Managing credit cards online - understanding the online statements and interface

danothy

Morning all,

I've got a couple of credit cards (a Tesco Clubcard CC and a Clarity CC) which I've had for about three or four months each. I pay them off each month using their respective online interfaces.

When it comes to the Tesco card I find the site very clear with regards to what they expect you to pay and by when, i.e. it says when the statement date is (Period ending <insert date>) and when they expect that statement paid (Payment due date <insert date>) along with the minimum payment and the total balance all in one nice table.

The Halifax site however I find a little more ambiguous, and I was hoping someone who gets it could give the 30 second crash course on extracting the relevant information as I feel I may have been previously misunderstanding the site and have now incurred an interest charge.

The key things I would like to know are:

1) Previously, being cautious, I think I had been paying the current periods balance off before the 'next payment due' date believing it was the payment date for the current period (which I now suspect was the date for the previous statement to be paid by). I think previously this always cleared the account before the statement was generated, am I correct? (i.e. have I inadvertently been making interim payments just before the end of the statement?)

Recently I have had a transaction land on the last day of the statement and for the first time I have a 'balance brought forward' and a value for next months estimated interest, if I pay the full amount off before the next payment due date will I avoid this interest? (My confusion here is based on which date refers to what as stated in question one, however it suddenly seems a lot more reasonable time-scale in which to do it)

iii) My statements dates appear to move slightly, is this normal for Halifax and how do I establish when the current period ends? (My Tesco statement dates so far have always been on the same day). As I previously mentioned I had assumed it was on the 'next payment due' date.

Typing it all out here makes me feel like I'm asking some dumb questions as it all seems logical now and falls more in line with the set-up the Tesco card has (with the information arranged a bit more disparately), however I clearly didn't have it right before and therefore I worry I might not now so I felt I better seek someone with more experience with the Halifax system for guidance.

dzug1

1 - yes, you have been making unnecessary extra payments
B - if you make a full payment there will be no interest - the estimate is based on you making the minimum payment
iii - it's common for statement dates to vary slightly

danothy

Thank you very much for confirming that for me. I can now stop worrying that I'm screwing up my card management (either through lack of attention or over caution).