Barclays Plat. question from mr. confused.

irep

Hi guys, I have a question about my new credit card.

There is a 0% introductory rate for interest on purchases made for 14 months.

There is also the 56 days interest free period that you get.

Does the 14 month period outrank the 56 days one? Am I to ignore the 56 days period, because i'm interest free for 14 months?

I get that I have to make at least the minimum payments each month, and even though I have interest free for 14 months, this whole 56 days thing has me very confused.

Which offer am I to take note of?! Shall I pay off all my purchases within 56 days just to make sure? And also, is it 56 days from opening my account, or does the 56 days get replenished with each new statement??

Thanks, and well done if you understand my ramblings haha. :beer:

billymadbiker

The current period is 14mths.(for applicable transactions)
After that then it is 56 days from the date of purchase (or the date the purchase gets charged/added to the statement)
Some transactions my be excluded from the 14mth offer and may get 56days as of now. Some things like cash withdrawls may get no free period at all.
Check th T&C's carefully. Should be a summary page somewhere

irep

Yeah i'm only using it for purchases nothing else so BT's and cash withdrawal aren't a problem.

What kind of transactions are usually excluded?

So I should take into account the 14 months, and ignore the 56 days, until my 14 months run out, after that it's 56 days per purchase?

Thanks for the quick reply!

grumbler

irep wrote: »

There is also the 56 days interest free period that you get.
Shall I pay off all my purchases within 56 days just to make sure? And also, is it 56 days from opening my account, or does the 56 days get replenished with each new statement??

billymadbiker wrote: »

...
After that then it is 56 days from the date of purchase

In fact it's up to 56 days, not just 56.
It's 56 only for the purchases processed on the next day after the statement date and 25-26 days for the purchases processed on the statement date.

irep

Oh yeah I get that, I just have to be shrewd with when I make my purchases. Cheers.

But is everything else correct? Sorry to be such a newbie but I want to get this right the first time to avoid getting a bad credit rating for the future.

billymadbiker

To keep your credit rating up, you need to make sure you NEVER miss a payment (or make a late one).
Set up a direct debit for the minimum payment so you never miss one.
You also want to pay more than the min every mth to boost your credit rating a little.
You can either do this manually or, once you are not adding to the card balance, set the direct debit for more than the min.

20aday

That's right, it's interest free for 14 months (unless you break the T&C's such as late payments, credit over-limits etc) and then after that UP TO 56 day's interest free.

As already stated, set up the minimum payment via Direct Debit (might take effect from the second statement issued, be warned) and then make further payments on top of it.

msallen

I would advise you to forget all about the 56 days. It's just confusing you.

1. You are interest free for 14 months (subject to not going over-limit etc).
2. After that all purchases (not cash advances etc) are interest free until the payment date following the statement on which they appear, IF AND ONLY IF you pay the statement balance in full.

You best course of action is to set up a direct debit for the minimum payment now; then pay off the entire balance after about 13 months or so; then change your direct debit to pay the full balance every month after that.

chattychappy

The way to think of it is this. You get up to 56 days interest free on PURCHASES if the balance is paid in full each month. If it is paid in full, no interest is applied. If not paid in full, then interest is applied at the "prevailing rate" from the date of transaction until payment is received.

And.. during the promotional period, the "prevailing rate" is 0%. If you don't pay in full each month, interest is being applied. Just it's being applied at 0%.

So, with the 0% deal, if you pay short by £1, and pay that one day after the period expires, then you will only get ONE day at the standard rate on just £1. But with the 56 day thing, if you pay £1 short of the full balance and pay that one day late, then you you're hit with interest for those 56 days on the whole lot.

Kelxx

irep wrote: »

Yeah i'm only using it for purchases nothing else so BT's and cash withdrawal aren't a problem.

What kind of transactions are usually excluded?

So I should take into account the 14 months, and ignore the 56 days, until my 14 months run out, after that it's 56 days per purchase?

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have a BarclayCard Platinum, and the statement usually arrives 28 days before the payment date.

I'd advise against paying for Lotto, Bingo & Casinos as these are usually handled differently by Credit Cards, not sure about BarclayCard cuz I've never tried to pay for gambling, best try their site for T & Cs.