Avoiding interest at the end of 0% offers

EachPenny

I have a Nationwide Select Credit Card which had 0% offers on both purchases and balance transfers. The purchase offer ends on a date in July, and I have various BT's expiring on dates between August and October.

The agreement states: "Interest will not be charged on purchases if you pay the total balance (excluding balance transfers on your introductory rate or any other promotional rate) shown on your statement by the payment due date. Interest is charged on all other transactions from the date they are applied to your account until the total statement balance is paid in full."

My understanding is I need to repay the full purchase balance by the expiry date of the 0% purchase offer in order to avoid paying interest on it. I assume because of the payment allocation rule (high interest to low) the payments I make will clear the purchases before the BT's (even though they are all currently 0%) because the purchases will be the first to have a higher interest rate. (And this seems to be confirmed as the outstanding balance on the BT's have not reduced since the transfers were done whereas the purchase balance decreases when the minimum payment goes in).

I assume I would then need to repay the amount of the first expiring BT balance before the expiry date of that transfer offer - I don't have to pay off all the balance transfers on the first expiry date. (Otherwise why would they each have different expiry dates?) However, is it necessary to pay the BT balance plus the purchase balance on that date, or will the payment reduce the BT balance first?

By repeating the process for each of the BT's as the expiry date approaches I should end up paying no interest at all. Is that correct, or are any of my assumptions wrong?

The next part of the question is what happens with new purchases after the end of the 0% purchases offer. The agreement excludes BT balances from the interest calculation, so at some point I assume I could again start using the card for purchases and gain an interest free period provided the purchase balance is paid off in full each month - is that really the case? How could I find out when I could start making purchases again because the Agreement doesn't appear to explain it in clear easy to understand language... I wonder why?

I would be very grateful for advice and/or confirmation that I've understood the situation correctly - it seems like a simple question which people must have asked before, or surely will in the future.

Many thanks.

Ben8282

Cease making any new purchases prior to the issue of the statement prior to the expiry date of the purchases offer. Ensure that there are no remaining unstatemented purchases.
Repay the balance of this statement (less the bt amounts) before the expiry date of the purchase offer.
Make no further purchases on this card (unless you are happy to pay interest on them).
Repay each bt prior to the expiry date of each offer.

molerat

Very poorly worded payment allocation for that card :eek:

EachPenny

Ben8282 wrote: »

Make no further purchases on this card (unless you are happy to pay interest on them).

Thanks for the advice. The further purchases bit I still don't understand though. I've now found the summary box from when I applied for the card. It says:

Interest-free period (after introductory offer ends)- *Maximum 56 days for purchases if you pay the total of all-non-promotional balances on your statement in full and by the due date. [plus a second point about balance transfers and cash withdrawals].

But there is nothing in the T&C's which appears to give effect to the up to 56 days interest-free period other than the part I quoted in my original post.

Once the 0% on purchases offer has expired (and the purchase balance has been paid off), then surely it is possible to start using the card for purchases again at some point and start having the up to 56 days interest-free period.

The 0% BT's are 'promotional balances' and taking the summary box at face-value don't need to have been paid off in order to benefit from the up to 56 days interest-free period. But the T&C's don't say that.

Ben8282

It would appear that you have one of those rare cards which do not charge interest on purchases so long as you pay in full all non-promotional transactions.

EachPenny

Ben8282 wrote: »

It would appear that you have one of those rare cards which do not charge interest on purchases so long as you pay in full all non-promotional transactions.

I'm not having a go, this is a genuine question. You've changed your post from what it originally said - is that on the basis that like me, you cannot see anything in the T&C's that requires either the full balance of the previous statement, nor current promotional BT's to be fully paid off, in order to avoid paying interest on new purchases? I just want to check we are thinking the same way.

If so, would you agree that new purchases can start immediately after the end of the 0% offer, or is it after the statement date following the end of the 0% purchase offer?

The statement date is usually around the 27th of the month, the 0% purchases offer ends on the 29th.

From what I've seen elsewhere on the forum there may be other people with Nationwide Select cards in this situation in the coming months.

Ben8282

I changed my answer from what I originally wrote because although what I said would have been correct in respect of almost every other credit card, I realised that you did in fact possess one of the very rare cards which do not charge interest on purchases if the non-promotional balance is paid in full every month
You speak of other readers of the forum. I would like to point out to such other persons that the type of card held by you is different tin this respect to almost all other cards and therefore such other persons should not assume that what is correct for you in this instance will also be correct for them.

EachPenny

Ben8282 wrote: »

You speak of other readers of the forum. I would like to point out to such other persons that the type of card held by you is different tin this respect to almost all other cards and therefore such other persons should not assume that what is correct for you in this instance will also be correct for them.

Thanks for the clarification. I have amended my previous post to make it clear this is about my Nationwide Select credit card, not other cards.