Questions on 12 months 0% interest on purchases via Credit Card

cjw

Hi guys,

I have just got a Halifax Credit Card over the Christmas period and it offers 12 months interest free on purchases. In the next 2 weeks I have my first bill to pay. As I don't have any debt and I am really careful with what I buy if I can afford, I rarely have HP and if I do then it's at 0% interest.

I've been doing my kitchen and most of it is on this new card, so as I'm a fan of saving my money and trying to earm the most interest on my money, I'm thinking about using the card's offer. But I have a few questions.

1. If I just pay £100 per month towards the cards, will this show up on my credit record and will it damage my credit scoring?

2. Between March and April I'm going on holiday for 3 weeks and in this time is when the payment is due. Can I setup via my online banking a credit card payment to be paid on a certain date or will I need to setup a direct debit for that 1 payment and cancel it when I'm back?

Tnanks for any info you can give me. :T

NickX

cjw wrote: »

1. If I just pay £100 per month towards the cards, will this show up on my credit record and will it damage my credit scoring?

I would just pay the Minimum Payment during the promotional period and save your additional funds in a interest bearing account. There is a debate over whether paying the minimum is detrimental to your credit history, but I have never found it problematic and would rather save money and make a profit through earning interest than pay more than I had to.

cjw wrote: »

2. Between March and April I'm going on holiday for 3 weeks and in this time is when the payment is due. Can I setup via my online banking a credit card payment to be paid on a certain date or will I need to setup a direct debit for that 1 payment and cancel it when I'm back?

No internet access whilst you are away ? I'd just do it whilst I was on holiday, but in answer to your question, yes you can use online banking to set up a future payment for whilst you are away.

Enjoy your trip :beer:

rb10

The easiest and safest thing to do would be to set up a direct debit for the minimum repayment, and then at the end of the 12 months pay off the whole balance remaining, and change the direct debit to be for the full amount.

That way you can't accidentally miss a payment or pay too little - as that would be highly detrimental to your credit history.