PRIA Logo™
Title 15, Commerce and TradeRelease 119-110

§1666b Timing of Payments

Title 15 › CHAPTER 41 — CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION › SUBCHAPTER I — CONSUMER CREDIT COST DISCLOSURE › Part D — Credit Billing › § 1666b

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

A creditor cannot call a credit-card payment late unless it has reasonable steps to make sure each periodic billing statement with the information required by section 1637(b) is mailed or delivered to the consumer at least 21 days before the payment due date. If an account gives a grace period where part of the balance can be paid without a finance charge, the creditor cannot add that finance charge for the billing cycle unless the statement showing the amount used to figure the charge was mailed or delivered at least 21 days before the payment date on the statement.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §1666b

Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Time to make payments
A creditor may not treat a payment on a credit card account under an open end consumer credit plan as late for any purpose, unless the creditor has adopted reasonable procedures designed to ensure that each periodic statement including the information required by section 1637(b) of this title is mailed or delivered to the consumer not later than 21 days before the payment due date.
(b)Grace period
If an open end consumer credit plan provides a time period within which an obligor may repay any portion of the credit extended without incurring an additional finance charge, such additional finance charge may not be imposed with respect to such portion of the credit extended for the billing cycle of which such period is a part, unless a statement which includes the amount upon which the finance charge for the period is based was mailed or delivered to the consumer not later than 21 days before the date specified in the statement by which payment must be made in order to avoid imposition of that finance charge.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2009—Pub. L. 111–24 amended section generally, adding provisions relating to late payments and delivery of periodic statements, substituting provisions requiring a 21-day statement delivery period for provisions requiring a 14-day period before the imposition of additional finance charges, and striking provisions relating to excusable cause for creditor’s failure to make timely mailing or delivery of periodic statements. Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 111–93 inserted “a credit card account under” after “payment on”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Pub. L. 111–24, title I, § 106(b)(2), May 22, 2009, 123 Stat. 1742, provided that: “Notwithstanding section 3 [see

Effective Date

of 2009 Amendment note set out under section 1602 of this title], section 163 of the Truth in Lending Act [15 U.S.C. 1666b], as amended by this subsection, shall become effective 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act [May 22, 2009].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 1666b

Title 15, Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110