When to make payment to avoid interest charge

smub99

I have been using a Tesco Clubcard mastercard with a 0% deal. This is due to end on June 26th. I plan to continue using it to gain club card points but I am trying to figure when to pay off the balance each month to avoid interest payments.
I have just set up a direct debit to pay the 'statement balance'. The statement is on the 26th of each month and the direct debit goes out of the account 2 weeks later on the 10th of the following month. Obviously in these 2 weeks I will spend more, so will I still get charged interest on the following months statement, despite paying the previous months statement balance? Is the direct debit as it is correctly set up to avoid interest charges?

Paully232000

If you set up a DD to pay the statement balance, it will pay all charges on your months statement. As long as you do this, you will pay no interest ever.

I have all of my card paying the full statement balance each month, and never pay interest.

molerat

You need to pay off the last statement balance in full before the 26th or you will be paying interest on that amount from 26th and further purchases and some trailing interest until you have 2 clear statements paid. Interest free periods usually end on a statement date and not a due date, a way to catch you out.

smub99

molerat wrote: »

You need to pay off the last statement balance in full before the 26th or you will be paying interest on that amount from 26th and further purchases and some trailing interest until you have 2 clear statements paid. Interest free periods usually end on a statement date and not a due date, a way to catch you out.

Its all so confusing lol. So in my case the interest free period ends on June 26th, which is also the statement date. So are you saying as long as the June 26th statement amount is paid off before July 26th (e.g on the Direct debit that will go out on July 10th), I will not pay interest on the July 26th statement balance, regardless of my spending between June 27th and July 10th?

molerat

No. As long as the May 26th statement is paid off (minimum payment needs to be paid by due date on statement as usual) in full by 26th June (all funds cleared into the account and shown on June 26th statement) and the June 26th statement is paid off by its due date then no interest will be due. You will also need to check that the June 26th statement clearly shows that the full payment will be taken by DD.

smub99

molerat wrote: »

No. As long as the May 26th statement is paid off (minimum payment needs to be paid by due date on statement as usual) in full by 26th June (all funds cleared into the account and shown on June 26th statement) and the June 26th statement is paid off by its due date then no interest will be due. You will also need to check that the June 26th statement clearly shows that the full payment will be taken by DD.

Ah yes that is what I am doing. The May balance will go out of my account on the 10th of June. My concern was whether any spending between May 26th and June 10th would accrue any interest, and also whether I would accrue any interest if my June 26th Statement was anything other than £0, but you seem to have cleared that up for me.

molerat

All OK then. Many people assume that the ending date of an interest free period ties in with the statement due dates. Did the May statement show that full balance would be taken on June 10th ? If you change the DD amount after the statement is produced it usually does not change until the next statement. Just keep an eye on your bank account to make sure the full amount goes out.

smub99

molerat wrote: »

All OK then. Many people assume that the ending date of an interest free period ties in with the statement due dates. Did the May statement show that full balance would be taken on June 10th ? If you change the DD amount after the statement is produced it usually does not change until the next statement. Just keep an eye on your bank account to make sure the full amount goes out.

Yes I was ready to start paying off the card in full by end of april early may, so changed the DD back then. June 10th is the first time the full statement amount will come out.