I am confused about my credit card bill.  I pay off the balance every month on schedule.  My last bill said I owed 3,579.82.  My previous balance was 4,033.37, I paid $4,096,81.  I had purchases of $3,643.26.  so my new balance was $3,579.82.  When I checked off all purchases, I showed on my dowloaded spredsheet of my account that I owed $3,370.26.  this is a difference of $209.56, I can't find this difference.  I checked off each item on my downloaded spredsheet agains the purchase activity and everything matched.  What am i missing?

It sounds like you're reconciling your credit card statement with your personal records and trying to identify the source of a discrepancy. Let’s break this down and see where the $209.56 difference might be coming from:

1. **Initial Information:**
   - Previous balance: $4,033.37
   - Payment made: $4,096.81 (meaning you paid more than your previous balance)
   - New purchases: $3,643.26
   - New statement balance: $3,579.82

2. **Balance Calculation:**
   If we take your previous balance and apply your payment:
   \[
   \text{New balance after payment} = 4,033.37 - 4,096.81 = -63.44
   \]
   (This negative amount means that you overpaid by $63.44 after the payment.)

   Now, adding your new purchases:
   \[
   \text{New balance after purchases} = -63.44 + 3,643.26 = 3,579.82
   \]
   This matches the new balance on your statement, so based on the transactions you provided, this calculation is correct.

3. **Your Calculation:**
   You mentioned that according to your spreadsheet, you owe **$3,370.26**, which is **$209.56 less** than what the statement says.

4. **Possible Reasons for the Discrepancy:**
   Here are a few things you might want to double-check:
   - **Late payment or interest charges**: Sometimes, if a payment arrives slightly after the due date or if there’s an interest charge, it may not immediately be reflected in your spreadsheet.
   - **Fees**: Have there been any other fees, such as annual fees, foreign transaction fees, or small charges like insurance, that may have been added to your account but weren’t included in the purchase section of your spreadsheet?
   - **Pending transactions**: Is there a chance some transactions were pending when you downloaded your spreadsheet but have now posted to your account?
   - **Returned items or refunds**: Did you have any returns or credits applied to your account? These might affect the balance in ways that don’t directly match up with your purchases if handled after your reconciliation.
   - **Rounding differences or manual errors**: Small rounding errors or minor manual entry issues might accumulate to account for a small discrepancy. Double-check your spreadsheet for any such errors.

If none of these situations explain the difference, it could be helpful to review the exact payment and purchase dates to see if anything was processed on or after the billing cycle date, causing a slight mismatch.

Would you like to go into more detail about any specific items or payments to track down this discrepancy?

Here are five questions that might help you:
1. Have you checked if any fees (e.g., late fees, annual fees) were applied?
2. Were there any pending transactions not captured in your spreadsheet?
3. Is there any chance of interest charges despite paying off the balance in full?
4. Have you reviewed for any refunds or credits that were issued and not captured in the spreadsheet?
5. Are all transaction dates and posting dates correctly reflected in your spreadsheet?

**Tip**: When reconciling statements, check both the transaction date and the posting date to ensure all transactions for the billing period are included.

I am confused about my credit card bill. I pay off the balance every month on schedule. My last bill said I owed 3,579.82. My previous balance was 4,033.37, I paid $4,096,81. I had purchases of $3,643.26. so my new balance was $3,579.82. When I checked off all purchases, I showed on my downloaded spreadsheet of my account that I owed $3,370.26. this is a difference of $209.56, I can't find this difference. I checked off each item on my downloaded spreadsheet against the purchase activity and everything matched. What am I missing?

Explore how to reconcile a credit card balance with detailed breakdowns of transactions. Learn how to calculate the new balance after payments and purchases. Solve the $209.56 discrepancy by reviewing interest, fees, pending transactions, and rounding errors. Suitable for students in Grades 9-12.

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