Purchases as "Retail Spend" ? What does this mean/cover ?

washtenaw

I have just received a new credit card which states :

Purchases
Promotional rate: You will pay 0% p.a. fixed interest for XX months on retail spend.

What exactly does this mean/cover, only purchases from stores/retailers ? Is thus just terminology that the card issuer is using, or could I also pay for other things like my rent/council tax as long as I can in fact pay these with a credit card ?

Is there any chance the card issuer will consider for example that rent payments are NOT retail, identify them and subsequently charge me standard interest on these purchases ?

From my perspective, a rent payment etc is a legitimate purchase, just not specifically retail. So I assume that it is covered, but I just want to see what anyone else thinks.

bsms1147

If you can pay it on a credit card, it'll be counted as a (retail) transaction at 0%. That's my understanding. Basically anything that's not a cash withdrawal or balance transfer.

I'm not sure many places would allow rent to be paid by credit card however, and same for council tax.

molerat

It is a tough one. A lot depends on the payment provider the council use and the particular card. Tesco are particularly tough on what is a cash transaction.

jimbo26

molerat wrote: »

It is a tough one. A lot depends on the payment provider the council use and the particular card. Tesco are particularly tough on what is a cash transaction.

Yes, Tesco are strict. They class buying insurance as a cash transaction.

Other things that would be counted as cash would be online gaming, betting etc.

washtenaw

bsms1147 wrote: »

If you can pay it on a credit card, it'll be counted as a (retail) transaction at 0%. That's my understanding. Basically anything that's not a cash withdrawal or balance transfer.

I'm not sure many places would allow rent to be paid by credit card however, and same for council tax.

Thanx, that's what I had thought as well.

And I can definitely pay my rent/council tax on a credit card, have been doing it for years now with no problem.

MallyGirl

watch out for things like gambling - I bought a charity raffle ticket on a card and that was counted as a cash transaction. Some store cards let you pay the statement amount with a credit card but it won't necessarily count as a purchase.

washtenaw

molerat wrote: »

It is a tough one. A lot depends on the payment provider the council use and the particular card. Tesco are particularly tough on what is a cash transaction.

The card isn't Tesco fortunately.

So I would assume the only thing that could happen is that the purchase could be seen as a cash payment, and charged at a cash rate . . . (but this has never happened with any other cards I have used to pay rent/council tax in the past)

. . . and not that the 'purchase' would be identified as 'non retail' and charged the standard non promotional APR rate.

washtenaw

MallyGirl wrote: »

watch out for things like gambling - I bought a charity raffle ticket on a card and that was counted as a cash transaction. Some store cards let you pay the statement amount with a credit card but it won't necessarily count as a purchase.

Oh no, definitely won't be using it for anything like gambling or paying off store cards.

As the promotional rate offer is for a limited period I am considering paying some rent in advance and also potentially paying the rest of my council tax for the year in one big chunk.