Citi charged interest after PIF with BT

[parakleet]

I recently did several BTs and finally have all of my CC debt on 0% for at least 15 months. Obviously I'm thrilled since it's going to save me tons in interest. I paid down my Citi Amex card down to $0 with the BT and I also made another payment for some purchases I had made after the last statement. Well, imagine my surprise when I got my new statement after I thought I had PIF and it had a balance of $14! I know I had SD'd the card after PIF so I was very confused about where this $14 came from and on the statement, its labeled as an interest fee. I was confused since I had PIF the previous statement balance so I didn't know how I had incurred the interest. I called Citi and it turns out that because I had carried a balance from the previous statement, there was a revolving interest (?) fee that would accrue until I PIF. Honestly, I don't know if I really understand this but basically, if you PIF every month, you will be able to take advantage of the grace period but if you don't, you will still accrue interest which will post in the next statement even if you PIF. The csr was nice about it though and agreed to waive the interest charge since I didn't know about this particular practice. I did BTs for other cards as well so I'll be curious to see if I see a balance on the other statements since I had been carrying a balance for quite a few months prior to the BTs. I just wanted to share my experience with everyone and hope someone finds it helpful. It never hurts to contact the csr to inquire and if you get someone nice, they'll apparently waive it for you! The csr did say that it'll take a couple of days before the credit posts to my account so I guess I'll know for sure then. But she said that she's submitted that and I have no reason to believe she was feeding me a story. At least I hope not.

[KIPPIE12]

You must pay in full each and every month to avoid this.  Dual cycle billing, where both billing periods are subject to finance charges if not paid in full.  This happened to me recently with FNBO, where i had a balance not paid in full, and paid off later, thus charging me finance charge.  It didn't bother me to run a balance, especially for a large purchase to stretch out over a few months, and to aid in util.  It ticked me off though when i went to pay the new balance in full, and having finance charge appear on the next cycle.  Some banks must now be doing this??

[enharu]

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@KIPPIE12 wrote:

You must pay in full each and every month to avoid this.  Dual cycle billing, where both billing periods are subject to finance charges if not paid in full.  This happened to me recently with FNBO, where i had a balance not paid in full, and paid off later, thus charging me finance charge.  It didn't bother me to run a balance, especially for a large purchase to stretch out over a few months, and to aid in util.  It ticked me off though when i went to pay the new balance in full, and having finance charge appear on the next cycle.  Some banks must now be doing this??

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Read your terms and conditions.
There's a mention of how long the grace period is for it to be interest-free.

Most cards have grace period of 23-30 days.

For example lets assume your grace period is 23 days. You made the charge on day 1, but you made your payment on the 24th day. You will then owe interests.

[maiden_girl]

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@enharu wrote:

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@KIPPIE12 wrote:

You must pay in full each and every month to avoid this.  Dual cycle billing, where both billing periods are subject to finance charges if not paid in full.  This happened to me recently with FNBO, where i had a balance not paid in full, and paid off later, thus charging me finance charge.  It didn't bother me to run a balance, especially for a large purchase to stretch out over a few months, and to aid in util.  It ticked me off though when i went to pay the new balance in full, and having finance charge appear on the next cycle.  Some banks must now be doing this??

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Read your terms and conditions.
There's a mention of how long the grace period is for it to be interest-free.

Most cards have grace period of 23-30 days.

For example lets assume your grace period is 23 days. You made the charge on day 1, but you made your payment on the 24th day. You will then owe interests.

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Yea I'd check your terms. Most CCCs grace period is typically 25 days but double check.