers) and total points balance. 

There’s a saying in the award travel community that “the least valuable mile is the one you never redeem.” If you’re already making the time to sit down each month and carefully review how much you owe your credit card company, why not spend a little time reviewing how much they owe you — whether that’s cash back in your wallet for you to use however you please, or points and miles to kick-start your next vacation.

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