how do credit card companies calculate their interest charges?
Customers who pay their credit card bills in full by the statement demand date pay no interest at all, with a few exceptions. Those who do charge even when you clear the account include: Alliance & Leicester Diamond, Bank of Scotland ‘One’, Halifax Visa Balance, Lloyds TSB Asset Advance, Co-op Gold Advantage. Otherwise, for the months that you do not pay your bill in full by the due date, you are charged interest on the whole balance and not just the amount left unpaid. In these circumstances, most cards start charging interest from the date you make the purchase. Until now, John Lewis has been generous and charged no interest until the first of the month after the payment due date. But from October, with sister store Waitrose, it will backdate interest to the date of purchase. When you paid no interest until the due date, it made no difference whether you paid early or late in the month. But with interest clocking up from the day you shop, you can save interest by paying the bill when
