Credit Cards & Interest even when paying off card every month

mumbles27

Hi Forum


i'm sure this has been coverdd but i cant find it so please redirect me if it has been.

i have a credit card, i use it and pay off every month to get my free Virgin Atlantic points. My problem is how do i pay it off fully every month?

the problem is as such:

I spend bits and bobs over a month totalling £100
my statement comes in and is £100. no interest if i pay it off.
since the statement has been produced and sent, i have spent another £10 and it appears on my online statement for next month
when i then go and pay £100 off my card, how do i know if i am paying the £100 from the monthly statement or the new £10 on next months statement and £90 from last month, leaving me with £10 that will have interest charged?

any ideas?

Any

Don't understand your logic.

In the T&C it usually say something like "purchases 58 days interest free" or something like that.

As long as you pay off what it says on the statement you are not paying interest.

cannot see what new purchases have to do with it.

mluton

Surely its from your billing date that interest will be applied and as above 58 interest free.

So if your billing date is the 10th, anything spent after is for the following month. If statement is cleared no cherges apply.

mumbles27

hi Any

take my example..

my june statement is £100 to pay
when i log on to pay it, another £10 has appeared on the total bill, not on the june statement, but to be added to the next july statement, but i see it in the running total of the account
so my balance is £110 at this point.
when i go to pay my £100 as asked, how do i know its paying the £100 asked for in the june statment?

i have been though this with MBNA. Unsurprisingly they dont understand what i am asking. They also cant tell me why i have interest on purchases when i am paying off the exact amount they have asked me on each statement. I think they are wrong. They dont know why they are charging me interest. They have said that i must pay it off in full when asked. I am. My only thought is that when i pay it off when asked, there is then more on the card and its that younger debut i am paying plus some of my statement amount asked for by mistake?

make any sense?

YorkshireBoy

Are any of your purchases being classed as cash advances (cash advances themselves, gambling sites, foreign currency purchase, [rogue] overseas purchases, vouchers, etc)?

Have you ever made a BT to the card?

How long have you had the card?

For how long has interest been added?

lisyloo

If you clear the statement in full you will be fine IF you have purchased goods and services.

However if you have used the card for cash advances, foreigh currency, on-line gambling etc. then these do not qualify as interest free purchases and you might find interest being charged.

If you stick to purchases and not cash and pay off yur statement in full then you will be charged no interest.

mumbles27

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Are any of your purchases being classed as cash advances (cash advances themselves, gambling sites, foreign currency purchase, [rogue] overseas purchases, vouchers, etc)?

Have you ever made a BT to the card?

How long have you had the card?

For how long has interest been added?

its all items, no cash
whats a 'BT'?
interest was from previous months statement

lisyloo wrote: »

If you clear the statement in full you will be fine IF you have purchased goods and services.

However if you have used the card for cash advances, foreigh currency, on-line gambling etc. then these do not qualify as interest free purchases and you might find interest being charged.

If you stick to purchases and not cash and pay off yur statement in full then you will be charged no interest.

thats the point. its doesnt seem, to be... and they cant tell us why

Can anyone tell me, when paying off items, are the oldest purchased items always paid off first? or not?

5562

Yes as long as they are normal purchases and not caash advances and balance transfer.

Just pay the £100 and it will be used to pay the June statement and not the £10 which you will need to pay in your July statement.

mumbles27 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me, when paying off items, are the oldest purchased items always paid off first? or not?

lisyloo

whats a 'BT'?

Balance transfer

interest was from previous months statement

Aha...this probably explains it.
The interest shown on your statement would have been up to the statement date.
There would then have been a gap between the statement date and your payment date for which interest had not get been accounted for (they can't calculate it in advance because they don't know when your payment is going to happen so they can't predict it).
You need to pay a some extra to get out of this situation to cater for the "residual interest".

Can anyone tell me, when paying off items, are the oldest purchased items always paid off first? or not?

The order of allocation of your payment will be specified in your paperwork.
They don't all work the same so it's difficult for us to say without knowing which card it is.
But I think your problem is residual interest.
i.e. you are only ever paying off the interest due up to the statement date, and therefore further interest is due between statement and payment.
Pay a bit extra.
Could you jsut pay £20 extra one month, then this will stop.

YorkshireBoy

lisyloo wrote: »

Aha...this probably explains it.

Does it though?

OP says they "pay off every month"...the inference being in full and always.

We need to find out when interest started being charged...and why.

Any

Yes Yorkshire Boy... It doesn't explain it, unless our OP just started to pay off in full, ie he did have outstanding debt before then...

So OP, pls explain a bit further.

Did you always get statement and paid in full every month? On time?