Bought foreign currency - now panicking :(

FOXGLOVE_2

Game_Over wrote: »

Yes, that's right.

You paid off the last bill in full. (with a bit left over to cover some of the new transaction)
You had plans to pay this bill in full, I thought. Only mistake you made was you actually carried out a cash advance transaction rather than a purchase, and so no interest period applies.

You don't have to wait for a new statement to make the next payment or payments, hence my previous advice

I'm totally confused. Why is it paying off the purchases balance first if the APR on cash advance amount if higher? Or should I have waited until next month before making this payment, thus it being attributed to the transaction with the highest interest?

I'm not able to simply throw another £600 at this in the space of a month as this will mean I've spent an entire months wages on it, I only got paid this morning.

So worst case scenario is it takes me a few months to pay it off and I get £25 per month interest charges while it's being cleared? Never again. Never never never again...

Tixy

What is your purchase rate APR?
What is your cash advance rate APR?

It sounds like you don't normally clear the card in full anyway. If not then only difference is that for the time it will take you to clear the rest of the current outstanding balance will be at the slightly higher APR than it would otherwise have been. Its probably only going to make a few pounds difference overall

Game_Over

FOXGLOVE wrote: »

I'm totally confused. Why is it paying off the purchases balance first if the APR on cash advance amount if higher? ...

Because presumably you hadn't actually got a statement with the cash advance transaction on when you paid. Presumably you only saw this together with the charge via an online account of current transactions.

There isn't normally that big a difference between the interest on cash advances and the interest on purchases.
Even if you paid the cash advance off (as in your mind, rather than paying off the purchases on the statement) then you would still be left with the interest charges for the purchases.

Edit: Tixy beat me to it whilst I was posting

FOXGLOVE_2

Actually, now on reflection, I see the logic. I'm struggling to find all the T&CS for my card and what rate I'm being charged. As long as I can be sure I'm not gonna get hit with a £200 interest charge or anything like that.

Game_Over

FOXGLOVE wrote: »

Actually, now on reflection, I see the logic. I'm struggling to find all the T&CS for my card and what rate I'm being charged. As long as I can be sure I'm not gonna get hit with a £200 interest charge or anything like that.

The interest rates applicable to your account are shown on the front of your statement, on the RHS.
I actually have the same interest rate for purchases, cash advances, and balance transfers (but yours may differ).

The allocation of payments is shown on the reverse of your statement