double interest charge? 3 December 2019 at 1:04PM in Stoozing: free cash from credit cards 6 replies 1.9K views

johnnt333

i owed Barclaycard 1500,00 and normally pay £100-150 a month, i used barclaycard to get euros for holiday, i wanted 1000euros and that cost £978 or something, the following week i paid barclaycard £1150,00 thinking that will clear the cash transaction of euros...
ive just realised barclaycard are charging me still 2 separate interest one for the purchases, one for the cash transaction! the cash transaction interest is over 2% is this right?
it seems im being charged because i still have a purchase balance outstanding!

Ebe_Scrooge

Sounds not at all uncommon - most cards will charge a different interest rate for cash advances than they do for purchases. If you don't clear the full balance (comprising both purchases and cash advances) then yes, you'll be charged interest. Additionally, you'll usually be charged interest on a cash advance until it's paid off - even if you clear the full balance at the end of the month.

vacheron

Yes, this is right.

You will (usually) pay a different interest rate for a cash purchase on a credit card. The interest rate for cash transactions also normally commences from the day the withdrawl is made.

You aren't being "penalised" for anything other than not fully reading the T's and C's.

johnnt333

thanks for getting back so quick, i do understand the T & C but didn't see that 2 interest rates would be charged, i was expecting the cash transaction to be in the whole balance outstanding and pay the one interest rates as i already got charged a fee..but i can see now on the barclaycard the 2 rates of interest i just thought having taken £1000 worth of euros and within a week paying that £1000 to the card would suffice...so better off getting the euros from bank account!

vacheron

johnnt333 wrote: »

thanks for getting back so quick, i do understand the T & C but didn't see that 2 interest rates would be charged, i was expecting the cash transaction to be in the whole balance outstanding and pay the one interest rates as i already got charged a fee..but i can see now on the barclaycard the 2 rates of interest i just thought having taken £1000 worth of euros and within a week paying that £1000 to the card would suffice...so better off getting the euros from bank account!

My advice (if you travel abroad a lot) would be to get a dedicated foreign transaction card such as the Halifax Clarity.

You then draw cash out of a cash machine in the country of your choice at the mastercard rate (far better than any bureau rate), then log in to the account a day or two later and pay off the withdrawl amount (which will now be shown in £) off your card.

This will stop any further interest charges and you will only pay about 5p per day for each 100 euros withdrawn until you log in and pay it off.

Ben8282

johnnt333 wrote: »

thanks for getting back so quick, i do understand the T & C but didn't see that 2 interest rates would be charged, i was expecting the cash transaction to be in the whole balance outstanding and pay the one interest rates as i already got charged a fee..but i can see now on the barclaycard the 2 rates of interest i just thought having taken £1000 worth of euros and within a week paying that £1000 to the card would suffice...so better off getting the euros from bank account!

The interest rate information should be shown on your statement. You just need to look.

I am also guesing that you didn't wait for the cash transaction to appear on a statement before you repaid it and therefore your payment was applied to the balance of the previous statement and not to the cash transaction.

Yes it would have been better. to get the Euros from your bank account as then you would have avoided the credit card cash advance fee if you had paid by debit card.

Angie_B._Wilkinson

am also guesing that you didn't wait for the cash transaction to appear on a statement before you repaid it and therefore your payment was applied to the balance of the previous statement and not to the cash transaction.