Credit card purchase interest free period

jaycoe_gmailcom

Hi all, thought I knew more than enough about credit cards after using them for so many years… but it seems not!  Sainsbury’s in this case.  Made a large purchase on my card thinking that I had ‘upto’ 56 days interest free before having to pay it off to avoid interest. Made purchase on 3rd August and going by the above felt safe that I didn’t need to clear it till mid September… oh no…. Was charged interest on latest September statement.  Seems the ‘upto’ actually means when the purchase was made relative to when you get your statements. Unfortunately in my case I made my big purchase just before my August statement and therefore I only had approx 31 days or so interest free and so was charged interest in my September statement. I cannot done anything in my T&C’s with Sainsburys bank that clarifies this… only the wording ‘upto’.  Any thoughts and can I claim my money back?

Mark_d

To avoid paying interest you need to clear the statement balance in full within x days of each statement date.  I believe this is made clear in the T&C.  This arrangement is standard across credit card providers.

You can try calling Sainsbury's bank and hope they're feeling generous but you don't have any right to get the money back

Nasqueron

The up to period refers to the following process (used my own dates as it's easier!)

19th August statement issued
19th August pay for item
19th September statement issued which includes the item bought 19th August
16th October payment is taken 

Therefore there is a period of ~59 days from when I paid to when the money was taken - it's give or take a little as it's not exact

If you bought the item on 3rd August and it was on a statement on the 4th August then it would be due in September per your statement date - hence "up to". Using my example above:

19th August statement issued
18th September pay for item
19th September statement issued which includes the item bought 18th September
16th October payment is taken 

28 days interest free

You could ask Sainsbury's but they have done nothing wrong, you were charged per the way credit cards work

Fingerbobs

You can't "claim" it back because it was legitimately charged, but it's definitely worth calling them, apologising and explaining your mistake, they may well refund the interest as a goodwill gesture. 

molerat

What you experienced was the standard method of the application of the "up to 56 days interest free" across all cards.  It refers to the time between purchases made after the cut off for statement A to the due date of statement B.  To avoid interest you must pay off every statement IN FULL by the due date.

born_again

jaycoe_gmailcom said:

Hi all, thought I knew more than enough about credit cards after using them for so many years… but it seems not!  Sainsbury’s in this case.  Made a large purchase on my card thinking that I had ‘upto’ 56 days interest free before having to pay it off to avoid interest. Made purchase on 3rd August and going by the above felt safe that I didn’t need to clear it till mid September… oh no…. Was charged interest on latest September statement.  Seems the ‘upto’ actually means when the purchase was made relative to when you get your statements. Unfortunately in my case I made my big purchase just before my August statement and therefore I only had approx 31 days or so interest free and so was charged interest in my September statement. I cannot done anything in my T&C’s with Sainsburys bank that clarifies this… only the wording ‘upto’.  Any thoughts and can I claim my money back?

Which they did..

UPTO

So they did exactly what it says on the tin 🤷‍♀️

Quite clear on the statement what you are due to pay to avoid interest.

eskbanker

jaycoe_gmailcom said:

Hi all, thought I knew more than enough about credit cards after using them for so many years… but it seems not!  Sainsbury’s in this case.  Made a large purchase on my card thinking that I had ‘upto’ 56 days interest free before having to pay it off to avoid interest. Made purchase on 3rd August and going by the above felt safe that I didn’t need to clear it till mid September… oh no…. Was charged interest on latest September statement.  Seems the ‘upto’ actually means when the purchase was made relative to when you get your statements. Unfortunately in my case I made my big purchase just before my August statement and therefore I only had approx 31 days or so interest free and so was charged interest in my September statement. I cannot done anything in my T&C’s with Sainsburys bank that clarifies this… only the wording ‘upto’.  Any thoughts and can I claim my money back?

It would seem that you saw the purchase on your August statement and didn't understand that this meant it needed to be paid by that statement's due date, so worth recognising the significance of monthly statements and the associated payment cycles....

CliveOfIndia

This is absolutely standard across all credit cards.  You must clear the balance in full, as stated on your statement, to avoid paying interest.  If you make a purchase right at the start of your billing cycle then you do indeed get 56 days interest-free - give or take, allowing for 30/31-day months.

But if you make a purchase just before your statement is produced then you'll get approximately 21 days or so, given that most cards set the payment date at around 3 weeks after the statement is produced.

As others have said, I guess you could try phoning them and asking them really really nicely.  But I wouldn't hold your breath - they've done nothing except acted completely in line with the standard T&Cs.

NameWithheld

My method, after I have maxed out my Edge credit card cashback, is to have several credit cards with different payments dates and use the one with the longest time to payment due date

jaycoe_gmailcom

In further to my initial query above, many thanks to all those that have responded.  Clearly there was a knowledge gap that I’ve now filled. I’ve always paid off my CC’s in full at the end of each month and so have never really thought about this issue. Tis a shame as I had the funds sitting in a high interest savings account ready to pay off the amount. Thought I’d leave it in there to maximise interest gained on it before paying off CC… so much for that!!! lol. Life lesson…

CliveOfIndia

For future reference, it makes life a lot simpler if you just set up a Direct Debt.  You're given the choice of selecting "Minimum Payment", "Fixed Amount" or "Full Balance".  Select the third option and you will avoid making the same mistake again.

Obviously it's down to you to make sure there's enough cash in your account to cover the DD, but it can make things simpler.