Haven't been charged a finance charge in months

[Insomniator]

..or maybe I'm the idiot... we'll see

So I have a PNC Visa card that has a 1250 dollar limit. Towards the end of college it would hover around a 6-700 dollar balance at the end of the month, and I would be charged a 10-15 dollar *finance charge* a few days after each statement. This was ~7 months ago.

So anyway over the summer I got an internship and now have a job so I've paid between 300 and 700 a month every month since then but my overall balance has never been at 0... so shouldn't I still be charged interest?

And whats with only being charged like 10 bucks with a 700 dollar balance?

I am fully prepared to be considered FAIL at cc's.. at least I'll learn something...

 

[JTsyo]

Was the finance charge due to the fact that you weren't making the min repayment? Since you are now paying it, the charge is no longer applied. Are you sure the interest isn't just being applied to your overall balance? How were you paying the finance charges?

 

[Insomniator]

I just pay like 200 bucks a few times a month online. Finance charges were just added to the current balance of the card. I guess I'll just pay it off to 0...should be doing that anyway and I'll have a better idea of what is going on.

My statement actually says I have a 16% APR but my APR for the current period is 0%.. so maybe I'm still under some 0% promotion? I've had the card for at least a year by now I thought...

 

[dullard]

You gave us too little information - which is probably why you are confused, you just don't have that info.

You don't have to have a $0 balance to pay no interest. That is one of the biggest misconceptions about credit cards. That is true even if you have a massive interest rate on your credit card. In reality, to avoid fees, interest, or finance charges, all you have to pay is the total amount due (or more) that was written on your previous credit card statement. By the time you pay your CC bill, even if you try to pay in full, you'll likely have charged more. Thus, you may never have a $0 balance, yet you are always paying in full each month. The only difference is that the non $0 balance is for NEXT month.

So, either you entered a 0% interest period without knowing or you actually paid at least the amount due on one of your monthly bills. Since you seem to be randomly paying $200 at a time, it is quite possible that you paid more than you needed and you were prepaying next month's bill. If that is the case, then you'd also won't be charged finance charges.

 

[ElFenix]

i think it's more likely that they're going to dullard you and you'll be talking to 10 different people, all telling you how you're a dirtbag bankrupt

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
i think it's more likely that they're going to dullard you and you'll be talking to 10 different people, all telling you how you're a dirtbag bankrupt

😉

I may have got that solved after bitching to enough people. But I'm waiting for confirmation in writing before updating my thread.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: ElFenix
i think it's more likely that they're going to dullard you and you'll be talking to 10 different people, all telling you how you're a dirtbag bankrupt

😉

I may have got that solved after bitching to enough people. But I'm waiting for confirmation in writing before updating my thread.

Whoa, I missed that thread. Link?

 

[IEC]

Credit cards are money in my pocket 😀

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: kranky
Whoa, I missed that thread. Link?

Wachovia sucks.