Avoiding Cash Withdrawal Interest charges on Santander Zero CC

kiazoe

Hi

I'm going on holiday next month and have recently received my Santander Zero Credit Card in preparation :j
I intend to use this for all spending where possible and know there will be situations where I need to lift cash.

So, here's the scenario I'm interested in

• There is, for example, €500 already on the card from purchases. I'm in introductory period so 0% APR.
• I lift €100 from an ATM abroad, at 27.9% APR
• The same day, I log into my online banking and pay £100 off the card, from Santander Preferred Current account. (Payment is instant?)

According to Santander key info on the Zero Card:
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Allocation of payments:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]If you do not pay off your balance in full, payments we receive are applied to the highest interest bearing transactions first.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]For further details, please refer to your credit card terms and conditions.[/FONT]

I assume therefore that there would be no charge any interest on the cash withdrawal?

I was thinking of pre-loading, but I'll likely end up in the situation above regardless.

Thanks,
Eoin

apt

You would need to make sure that your on-line payment reaches your Abbey Zero account after the cash withdrawal has been entered onto your account. Otherwise the payment will be taken off the exiting 0% balance rather than being used to cover the ATM withdrawal.

kiazoe

Hmm, I've never lifted money from an ATM with a Credit Card before so not sure how long it takes to show up. If it's anything like a debit card withdrawal surely it would show up immediately, or sometime on the same day at least?

Thanks for your reply!

benjus

Payment from my First Direct account to my Santander Zero credit card is very fast. They accept Faster Payments, and I'm not sure exactly how long it takes to get from Santander's receiving account to the credit card, but it seems to be the same day. Maybe it's even faster from a Santander current account.

Don't expect transactions to show up instantly if they are coming from abroad.

Toe-Jam

Your going to find it very difficult to time the payment so it comes off the right thing. You would be better to wait 2-3 days before making your payment for the atm withdrawal to be posted the account, Otherwise if you make the payment and it comes off the Balance transfer you'll pay a whole month of interest on the Cash Withdrawal at 30%, rather and 2 or 3 days interest which amounts to a few pence.

kiazoe

Thanks for all the advice; I think I'll do as Toe-Jam say: wait a few days for the transaction to show on the account and take the few pennies hit.

Better than screwing myself for the sake of being a little too tight!