Can this be right? Credit card interest charge

[Creditschmedit]

i have been charged a fair whack of interest on my credit card. Before I ring up and make a complete idiot out of myself, please can someone help me work out if the charge is correct. I think I’ve been charged too much. Please don’t come at me; I know I’ve been a bit stupid and should have paid it all off in one go.

My statement on 28th Aug was £1534.69 and payment was due by 12th Sept. On 2nd Sept I paid off £750 and then on 13th Sept I paid off another £722. I also got a refund from a shop on 12th Sept of £19.97 and another one of £43.97 on 7th Sept.

I appreciate I was accidentally a day late with the £722 payment so this may have incurred a little bit of interest. My card is apparently 24.49% APR.

My understanding is that store refunds do count as payments towards your overall balance (why wouldn’t they). So by the end of Friday 13th Sept the payments to my card would have been 750+722+19.97+43.97=£1535.94 which is just over a pound more than I owed. As I said though I appreciate I was one day late in the £722 payment so may have been charged a little interest on this.

however I’ve just got my statement and have been charged £56.27 interest? Can this be right? I don’t see how it can be that much. I don’t have a late payment charge as the £750 payment was made before the due date of 12th sept.

Any help much appreciated! Thanks

This.

Sorry, just read the whole thread. Everyone deals with finances differently, and it sounds like you have an updated plan. Well done on getting the interest waived.

Depending on the card issuer, you should be able to set up a DD for the full balance to be taken on or just before the due date with this payment being automatically adjusted to take into account any payments you’ve made in the period between the statement being generated and the due date. This at least gives a fail safe, that if you do forget or miscalculate the amount you’re paying, anything left outstanding from the statement will be collected automatically and no risk of being stung with interest.

Having got myself into a right financial mess in the past, I now do this. I use my card similarly to you - paying in full, shuffling cash from various accounts to cover large payments etc - but this approach means I’m guaranteed not to mess up and either miss a payment or incur interest. My bank also notifies me of the DD amount 2 days before it’s debited, which acts as a reminder to make sure I transfer enough into my current account to cover it. Often the DD doesn’t get collected as I’ve already cleared the statement balance, but it just removes the element of risk.

The only way credit cards work is if you pay them in full every month. You get clobbered otherwise.

With respect, I’m obviously aware of this. If you read my posts, you can see this.