accidental cash withdrawal on credit card in uk

orangeplasticspoon

Hi,
I accidentally withdrew £10 on my play.com (Bank of America) credit card in the UK. I realise this will incur a one of payment of a few pounds. I will pay the credit card bill as soon as it arrives. However, will I be charged interest in the interim day on day until the bill date? I have read on a credit card review site that there is "no interest free period for balance transfers, money transfers or cash advances". Does this mean I will be charged interest on my withdrawal (as well as the one off charge) day on day before the credit card bill even arrives? If so, I will make a payment to the card now. I always pay the full amount off my credit cards by the due date, and this is a new situation for me. I can't ring the helpline, as they are not staffed at the weekend.
Please help.

chexum

Yes, no interest free period means that interest starts getting built up from the day you got the cash, until you paid it off.

Check your next two statement as well, as they may want to charge you for trailing interest - the interest free period is usually for purchases only, when paid in full, so you may need to pay off the interest on the interest too.

zagfles

You have to check the T&Cs but what you write is normal practice - you pay interest from the date of withdrawal.

If you've done other spending on your CC it might be no use paying a tenner now as they might allocate your payment to purchases you've made (interest free) rather than the cash advance, again you need to check the order of payments in your T&Cs.

Anyway it's probably not worth worrying about, even at typical APR of 18% or so it'll only be 15p a month on a tenner. The big charge will probably be the cash advance fee which you've already been charged.

System

Hi

Yes, you will be charged interest from the date of the transaction as well as the cash withdrawl fee (£3 I believe?). Although on £10 this will not be very much. You will probably also have a few pence 'trailing interest' on your following statement. You will need to clear in full for two consecutive statements before your default interest free period is reinstated. But really don't worry, you are only talking pence in interest here. I suppose the only kick in the teeth was paying a 30% fee on a tenner.

Do you have online servicing? You can make a payment to your card anytime online or over the phone.

To stop this happening in the future (withdrawing cash on credit cards) try using a separate PIN for debit and credit cards.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

PS. MBNA Customer Services - 0800 062 062 - Open 24/7

orangeplasticspoon

Thanks people. i ahve paid my card off in full straight away, and have overpaid just incase they charge interest on the days before the payment goes through. Thanks again

agrinnall

Glad you've sorted it out.

Did it happen accidentally because you mixed up your debit and credit cards and have the same PIN for both (I also do this so I don't need to remember too many numbers)? If you think it's possible you might get the cards mixed up again maybe you could consider changing the PIN on one of them so that the same accident couldn't happen again.