Interest on minimum payments with 0% purchases or BT

koenig

Do you have to pay interest on the monthly minimum payments while you have a 0% purchases offer or if you have transferred an outstanding amount to another card with a 0% balance transfer offer?

Thanks

onerickylambert

No, the monthly minimum payment is simply the amount you must pay off each month, it's not added to the bill and no interest is charged while you are in the 0% promotional period.

chattychappy

No. For interest purposes, the minimum payment amount is irrelevant. Your balance effectively comprises different balances - eg promotional balances, cash advances, purchases etc, and interest is calculated and applied to each balance at the appropriate rate (which might be 0%). Usually a payment made (whether minimum or not) will be applied to the balance attracting the highest rate first.

If you have a 0% BT deal and make purchases on the card (without an offer) then you will pay interest on the purchases UNLESS you pay off the entire balance in full following the statement. Clearly if you pay off the full balance then there is little value in having the 0% BT deal.

In general it is best not to mix promotional balances with non-promotional rate purchases on the same card, though there are exceptions.