Inadvertent purchase on credit card which has a 0% money transfer deal on it

The_Baroness

I have a credit card with which I have taken advantage of a 0% money transfer deal ending in December 2025. Up until now, I have avoided making any new purchases on this card but, to my dismay, I missed noticing a recurring renewal assigned to this card which is now in the process of being paid. 

Is there anything I can do to avoid losing my 0% interest on the rest of the balance?

cannugec5

It depends on the credit card agreement that you have. 

I have a Tesco Credit card which offers 0% Money transfers and 0% balance transfers but also lets me spend on it without penalty. I have to clear the spend balance each month, which I take care to do. 

CliveOfIndia

As above, you need to check your T&Cs carefully.  Some cards will ring-fence the MT portion, meaning you can repay the spending each month and be OK.  Unfortunately these tend to be in the minority - for most cards it means you need to repay the full statement balance to avoid interest.

If yours doesn't ring-fence the MT portion, it may be worth looking to see if you can BT the whole lot to another card.  This will likely mean paying a transfer fee, but it may be worthwhile overall (assuming you're not in a position to be able to pay off the whole balance, if it turns out that you need to).

molerat

How much is this spend ?  You will only pay interest on the spend amount, you will not lose the interest free on the remainder.

The_Baroness

cannugec5 said:

It depends on the credit card agreement that you have. 

I have a Tesco Credit card which offers 0% Money transfers and 0% balance transfers but also lets me spend on it without penalty. I have to clear the spend balance each month, which I take care to do. 

Thanks for that. I have been looking at the credit card agreement and it's not clear to me what the situation is, which is why I have been careful not to spend on it just in case I get it wrong. Looking at it again, it may allow me to spend without losing the interest free amount. What do you think?

This is what it says:

Repaying or ending your money transfer
11. When your promotional term ends or if you lose your promotional rate, we’ll move
any remaining balance to your standard balance and will charge interest on it at your
standard rate. Remember, your simple standard interest rate moves up and down in line
with the Bank of England Base Rate.

12. If you don't pay off your statement balance each month in full, excluding any
promotional balances, you will be charged interest on new purchases from the date the
transaction appears on your account.

13. If you don’t pay your statement balance in full each month, we will use the amount
you pay to reduce the balances with a higher interest rate before the balance you have
transferred as this will have a promotional interest rate. If you have more than one
promotional balance with the same interest rate, we will use your payment to reduce the
balance with the promotional term that ends first.

The_Baroness

CliveOfIndia said:

As above, you need to check your T&Cs carefully.  Some cards will ring-fence the MT portion, meaning you can repay the spending each month and be OK.  Unfortunately these tend to be in the minority - for most cards it means you need to repay the full statement balance to avoid interest.

If yours doesn't ring-fence the MT portion, it may be worth looking to see if you can BT the whole lot to another card.  This will likely mean paying a transfer fee, but it may be worthwhile overall (assuming you're not in a position to be able to pay off the whole balance, if it turns out that you need to).

As I responded to cannugec5, I was not clear as to what the situation is

The_Baroness

molerat said:

How much is this spend ?  You will only pay interest on the spend amount, you will not lose the interest free on the remainder.

Only £30

molerat

The_Baroness said:

molerat said:

How much is this spend ?  You will only pay interest on the spend amount, you will not lose the interest free on the remainder.

Only £30

So it will likely cost you under £1 in interest, not the most expensive mistake in the world

sausage_time

I looked at several of my card statements.  All say something similar to:

Allocation of payments:

If you don't pay your balance in full we will allocate payments to balances with the highest interest rate before balances with the lower interest rates. Please refer to the terms and conditions for full details.

My reading would be that if you pay the £30 plus the minimum payment you should be covered if your card is similar? 

The_Baroness

molerat said:

The_Baroness said:

molerat said:

How much is this spend ?  You will only pay interest on the spend amount, you will not lose the interest free on the remainder.

Only £30

So it will likely cost you under £1 in interest, not the most expensive mistake in the world

I'm not worried about any interest on the purchase as I can pay the amount off in full so as to not incur any interest. My concern is that the 0% interest balance is not affected by this transaction - as that amount is a lot larger

The_Baroness

sausage_time said:

I looked at several of my card statements.  All say something similar to:

Allocation of payments:

If you don't pay your balance in full we will allocate payments to balances with the highest interest rate before balances with the lower interest rates. Please refer to the terms and conditions for full details.

My reading would be that if you pay the £30 plus the minimum payment you should be covered if your card is similar? 

I'm glad that you think that, as that's also my understanding of the situation, but I wasn't sure whether I am correct