Paying Off a Credit Card

Sunday_Morning

My credit card with HSBC is set up to take the minimum balance from my account.

I now have the funds to pay it off in total, but missed the deadline set on my last statement.

My next statement should arrive by about the 16th and give me a deadline of about the 23rd to pay. Presumably, if I do this, I'll not pay any further interest on it.

So, with this in mind, has whatever interest I am due to pay been charged already and will it make any difference to me whether I pay the money now or on the next deadline? Basically, is it better to have my money in an interest bearing account then paying off my credit card at this "wrong" time of the month?

Furthermore, would it be wise for me to tranfer my balance elsewhere, to take advantage of "no interest on transfers" offers, while still earning interest on the money available to pay off the balance?

I'd rather not change but it seems HSBC incentivise people to transfer balances to them, is there a chance they might incentivise me NOT to take one from them?

CLAPTON

interest accrues on a daily basis until the money is paid off.
so the earlier you pay the less interest you will pay. your last statement would show the interest up to the statement date only.
so if you clear the apparent remaining balance, there will still be interest next month.

exel1966

I'd avise making the FULL payment + a little extra to cover interset already charged ASAP.
Paying the extra will limit any further charges which can be applied.

Before you do this though, check that you will not be charged for having a positive credit limit.

riad_2

If you're a full payer and missed the payment due date then you have forfeited the interest free and interest will be charged and will be backdated from the point of each transaction up until the point that the payment is received by the card.


Hence it's advised to pay ASAP as this interest will not be at the promo rate but at the standard rate (which will be like 3 times any interest on any savings account!).

Also just to let you know there will be an interest charge on ur next month's statement (even if you do pay off this month in full) which is residual interest, which is the interest charged from the day the last statement was issued to the date it was paid.

Hope that helps!

riad_2

Oops didn't read properly that you're a min payer. Sorry! If you're on a promo intro rate thou what I wrote above still applies that due to the missed payment you'll be on the standard rate of interest for this month rather than the promo 0% or whatever.

Sunday_Morning

Many thanks for the responses guys, they were a great help