Make a payment - When does interest kick in?

houmie

Hi,

I guess I haven't understood a major thing in Credit cards. Right now I have a M&S Credit card. I have a balance of £1000.

If I pay just £100, do I have to pay for the remaining £900 interests?
Or is it free for some time period(?) until the interest kicks in. I remember how they say you could purchase stuff for free of interest at the beginning (time period?) I got my card in mid April.

Or is it only interest free if I pay the full amount of the bill right away?

Any comments?

Thanks
Houmie

grumbler

I think different cards have different T&C (I always pay balance in full after introductory period and never investigated this). For your card:

http://www6.marksandspencer.com/pages/sumbox.asp?PageId=SB&Product=CC :

Interest free period

Maximum 55 days for purchases when you pay your balance in full and on time every month

There is no interest free period for cash transactions, account cheque payments or fixed term balance transfers. Interest free period on fixed term balance transfers only applies to the introductory period.

Interest Charging information

The periods over which interest is charged are as follows:

Retail Purchases - If the balance is not repaid in full, interest on the outstanding balance is charged from the date of the transaction until payment is received

houmie wrote:

I remember how they say you could purchase stuff for free of interest at the beginning (time period?)

If your card has '0% on balance transfers for 6 months from date of account opening' and you transferred some balance during this period you cannot make purchases because all your payments go towards your transferred balance and the part of balance resulting from purchases will incur interest untill you pay your balance in full.

P.S. You can read about this in 'Best Balance Transfers' article

houmie

I see. I guess to be sure, I make the full payment. 55 days sounds clear, if you pay one expensive product. But I pay nearly everything with the credit card like groceries, tube etc.

To figure out, which product has passed 55 days and which not is just a pain in the butt. Better paying the whole monthly bill I guess. Unless i have misunderstood the 55 days period.

Thanks
Houmie

Rafter

You only get the 'up to 55 days interest free' if you have paid your full balance in full from the previous statement. Otherwise you pay interest from the date of the purchase usually.

Only 'full paying' customers get the benefit of the interest free period.

Once any introductory offer is finished you should always try to pay your bill off in full or you will get a nasty interest charge.

If you can't always afford to pay it it full, either look at a low apr card such as the Capital 1 platinum at 6.9% or use an overdraft which often has a lower apr than a credit card.

The 55 days is just the maximum too - you usually have about 20 days to pay from the date the statement is issued from the payment due date. So on purchases at the top of the statement you might get 55 days but for those made just before the statement date you may only get 20 days interest free.

If you want to make sure you never pay any interest or get any late payment charges, ask M&S to set up a direct debit for the full amount each month.

Good luck.

R.

Walletwatch

Rafter wrote:

The 55 days is just the maximum too - you usually have about 20 days to pay from the date the statement is issued from the payment due date. So on purchases at the top of the statement you might get 55 days but for those made just before the statement date you may only get 20 days interest free.

If you want to make sure you never pay any interest or get any late payment charges, ask M&S to set up a direct debit for the full amount each month.

Good luck.

R.

Agree with what Rafter says. Should you want to maximise the benefit of the interest-free period, you should localise your purchases to the time period just after the statement date - not always possible, but you can try and do it at least for those purchases where you can control the timing.