How does Credit Balance work? (Easy question)

Yami_Prem

Hiya,

Didn't fully understand it, but I decided to take action and find out.

My Mastercard Credit Card has a limit balance of £750 a month. Say in March, I spent £400 the whole month. Now the balance is £350. And before I received my bill during the beginning of April, I spend £300 which will appear on May bill. Now the total balance remaining is £50.

Now, when the bill arrives for March, and I pay off the £400, does that £400 go straight to the account and 'tops up' again? Or do I only still have £50 to spend till April is over?

Thanks, I know, a newbie question and I'm sure the money goes back to my account, but I need to make sure in case I buy something with money I don't have...

dalesrider

Given payments to CC's now go via faster payment scheme. Your credit should (subject to std FP reg) be avaiable, in your avaiable balance within 2 hours.
But you may not see the actual credit till the next day, as credit card acc's tend to balance up overnight.
Rather than in real time.

[Deleted User]

You have a £750 limit. As your balance increases, your limit stays the same but your available credit goes down.

Once a payment is credited to your account, your available credit rises by that amount.

Yami_Prem

dalesrider wrote: »

Given payments to CC's now go via faster payment scheme. Your credit should (subject to std FP reg) be avaiable, in your avaiable balance within 2 hours.
But you may not see the actual credit till the next day, as credit card acc's tend to balance up overnight.
Rather than in real time.

How do people check their account balance? Is there an app for that? Would be handy on my phone. Lloyds TSB btw. Do I have to register online?

Thanks!

londoniana

Yami_Prem wrote: »

Hiya,

Didn't fully understand it, but I decided to take action and find out.

My Mastercard Credit Card has a limit balance of £750 a month. Say in March, I spent £400 the whole month. Now the balance is £350. And before I received my bill during the beginning of April, I spend £300 which will appear on May bill. Now the total balance remaining is £50.
.

You're mixing up terminology.

In your example, balance is what you spent (£400 in April). The £350 is available credit. So if you spent in April £700, you have £50 left to spend. If you pay off the £700 balance, then you're available credit will be again £750

You can check acct balance online. Some banks have a mobile app (e.g. Barclays).