topic Chase Amazon—Payment allocation for promo and non-promo purchases? in Credit Cards

Chase Amazon—Payment allocation for promo and non-promo purchases?

Namaste7 — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 16:00:19 GMT

Are monthly payments (in excess of the minimum payment) allocated to the non-promotional balance before the promotional balances? I know that the Amazon Store Card (Synchrony) allows the cardholder to select the payment allocation method; however, I'm not seeing anything similar for the Chase Amazon Visa card.

Re: Chase Amazon—Payment allocation for promo and non-promo purchases?

simplynoir — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 16:31:33 GMT

With the CARD Act any remaining payment after the minimum due is applied to the higher interest balance on the card. So if the promotional balance is currently on a 0% APR rate then the remaining payment is then allocated to the non-promotional balance which is usually the purchase APR in this case. It's why it is strongly recommended that you do not make purchases with the BT card, mixing them is a very bad idea in most cases. Very easy to get in trouble that way especially if you don't make relatively high payments in relation to your minimum amount due and current purchases that need to be paid off

Re: Chase Amazon—Payment allocation for promo and non-promo purchases?

Namaste7 — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 17:05:11 GMT

@simplynoir wrote:
With the CARD Act any remaining payment after the minimum due is applied to the higher interest balance on the card. So if the promotional balance is currently on a 0% APR rate then the remaining payment is then allocated to the non-promotional balance which is usually the purchase APR in this case.

Thanks for the quick response. The above is helpful. Since the Chase Amazon card doesn't have a BT feature, fortunately that concern is not applicable.

The Amazon Store Card (via Synchrony) allows the cardholder to select the payment allocation option (as referenced below). I was hoping Chase had something similar.

That said, after reviewing the card member agreement, I found the following

Chase Amazon Agreement:
Minimum Payment: We will calculate the minimum payment as: (1) any past-due amounts; PLUS (2) any special payment obligations in connection with Flexible Financing Offers which require repayment of the balance over a pre-selected number of billing periods; PLUS (3) the larger of: (a) $35 (or total amount you owe if less than $35); or (b) the sum of: (i) 1% of the new balance (excluding any Flexible Financing Offer balances which require special payment obligations to ensure repayment of the balance over a pre-selected number of billing periods), PLUS (ii) any periodic interest charges and late fees we have billed you on the statement for which your minimum payment is calculated."

Based on the above, the Equal Pay option is calculated into the minimum payment (Point 2). Therefore, one can maintain an interest free balance by PIF'ing the non-promotional purchase total for the billing cycle plus minimum payment, which includes the Equal Payment amount.

Love to hear anyone's experience with this to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Re: Chase Amazon—Payment allocation for promo and non-promo purchases?

Remedios — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 17:13:30 GMT

@Namaste7 wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:
With the CARD Act any remaining payment after the minimum due is applied to the higher interest balance on the card. So if the promotional balance is currently on a 0% APR rate then the remaining payment is then allocated to the non-promotional balance which is usually the purchase APR in this case.
Thanks for the quick response. The above is helpful. Since the Chase Amazon card doesn't have a BT feature, fortunately that concern is not applicable.

The Amazon Store Card (via Synchrony) allows the cardholder to select the payment allocation option (as referenced below). I was hoping Chase had something similar.

That said, after reviewing the card member agreement, I found the following
Chase Amazon Agreement:
Minimum Payment: We will calculate the minimum payment as: (1) any past-due amounts; PLUS (2) any special payment obligations in connection with Flexible Financing Offers which require repayment of the balance over a pre-selected number of billing periods; PLUS (3) the larger of: (a) $35 (or total amount you owe if less than $35); or (b) the sum of: (i) 1% of the new balance (excluding any Flexible Financing Offer balances which require special payment obligations to ensure repayment of the balance over a pre-selected number of billing periods), PLUS (ii) any periodic interest charges and late fees we have billed you on the statement for which your minimum payment is calculated."
Based on the above, the Equal Pay option is calculated into the minimum payment (Point 2). Therefore, one can maintain an interest free balance by PIF'ing the non-promotional purchase total for the billing cycle plus minimum payment, which includes the Equal Payment amount.

Love to hear anyone's experience with this to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Yes, excess payments are applied towards financed purchase.

So, anything in excess of interest saving balance is applied towards financed purchases.