Tesco Credit Card Cash Advance Interest

Sampong

Interesting fact regarding Tesco Credit Card.

I pay off my credit card balance in full, without fail, every month. for the past couple of months I have noticed a small interest charge applied to my statament - last month I didn't bother to query it but when it appeared again this month I decided to delve s little deeper.

The charges all relate to an ATM withdrawal I made back in September. despite settling my monthly balance in full every month, Tesco customer services inform me that cash advance interest is somehow calculated "residually" (search me.......), so even though I have paid off my balance in full every month I am still somehow charged interest for ~3 months.

The transactions are;

5th Sep, ATM Withdrawal - £20

6th Sep, Cash Handling Fee - £3

16th Sep, Interest - £0.17 (at which point statement balance paid off)
14th Oct, Interest - £0.05 (at which point statement balance paid off)
16th Nov, Interest - £3.08 (at which point statement balance paid off)
16th Dec, Interest - £1.86 (at which point statement balance paid off)

So to withdraw £20 in cash I have incurred a good 25% worth of interest and in total been charged £8.16 including the handling fee.

That's a bit sneaky if you ask me Mr Tesco. Glad I didn't draw out £300!

YorkshireBoy

The interest rising from the £20 cash withdrawal should have ceased with the 5p 'residual' amount charged in October. I'd wager another of your transactions (very shortly after 14th October?) has been deemed* a cash withdrawal, which has resulted in a further 2 months of interest. Providing you haven't had any more of these since, you should find the amount charged on 16th December is the final residual interest charge.

If that's not the case then you need to ask them to explain further, because interest is only charged for 2 months on cash withdrawals when you settle in full as you have done.


* Foreign currency purchase, gambling deposit, gift voucher, etc.

chattychappy

Agree with YB. No way could those charges be in respect of your ATM withdrawal alone.