Been charged interest on fully paid off card!

alisonmartin17

Help please. Can anyone tell me why we have been charged interest when we have cleared the balance?
Had a tesco credit card a year ago with 12 months interest free period on purchases. Used it and was paying off min payment every month till we got the statement saying that if we did not pay off we would incur interest. Cancelled direct debit with bank and informed tesco credit card and arranged for full balance to be paid off 2 days before due date using faster payment system from bank. Just got new statement showing balance was paid off before due date but on that statement is showing interest incurred and to be paid.
I don't understand how they can charge me interest when I haave cleared the balance before their stated due date.
Look forward to any suggestions before I phone tesco incase I am being thick and missing something!
Thanks

CLAPTON

often the end of the promotion period does NOT correspond with the due date.... maybe you should have paid in full a little earlier

alisonmartin17

Maybe. We did get the card in middle of july but did not start using it november and the last transaction was in may.
Have paid other credit cards off with interst frree periods in the same way and never had this problem before.

Jigga

Clapton is correct; it would be surprising if the end of promotion date coincided with the statement date. It doesn’t matter when you started spending and when your last spend was, it’s all about when the promotion started (or account opened), when it ends and when your statement date is.

So for example, if your promotion started on 13th July 2009 and finished 12 months later on 12th July 2010, but your statement date is not until 2nd August, there will be something like 20 days of interest there. Then on top of that, there will be the trailing daily interest that runs until the date of the card receiving payment which will come the following month.

Seems unfair for those who are unaware, but it is standard practice and can be avoided by closely following the T&Cs.

exel1966

alisonmartin17 wrote: »

Maybe. We did get the card in middle of july but did not start using it november and the last transaction was in may.
Have paid other credit cards off with interst frree periods in the same way and never had this problem before.

Most (not all) cards introductory offers expiration dates do not correspond with the due date. They usually apply to the original BT date or account opening date.

When taking up offers of this nature you should always ask the card company for the exact dates the balance has to be cleared by before interest will start to be accrued and make a note of the name/location/time/date of the csa who advised you.

Some companies will put this information on the statement prior to the expiration date.

fozmcfc

With Tesco the exact date, is shown on your statement 2 months before the 0% is going to run out.

My 10th June statement told me, that my 0% runs out on the 10th August and that after this date my standard APR would apply.

Could be a co-incidence, but my statement is produced on the 10th of each month and the 10th was the day my 0% run out.

The information will be shown on the statement on the first page, on the left hand side, with the heading Important Information.

YorkshireBoy

Jigga wrote: »

it would be surprising if the end of promotion date coincided with the statement date.

It wouldn't surprise me. That's exactly how MBNA cards operate, and have done for the last 5+ years I've held them.

Also, my M&S card 0% period ends on 1st September, which is also my statement date.

Unless you meant to say "payment due date", not statement date?

YorkshireBoy

exel1966 wrote: »

When taking up offers of this nature you should always ask the card company for the exact dates the balance has to be cleared by before interest will start to be accrued and make a note of the name/location/time/date of the csa who advised you.

The OP, and others, may find this activation call checklist useful...

http://www.stoozing.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1194457781/5#5

dtaylor84

alisonmartin17 wrote: »

Help please. Can anyone tell me why we have been charged interest when we have cleared the balance?
Had a tesco credit card a year ago with 12 months interest free period on purchases. Used it and was paying off min payment every month till we got the statement saying that if we did not pay off we would incur interest.

That statement said that you would incur interest EVEN IF you paid it off on the due date. Once you saw that you should have paid it off immediately, as you were probably accruing interest from the statement date.

exel1966

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The OP, and others, may find this activation call checklist useful...

http://www.stoozing.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1194457781/5#5

In all my time of reading MSE and Stoozing I've never actually seen that page. Very useful indeed for those who want to keep ahead of the 'game' and hopefully ensure a problem free BT :T

alisonmartin17

Thanks for all the replies. We got hold of tesco last night and you were right-Promotion period ended before statement came through. Will be keeping a closer eye on my Virgin credit card statements so don't have this problem again although it is a lot clearer on virgin as it is constantly stated when promtion ends on their statements!
:grouphug: