How long should interest free credit be on Mastercard?

Bogof_Babe

I have just had an email from NatWest saying my August statement is ready. On checking it on my online account they are telling me that the amount due by 30th August is the full current balance, which includes some transactions that were only made on 3rd August. It used to be that you could get up to about seven weeks credit, so I would have only expected outstanding transactions from July to be due this month.

Is this a NatWest or Mastercard quirk, or have I misunderstood how it works?

[Deleted User]

No - you need to pay the balance back in full each statement month unless you are on a 0% promo

[Deleted User]

You can generally get up to 56 days or thereabouts, depending on when you make the transactions. It's set by the lender, not by Mastercard.

If your statement give a due date of a couple of weeks later, then you'll only have a much shorter period for your transactions which were made just before the statement was generated.

Bogof_Babe

Hmm, okay, thanks. There goes another false assumption .

Edit: It’s not like that with Lloyd’s. My OH gets a paper statement which shows the current balance and the amount now due, which is for a period from the previous statement up to the new one. The balance is not payable until the following statement is produced.

YorkshireBoy

Isn't it RBSG cards that have two payment due dates...one (where you can get up to 56 days) when you're on a minimum payment DD and an earlier one when you're on a full payment DD?

Bogof_Babe

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Isn't it RBSG cards that have two payment due dates...one (where you can get up to 56 days) when you're on a minimum payment DD and an earlier one when you're on a full payment DD?

Gosh I have no idea what you’re talking about but nothing would surprise me!

molerat

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Hmm, okay, thanks. There goes another false assumption .

Edit: It’s not like that with Lloyd’s. My OH gets a paper statement which shows the current balance and the amount now due, which is for a period from the previous statement up to the new one. The balance is not payable until the following statement is produced.

Payment is always due before the next statement is produced, that is the way cards work. If your statement is due on 6th August any purchases you made from 6th July up until around 4th August will be on that statement and payable by 30th August. Interest free period is up to x days so will only be against the spends on the first day of the billing cycle, the interest free period getting shorter each day.

Terry_Towelling

Most credit card companies will produce your statement on a set working day each month. It looks like yours are produced on the 3rd/4th working day of the month - depending whether your August one is dated yesterday or today. That means it will contain transactions from the date of your July statement right up to the day before your August statement.

You will now get 25 days from your statement date to make a payment - i.e. up to 30th August.

The 7 or 8 weeks (often it is 56 days) free-credit period is a theoretical maximum. So if you'd made a purchase just after your July statement was produced, that will now be on your August statement. So, that particular purchase will have the full 56 (or so) days free credit.

Any purchases made closer to your August statement date (and appearing on said statement) will obviously get a shorter interest-free period.

Bogof_Babe

Thanks everyone. I think I get it now. It doesn’t seem long since I paid the last one, well that figures as I still have another three weeks to pay the new one!