0% Purchase Credit Card

[faitaccompli]

I am really confused (despite having read all the literature).

I have a 0% credit card (0% for purchases for 18 months)

DOes this mean I can spend up to my credit limit and I don't have to make any payments from the date I started spending (i.e. 1st January 2015) until the 18 months are up. Then, providing I pay it off in full before the 18th months are up, I will have paid no interest charges?

I have a few items I want to put onto it (I always pay my normal credit cards off each month) I have flights I want to book now for a holiday in December 2015 and want to pay for them over the next 10 months as they come in at £5k and I don't want to use my savings, plus an unexpectedly high (£1k) car service.

But I am not sure that if I spend in two separate occasions, whether this will be OK for the 0%, and when I hve to start paying it back - do I have to pay some back each month? I don't want to get landed with charges because I am being stupid in not understanding the rules of the program.

Any help much appreciated!

Right heres how it works.....

You apply for a 0% interest on purchases credit card. Your 0% starts from when you are approved for it. You will recieve the card within the week. If you apply online, it tells you straightaway whether you have been approved or not and it will also tell you your credit limit there and then. Usually credit card companies start you off at a limit of around 1200 to 3000.

They will increase your limit providing everything is going ok every 12 months.

When you buy something with your credit card, you will recieve a bill every month and it will tell you what the minimum amount is that you have to pay off each month. If you do not pay the minimum off each month then the credit card company cancels your 0% interest and interest is then added on every month from then on.

If you make the minimum payment every month and dont miss the payment or dont make a late payment then your 0% interest will carry on for the term of whatever you have signed up for.

Fab - so I have approval and it should be arriving in the next day or so - so assuming it is around 6000 initial purchases, I pay off £100 a month (or whatever is the minimum payment) and I don't get any other charges providing I pay this every month and have the whole lot paid off by the end of the 18 months?

They have given me a whopping credit limit - more than double what I actually need. So if I pay more some months, I can always revert back to the minimum amount if I want to?

THank you so much for your quick response. You should write the ts and cs as your response is way more comprehensible than the one from the bank!

Your card might be different, but I had one of these things and you had to make the minimum payment every month. The advantage over a normal credit card is that if you only make the minimum payment on a normal credit card, you are charged interest on the rest of the balance.

The only catch was the whole system goes out the window if you miss a minimum payment (normal interest kicks in if that happens and there may be other penalties). So, just make sure you make the minimum payments.

Op

Your understanding is exactly right

Normally the minimum payment is £25 a month. my credit card is 3000 limit and the minimum is 25 a month.

A few years ago i had another credit card on 0% and that was £1300 limit and the minimum payment was £25 then.

Also when your 0% term is up and if you still owe a lot on the card, you can apply for another 0% credit card and do a balance transfer.

This is were you transfer the whole amount up owe from one card to another. The new card will charge you a fee for doing this, its normally 3% of the amount you are transferring over.