CC interest periods

randombod

Hi I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to credit cards, im looking at Barclay Cards Platinum which boasts 10 months @ 0% interest on purchaces ( i dont have any balances to transfer):

The bit I'm confused about is:

Interest free period:
Maximum 56 days on purchases if you pay in full and on time each month, during the first six months.
No interest free period on balance transfers, cash withdrawals or cheques.
This is subject to any interest free promotional offer.

If someone could explain this I'd be very grateful

Card details:

http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal-home/cards/platinum-hero/long-term-balance-transfer/index.html

Many Thanks

latecomer

Basically if you buy something at the start of the month, you dont get sent a bill until the end of the month, and then you have a couple of weeks (normally) to pay them. Hence provided you pay the full amount each month when its demanded you can get up to the 56 days interest free. Make sense?

But as you are on a promotional rate of 0% for 10 months for purchases, you only need to pay the minimum payment which is usually a fixed percentage of the total owed or could be a fixed amount.

Clear as mud? :rotfl:

Milarky

It is confusing because the standard terms are just that - the terms that will apply after the promotional period ends. But that is not relevant for the first 10 months...

To use the card on promotion you should set up a direct debit for the minimum payment. When the promotion ends (and it might be on a statement date - or can be any date - you really need to get Barclaycard to confirm the date to you and note it down for reference) pay it off. Then switch the direct debit to 'full' collection and you can continue to use the card for purchases as per the standard terms for these items.

randombod

Thanks for the replies, it sort of makes sense!

I bought a laptop from dell last year and its due to be paid in a few months, rather than pay dells crazy 29% (or something) interest i was going to pay dell using the credit card and then pay off a couple of hundred a month rather than a huge big wack of money at once.

Cheers