is there a credit card with simple bills

neilneilorange

I have a lloyds mastercard but i dont understand the bills.(I don't regard myself as stupid either).
I believe I paid it off last month, I have not used it since, yet I have another £10 or so to pay.
I dont want to learn how to avoid their wranglings, I just want to get a more honest account, where I can see what i have spent and what is actually owed in full.
can you recommend an easy to manage account for infrequent lenders?

Willing2Learn

Hi,

You are most likely paying 'trailing' or 'residual interest. (Google it) ALL credit card providers have an identical way of charging interest.

Once you have googled trailing or residual interest, then come back here if you have any further questions.

phillw

neilneilorange wrote: »

I just want to get a more honest account, where I can see what i have spent and what is actually owed in full.
can you recommend an easy to manage account for infrequent lenders?

All credit cards I've seen are the same. If they have an app then it will show the current balance, or you can login on line and see them. It might take a day or two to show up, or it might appear immediately. That is not just the card issuer, the vendor might delay sending the transaction through.

Statements however are generated once a month and tell you to pay the balance a month later. That value won't change no matter how much you use your card before the payment is due. Those payments will become payable in the following month, so when you stop using your card there could be two payments due afterwards.

You need to look at your statements and learn where you are going wrong. Maybe they are adding late payment charges because you didn't pay on time, or if you don't pay the full balance one month then they will all charge interest on every transaction from the point you make them instead of giving you the money at 0% until the payment is due.

If you still can't work it out then phone them up and ask them to explain it to you. It could be a mistake on your or their part.

neilneilorange

Thank you.That is very interesting. What a bunch of crooks (some might say).

Willing2Learn

The 'bunch of crooks' would have let you know how interest is charged within the small print of the credit agreement terms and conditions.

Now you know how they are earning their money, you can put in place a payment system to prevent any future trailing interest charges. (I recommend setting up a Direct Debit to pay the full statemented balance each month.)

redpete

neilneilorange wrote: »

I have a lloyds mastercard but i dont understand the bills.(I don't regard myself as stupid either).

There is probably something fundamental that you are not understanding.

I believe I paid it off last month, I have not used it since, yet I have another £10 or so to pay.

As someone else has pointed out, probably trailing interest. Your previous statement would tell you the amount outstanding at the date of the statement. Interest would still be accruing between the statement date and when you actually paid the bill, this is trailing interest and would be shown as interest on your most recent statement.

I dont want to learn how to avoid their wranglings, I just want to get a more honest account, where I can see what i have spent and what is actually owed in full.

Lloyds are not being dishonest. They are operating how all other credit card providers work. The statement tells you how much you owe and all the transactions to the date on the statement - they cannot predict when or how much you will pay towards this. Once you have cleared all outstanding money owed then you can pay the full statement amount each month and they will not charge any interest.

can you recommend an easy to manage account for infrequent lenders?

Infrequent borrowers? If you are using the credit card to borrow money for more than a month (i.e. you do not pay the full monthly amount each and every month) then no credit card is going to be a cheap way of dong this and they will all work in a very similar way. I effectively use credit cards as a free and convenient way of borrowing money for up to but not exceeding a month.

neilneilorange

Yes, I will change my card to a temporary 0% card if that avoids the charges.

phillw

neilneilorange wrote: »

Yes, I will change my card to a temporary 0% card if that avoids the charges.

It won't avoid late payment charges & they can remove the 0% if you pay late.

You are much better off trying to work out where the charge comes from. They all have 0% for a month if you operate the account correctly.

redpete wrote: »

I effectively use credit cards as a free and convenient way of borrowing money for up to but not exceeding a month.

If you pay the full balance every month by Direct Debit and make the transaction after the statement is produced then you are borrowing it interest free for 59 days (or longer, one of my card issuers always requests DD payments late but I don't get charged as it's their fault).

neilneilorange

ok, so if I set up a direct debit then, will that avoid the charges for residual interest?
I don't use the card to borrow money as such. I need it only when I rent a hire car, as they insist on credit card payment. the last time was in July/august and I had attempted to pay that off in full. Another thing was when I misplaced my debit card, and drew out £50 from an atm.Likewise I paid it off straight away.
Therefore I have probably been billed £30 since which I must now accept and try to avoid further charges.
Which day/ of the month should i set up the dd for?

Willing2Learn

Yes, setting up a DD to pay the full balance each month will prevent any further trailing or residual interest. Just make sure that in the first month, the DD has been set up correctly, so that payment will be made. If it is not, then you need to pay the full balance due manually (until the DD has been set up correctly)

[Deleted User]

Don’t withdraw cash or make cash purchases.

You will get charged interest.