Promotional rate ends, help me understand

viciovbuk

Hi,

I have an interest free barclaycard that I repay in full every month.

Now I received an email saying that "You have a Purchase Offer ending on 27/01/2018. The outstanding promotional balance at the time of writing is £183.64".
I understand that after my promotional period ends I have to pay interest on repaying but I don't understand what the outstanding promotional balance is.

And also, interest are applied only if I don't repay my credit card in full, am I right?

Thanks for the help

anythingbutordinary

The amount outstanding is how much of the money you spent under the Purchase Offer has not yet been paid off.

You'll start to pay interest on it from 27/01/18 if you haven't paid it off before then - even if you pay your next statement in full.

chattychappy

It seems to suggest that you have £183.64 outstanding in 0% purchases.

Interest will start to run on 28/1/2018. Even if you pay the balance in full on the statement that follows, you will still get interest for the period between 28/1/2018 and when payment arrives. This is because those transactions date from earlier statement periods which were not paid in full.

The way to think of it is as follows.

Purchases appear on a statement. If you pay in full by the due date, interest won't be applied. Else it will calculated daily at the prevailing rate from the date of transaction to when payment arrives.

During a promo offer, interest is still applied, but the prevailing rate is 0% so interest is actually charged.

Once the promo ends, interest will begin to accrue which you will see on your following statement. If you pay that in full, you might still get some small trailing interest on the following statement. That will be the end.

So try to pay the balance before the promo ends. If you can't, just pay as much as you can as soon as you can, even if it means in dribs and drabs.

molerat

But

viciovbuk wrote: »

I have an interest free barclaycard that I repay in full every month

Surely if repaid in full every month any purchases since the last statement should be according to the normal non promo rules and no interest will be due.

anythingbutordinary

Yep that's the critical bit we've missed. Although you've been buying and paying off in full every month, you've technically been buying under a promotional offer, but then not using its benefits.

So, provided the £180+ was all spent within the last statement period, it should remain interest free if you pay it all off.