AA Citicard - I was charged interest, no matter what!
Maybe this was reported elsewhere, but I just learned about it -- the hard way.
Looking over my bills, I notice some finance charges. When I called, I was told that they charge interest from the date of purchase, even if you pay in full. No more grace period.
I don't need the miles that badly. I'm cancelling immediately.
I'm pretty sure this was reported before, but this was the first time it hit home. Do all Citi cards do that?
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Choose ANY card, click Terms and Conditions link. Read: Grace period for repayment of the balance for purchases At least 20 days if you pay the total balance in full by the due date every billing period. If you do not, you will not get a grace period.
Did you make any transactions in a currency other than US Dollars? Citi charges a 3% fee, which is described as a finance charge, but it is not interest.
Been a Citi holder for over 5 yrs and only a very few of those months did I pay any finance charges. Maybe he was short a few bucks or even cents which triggered the FCs.
Sounds like this may be a foreigh currency charge - I had one of those show up on a bill, described as a "finance charge", and had no idea what it was until I called. I've not seen any finance charges on regular purchases in US $$.
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Programs: AA GLD 1.2MM, Marriott Silver; OMNIPat
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I've had an old (legacy) Citi AA Visa for about a decade, and a new Citi AA business mastercard for a year or two, and never paid any interest on either when paying the previous month in full.
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I went through all the gyrations found here. No balance transfers, no foreign exchange, no late payment.
I called and specifically asked, and the direct answer I got was finance charges due from date of transaction. When I read her the part on the back of the bill about grace period, I was told you still pay from date of transaction.
So I thanked her, hung up, and cancelled.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigLar
I went through all the gyrations found here. No balance transfers, no foreign exchange, no late payment.
I called and specifically asked, and the direct answer I got was finance charges due from date of transaction. When I read her the part on the back of the bill about grace period, I was told you still pay from date of transaction.
So I thanked her, hung up, and cancelled.
yes interest is from the date of transaction, if you
1. Go past the grace period, without paying the balance in full,
2. Go past the statement date without paying balance in full,
3. Did #1 or #2 in the previous month, even if you paid in full this month.
This is standard practice, and I have several of these cards and no issues with interest being charged.
OP posted in the CC forum that he had a balance transfer taken out, but the balance transfer was long paid off - no further details provided.
I suspect that he had made charges when the balance transfer was still open. He thought he paid in full each month, on the purchases - but his payments probably were being applied to the balance transfer instead of the purchases - again, another very general practice on virtually all "traditional" credit cards (for there are some new types introduced - such as AMEX interest protection card and Discover Motiva card).
