My tesco credit card

Griffo91

Hello all, after a day looking through the forum I thought it best to sign up.

So last week I decided to get myself a credit card as I want to start building up a credit rating so that when it comes to hopefully obtaining a mortgage I will be in a better position.

I have little knowledge of credit cards as I have stayed away from them until now, using moneysavingexpert I chose the tesco 0% on purchases over 16 months option.


I just have a query about my card/credit agreement. My limit is £2000, and my 0% interest period is 16 months. So does that mean for example, if I went out and spent £2000 on the card I have 16 months to pay back the balance without any interest? I would pay a set amount off the balance each month so it would be more than the minimum payment I am guessing, would that work?

Also even though I wouldn't be paying the balance off in full each month, providing the total was paid by the end of the 0% period would my credit rating still be ok?

Sorry for the long post, I am completely new to all of this!
Cheers!

Careful_ly

Yes as long as you pay at least the minimum payment each statement there will be no interest to pay. Once you have made paid off some of your original expenditure you can continue to spend on the card, if you want to, staying within the credit limit of course.

I would telephone and check the date you need to pay in full by, and make a note of the name of the person you speak to and the date and time of the call, when you are nearing the end of the promotion.

pleasedelete

I have a tesco 16 month interest free. £3200 and I set up the payment for £200 a month so it will be zero by the end. Tesco let you do this- some others are minimum payment or all and anything else has to be a manual payment.

Gromitt

Yes, yes and yes, just don't forget the golden rule:

Always ensure you make at least the minimum payment, and always make it AFTER your statement date. If you don't know your 1st statement date, ask for it. Personally I prefer online statements, plus you get emails telling you your statement is ready.

Optional but highly recommended: Setup a DD. Tesco allow you to specify the value of the DD, use this to your advantage. Use it instead of a standing order. Reason being: If you fail to make a payment on time, you'll incur fees, interest and loss of 0% offer, if Tesco fail to request money its their fault.

Plan it well and it only means good things for your credit report!

Hominu

Remember that the end date of the offer may be between two statement periods. Always round it up to the one before the end of the offer. You don't want to be paying any interest! You'll be amazed about people that don't think about this.

Griffo91

Fantastic, thank you for all the advice

Griffo91

Also another quick question, I payed for some petrol last night on the card. The credit balance has altered accordingly, my payment due date is for the 26th of May. At the moment my minimum payment is £0 and so is everything else listed.

Now is it just because it takes a couple of days for the latest transaction to register in my account or will it appear after the payment due date?

jellie

If you've received your statement this month and it tells you that your minimum payment is £0, your petrol will appear on next month's statement.

So long as you pay the minimum amount your statement tells you to, by the date shown, you'll be fine.

If you make a payment late, you'll lose your 0% interest. So best advice is to set up a DD for the minimum amount. This will take away the worry of having to remember to make your payment on time.

flogging_molly

For payments always remember your bill is due exactly 20 days after the bill is produced. So it can be due a day earlier as some months are longer than others.

When you transact on the card, if you then look online your available credit will be affected as this considers anything pending whilst your curent balance will only update after transactions have cleared.

If you're setting up a DD and do this after your bill has been produced it will not be set up for that month. Bit of an anomaly with the Tesco system. If unsure phone them. A surefire way to know if a DD is in fact set up is by paying attention to the bottom right of page one of your bill which will confirm this.

Finaly if you wish to make a faster payment from your current account look for the sort code 400250 and acount no 31316044 on the back of the statement ensuring to use your card number as your refernce. The sort and account on the front are for bank giro payments only and will not work.

bengal-stripe

Griffo91 wrote: »

My limit is £2000, and my 0% interest period is 16 months.

Just check, the interest-free period is on 'purchases', not on 'balance transfers'.

Griffo91

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Just check, the interest-free period is on 'purchases', not on 'balance transfers'.

Yes the period is for purchases.