0% apr about to expire...

[jbishop1001]

My 2 Cap 1 cards have 0% apr through June. After, I am wondering if I continue to PIF before the due date, will I be charged interest? I haven't carried a balance in 2-3 months. Thinking about putting them in the sock drawer after my app spree next week, but not if I'm not charged interest if PIF. Otherwise, might consider balance transfer.

[NRB525]

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@jbishop1001 wrote:

My 2 Cap 1 cards have 0% apr through June. After, I am wondering if I continue to PIF before the due date, will I be charged interest? I haven't carried a balance in 2-3 months. Thinking about putting them in the sock drawer after my app spree next week, but not if I'm not charged interest if PIF. Otherwise, might consider balance transfer.

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As long as you are paying the full statement balance by the payment due date shown on the statement, typically 20-25 days after statement print, no you won't be charged interest.

If you leave $1 or more from the prior statement, not paid by that due date 20-25 days after statement print, then yes, they will charge interest going forward until you catch up the payments to be PIF.

Said another way, you do not have to pay before the statement cuts to avoid interest, you only need to ensure that you pay the amount the statement shows, by the due date of that statement payment.

This is what is known as the "grace period" on each statement, the time after the statement prints when you can pay the full amount on the statement to avoid interest costs.

[jbishop1001]

Thank you so much for the clarity. SoI actually have about 20 days after the statement cuts to pay that statement in full before the due date. That's great to know. 

And about the $1, if I did leave say $1 unpaid do I get charged interest for only the $1 or for the whole balance I owed? Thanks again!

[NRB525]

If you leave the $1 from statement #1, that statement #1 does not charge interest, but the interest rate clock on new charges after statement #1 printed, those will show interest on the immediate next statement, statement #2 a few days after you didn't pay the last $1 from statement #1.

It is possible to get back into zero interest charges mode, but then it takes a few billing cycles to ensure that all is right again.

[jbishop1001]

So wait. If $1 from statement #1 goes to statement 2... and there are new charges, I get charged interest on those new charges?? But if I had paid that $1, no interest would have been charged on the new purchases until statement 3?

So confusing, sorry. :/ I haven't had to deal with paying interest, yet. Except Fingerhut, but that's different.

And just to make sure - whatever balance I pay before the statement cuts doesn't get charged interest, even with a $1 balance?

[Anonymous]

As previously stated, as long as you pay the balance by the due date, there will be no interest.

[Anonymous]

There are two dates involved:  the due date and the statement date. And there are two different things that people can be concerned with: not paying interest, and making sure that X% reports. 

Out in the general population, people try (hopefully) to avoid paying interest. In order to avoid paying interest, one needs to pay last month's statement balance by this month's due date. 

If you are, in addition, wanting to make sure that a small % reports, then you want to make sure not to pay the entire outstanding amount by the time the statement date. 

Example: My Freedom due date is the 6th and statement date is the 9th. For years, my only concern was paying a statement balance by the following 6th. I'd usually be floating anywhere from $1000 to $4000. So for example if I charged $1500 before March 9th, it would be due (to avoid paying interest) by April 6th. But in the meantime, I'd be charging more stuff. So let's say between March 9th and April 6th, I charge $2000. I now owe Chase $3500. To avoid paying interest, I'd just have to pay them the $1500. But now that I'm trying to maximize my scores (and I have other cards reporting so I have no interest in this card reporting) I would need to pay the whole $3500 to get it to report $0. (Or if I wanted it to report $20 I could pay $3480.) Technically, I'd need to pay $1500 by the 6th and the additional $2000 before the 9th. 

HTH