Noob Question, Probably ridiculous??

bar_t1

Hi, quick question, i am sorry if this question seems really silly but i am new to credit cards and only recently obtained my first 1.
I have a 500 credit limit and aim to clear the balance in full each month, i am due to receive my first statement on the 15th of March and have until the 11th of April to pay.
My question is, say for example i pay in full on the 16th of march following receiving the statement, this then clears the balance, when can i begin to spend on the card again?? is there a trigger that the bank see's the card has been paid? can i spend on the card soon after clearing the balance? this bit i dont really understand the mechanism??
I use the card daily in the supermarket as i get 1% cashback and would like to know if i can still use the card the same day or the day after clearing the balance??
Thankyou.

JezCooke

You can spend on the card straight away, you don't need to wait until you have paid at all, provided you pay the full amount listed on the statement on time every time you will never pay any interest.

gglaze

You can use the card even before you've paid the card off - assuming you haven't maxed it out completely and still have some available credit. If you don't have enough credit, then yes you need to make a payment to get some credit freed up. You don't need to wait until your statement comes to make a payment.

Use the card's online website to check your available credit - get in the habit of doing this regularly. As long as you have available credit, you can always use the card.

When you send your payment in after your statement, it will be applied first to the "statemented transactions" - so if there are some more transactions after your statement, but before your payment - those are going to show up on the next statement, and your payment for that statement will cover those transactions.

Hope that helps.

Tixy

You can spend on the card at anytime. But you need to ensure you do not exceed your credit limit. Say you spend £450 in month 1 then I would suggest you allow 4 working days after you make your payment before you assume the balance has been paid off. Better still if you have online access to your account then actually check the payment has been received.

Ideally don't spend right up to your credit limit anyway.

bengal-stripe

bar_t1 wrote: »

.....can i spend on the card soon after clearing the balance? this bit i dont really understand the mechanism??

You can spend as soon as the payment has been credited to your account. Depending on the method of payment, this might be almost instantly (Faster Payment transfer), or take 3 or 4 days (on-line payment by debit card) or take a whole week (cheque).

As soon as you can see the payment credited to your account - check for "available to spend" -, you can go on spending.

gglaze

bar_t1 wrote: »

is there a trigger that the bank see's the card has been paid?

To answer this question specifically - if you send a faster payment (FP) today, in theory it could clear the balance on the card immediately. In practice, most cards have a 1-3 days clearing period -so even though your FP payment is sent and received immediately, the card company still delays 1-3 days to actually apply that payment to the balance. Different cards have different clearing periods. The only way to know for sure is to check online. Make a payment today, check online tomorrow, and the next day, etc. - and when the payment has been cleared, you'll see it show up under "recent transactions", and you'll see your "available credit" go back up.

bar_t1

superb answers all, many thanks indeed, great Forum this, really helpful.