Tesco credit card - notice of variation - interest up front ?

BoltonMinx

Hi all

Being a good little minx, having received my statement from Tesco credit card, I scanned it as normal and noticed a lovely little slip containing a notice of variation.

I would normally never read these but have taken the money diet to heart and read every last boring detail.

From 1st October 2005 it lists a new interest charging information which I'm pretty sure means you are charged the full interest with each statement then if you pay in full you get the interest refunded... BUT I could be wrong - can someone interpret ?

Interest Charging Information

All purchase transactions that do not benefit from being interest free will be charged interest up until the day on which the transaction balance is repaid. The Interest Charging Information in the Summary Box [provided n statements] will be updated as follows:

Interest Charging Information

The periods over which interest is charged are as follows

Purchases................ - From transaction date.............. - Until repaid in full*
Cash Advances............- From transaction date.............. - Until repaid in full*
Balance Transfers........ - From date debited to your account - Until repaid in full*
Cheques.................. - From date debited to your account - Until repaid in full*
Money Transfers.......... - From date debited to your account - Until repaid in full*

*If you pay the balance in full, any interest charge for the period from the previous statement to the date of the full repayment will be debited the following month.

If the account is not fully cleared, interest will be charged on the average daily balance until the full payment is made and credited to your account. Therefore the longer you take to make a payment, the more interest will be charged.

P.S - I run my card thusly, I have a minimum payment DD just in case BUT I always pay via debit card leaving it until 3 working days before it's due as it takes 2 working days to clear. So I never pay interest but I do have a balance, if that makes any sense.

I.E my account isnt 0, but I pay what was owed on the last statement, hopefully taking advantage of the maximum 6 week interest free by making any large purchases around this time of the month when my statement is issued.

With this new method I'm guessing I'll be stung for interest and then get it back the next month ? I can see it being a lot of hassle as mistakes will inevitably be made - am I right ? Is this method normal ? .com

Bossyboots

I am not sure you have understood that right, but I am equally not sure I have.

I think the point being made is that instead of paying interest from the statement date (as it has been) or date applied to the account, in future interest will be payable from the transaction date.

The only purchase I am aware of that does not attract an interest free period is when you buy currency.

As for the clause about debiting interest the following month, this is for interest accruing between transaction and statement where you have not paid off the full amount. That sum will be applied to the next statement, meaning that the interest charged on the current statement may not be the whole amount of interest applicable to those transactions. Interest will be accruing until payment is made.

For the last clause, this only applies after the 56 day interest free period.

You should not be stung for any interest if you continue to pay your bill in full every month. However, if I were you I would start paying at least a day earlier that you are at present.

Maisie

Do you know you can pay the Tesco cc bill over the phone (to customer services Tesco) by debit card.

You can pay it up to the day before it is due

jnd

Maisie wrote:

Do you know you can pay the Tesco cc bill over the phone (to customer services Tesco) by debit card.

You can pay it up to the day before it is due

Actually you can pay on the exact due date. I've done it this way for the last few years (since getting the card). The recorded message states the payment will be applied from the date it is paid and it is. I've never been charged a late fee or interest.

bearfreeman

Instead of calling the costly Tesco 0845 nr. to pay your CC bill, you can phone a UK 01268 nr. if you look at the back of your Tesco credit card; handy if you can get free calls, but the cost of this call which is intended for overseas callers is re-imbursed anyway.

Off topic I know but want free calls, not even a connection charge? https://www.voipcheap.co.uk/en/index.html sign up and you can make free 2 minute calls to 'normal' 01*** nrs [also to Ireland & Nederland nrs.]. Pay £1 [which can also be used for 0845 & overseas nrs.] and the 2 minute limit is extended to a more useful 1 hour. You'll need a PC & headphones/boom mike to use VoIPCheap. If you get a message saying an upgrade is available beware. I downloaded this and was knocked back down to a measly 10 minutes.....

BexTech

bearfreeman wrote:

Instead of calling the costly Tesco 0845 nr. to pay your CC bill, you can phone a UK 01268 nr. if you look at the back of your Tesco credit card; handy if you can get free calls, but the cost of this call which is intended for overseas callers is re-imbursed anyway.

Off topic I know but want free calls, not even a connection charge? https://www.voipcheap.co.uk/en/index.html sign up and you can make free 2 minute calls to 'normal' 01*** nrs [also to Ireland & Nederland nrs.]. Pay £1 [which can also be used for 0845 & overseas nrs.] and the 2 minute limit is extended to a more useful 1 hour. You'll need a PC & headphones/boom mike to use VoIPCheap. If you get a message saying an upgrade is available beware. I downloaded this and was knocked back down to a measly 10 minutes.....

Or https://www.voipbuster.com as this allows free calls to many more countries.