Vanquis 'Deferred Finance Charge'? Aren't they charging me twice?

Daisy4567

Morning All,

So, to rebuild my credit, I have obtained a Vanquis Credit Card.

On my statement I have paid substantially more than the minimum payment but not cleared the balance in full.

This month I have two charges.

1. Purchase interest
2. Deferred Finance Charge

I have rang them and asked them to explain this to me and they have said that the purchase interest is interest charged from the day I bought the item and the deferred charge is interest charged on the outstanding balance the day the statement is created.

But if you are already charging me interest from the day I bought the item and then again on the day the statement is created, surely I am being charged twice? I'm already paying interest from the purchase date, so why again on statement date?

I know that to avoid charges at all I should pay in full but it just wasn't possible. Maybe I should use my credit card like a debit card and pay it with my wages? I wanted to try and keep it for emergencies though.

Any advice is warmly received, thank you.

SnowTiger

Daisy4567 wrote: »

So, to rebuild my credit, I have obtained a Vanquis Credit Card.

On my statement I have paid substantially more than the minimum payment but not cleared the balance in full.

This month I have two charges.

1. Purchase interest
2. Deferred Finance Charge

I have rang them and asked them to explain this to me and they have said that the purchase interest is interest charged from the day I bought the item and the deferred charge is interest charged on the outstanding balance the day the statement is created.

But if you are already charging me interest from the day I bought the item and then again on the day the statement is created, surely I am being charged twice?

Nope. Deferred Finance Charge is the interest which accumulated between the date you made the purchase and the date your first statement was produced. Vanquis didn't know you wouldn't pay your first statement in full, therefore this interest wasn't added to it.

Purchase interest is the interest that's accumulated between your first statement and your second statement.

As far as I'm aware, all other credit cards simply lump these two figures together and call it interest. Vanquis shows them separately.

bigadaj

This is normally referred to as trailing interest.

Interest accrues from that day you purchase an item, if you pay the statement in full then this interest is waived, if you pay less then interest is charged.

Once you accrue interest then you need to pay two full statements to clear the interest, the second interest charge is normally relatively low as it's ona. Reduced amount.

Daisy4567

Thank you for your replies both of you. I will make sure that I pay it in full each time now. I was just trying to keep it more as an emergency and not use it but I'll use it and pay it off in full.

Thank you again