0% Credit Card - Interest-Free Period Query

norsefox

Can anyone confirm what "interest-free period of up to 56 days" means?

I'm looking for a 0% credit card for new purchases, and my understanding would have been that so long as the minimum payments were maintained, that no purchases would incur interest until the completion of the 27-month 0% period. However, the above point is not clear to me.

A card option would be this one:
https://www.finder.com/uk/barclaycard-platinum-purchase-balance-transfer-card

Ben8282

Is this your very first credit card?

norsefox

Ben8282 wrote: »

Is this your very first credit card?

No it is not my very first credit card.

Ben8282

Then you already know the answer.
If you want to add a link to the Barclaycard would be better to actually add a link to the Barclaycard website rather than to an advertisement for it on a third party website.

Willing2Learn

norsefox wrote: »

Can anyone confirm what "interest-free period of up to 56 days" means?

I believe you get a statement after every approx. 28 days and then you get a further 28 days to pay.
28+28=56 days interest free for any purchase you make on day 1.
28+27=55 days interest free for any purchase you make on day 2.
28+26=54 days interest free for any purchase you make on day 3.
etc etc

mab3000

Interest free period of up to 56 days - This is the standard period where you do not pay interest if you pay off the full statement balance each month by the monthly due date, outside of any promotional rate.

However if you do have a 0% promotional rate, then as long as you make at least the minimum payment by the monthly due date, then you pay 0% interest during the promotional period. The promotional period is separate to the standard interest free period which would apply after the promotional rate ends.

Terry_Towelling

Your understanding about interest charged during an extended 0% promotional offer is correct.

The 56-day interest-free period doesn't really matter in such a situation but to explain it, if you made a purchase on the day immediately after a statement was produced, that purchase wouldn't appear until the following statement 31(ish) days later. You'd then have an additional 25 days to pay it off (31 + 25 = 56). If you pay the statement off in full, you don't get charged interest, if you pay only part of it you get charged interest at the rate applicable to your card.

With a 0%-on-purchases offer the interest rate applicable to your card is 0% - so you get charged interest at 0% if you don't pay in full on a promotional offer.

Does that make sense?

Alexd52

norsefox wrote: »

Can anyone confirm what "interest-free period of up to 56 days" means?

I'm looking for a 0% credit card for new purchases, and my understanding would have been that so long as the minimum payments were maintained, that no purchases would incur interest until the completion of the 27-month 0% period. However, the above point is not clear to me.

A card option would be this one:
https://www.finder.com/uk/barclaycard-platinum-purchase-balance-transfer-card

Up to 56 days interest free is the standard phrase for all credit cards for normal spending and paying off in full every month. The 56 days comes from, for example, if you spend immediately after a statement is generated, and then pay that back as late as possible after it has been statemented, and before the next statement is generated, then this period can 56 days where no interest is paid. In reality, it will be less than 56 days because your spending pattern is unlikely to follow this ideal pattern.

norsefox

Thanks for those who answered the question.

I figured that’s what it was, and if I’d checked a normal credit card without the 0% introductory rate it would have made sense without even thinking.