Advice re: a feature

5AM

Hello.

Could folks please clarify what a term means.

I am looking at applying for my first credit card through my existing bank (Lloyds TSB) and am interested in either the Platinum Mastercard or the Advance Mastercard.

I am looking through their key feature and terms etc and am not quite sure what the following means.

"Up to 56 days’ interest-free period on purchases"

This is on the Platinum Card and I think I am getting a bit confused with the "0% on purchases for 3 months".

Platinum Card-
http://www.lloydstsb.com/credit_cards/platinum_card.asp?WT.svl=CARDMAINplatinum1a&WT.ac=CARDMAINplatinum1a

Advance Card - http://www.lloydstsb.com/credit_cards/advance_card.asp?WT.svl=CARDMAINadvance1a&WT.ac=CARDMAINadvance1a

JayZed

It's just a clever (and slightly misleading) way of saying that payment is due 28 days after your statement date, and you don't accrue interest until payment becomes due - a fairly basic credit card feature. Nothing to do with the 0% deal.

Think of it this way. Let's say your statement is issued on the first of each month. You have 28 days before the statement is due to be paid (so no interest accrues during this period. Now, say that you buy something on the second of month A. It won't appear on your statement until the first of the following month (month ; you then have 28 days after that statement before the payment becomes due. So in total, you have 28 days in month A (or 29 if it's a 31-day month) plus 28 days in month B before interest starts accruing. So a total of 56 (or 57) days. Of course, if you buy something on the 31st of month A then you only have 28 days before interest starts accruing.

5AM

JayZed wrote: »

It's just a clever (and slightly misleading) way of saying that payment is due 28 days after your statement date, and you don't accrue interest until payment becomes due - a fairly basic credit card feature. Nothing to do with the 0% deal.

Think of it this way. Let's say your statement is issued on the first of each month. You have 28 days before the statement is due to be paid (so no interest accrues during this period. Now, say that you buy something on the second of month A. It won't appear on your statement until the first of the following month (month ; you then have 28 days after that statement before the payment becomes due. So in total, you have 28 days in month A (or 29 if it's a 31-day month) plus 28 days in month B before interest starts accruing. So a total of 56 (or 57) days. Of course, if you buy something on the 31st of month A then you only have 28 days before interest starts accruing.

I will take a closer look at the Advance one then cos it doesn't appear to have this feature but I hadn't looked that closely until I had clarified this.

Thanks loads for this. You made it really easy to understand for a simpleton like me :rotfl: