Credit card interest is a fee you pay when you carry a balance on your credit card. Consider it a charge paid to a lender for allowing you to borrow money.
Credit card interest is important since it raises the cost of everything you buy with a card. Even the average credit card interest rate is higher than 18%, which is pretty high. The higher the APR on your credit card and the less you pay toward your amount each month, the more credit card interest you will eventually pay.
When is interest levied on credit cards?
Interest is only charged if you do not pay your bill balance in full by the due date.
At the conclusion of each payment cycle, you’ll receive a statement detailing how much you owe. Your purchases remain interest-free at that moment. If you do not pay the whole amount by the due date on your statement, the unpaid debt is carried over to the following billing cycle and becomes a revolving balance. Your purchases are then subject to interest.
Credit Card Interest Rates
There are several forms of interest, and your issuer will almost certainly charge different interest rates for different transactions. The majority of the interest rates listed below are variable interest rates, which means they rise and fall in response to market conditions. While fixed interest rates for credit cards are feasible, they are quite unusual and are typically encountered with mortgages and personal loans.
Here are the various credit card interest rates to be aware of:
- Purchase APR: This rate applies to credit card purchases.
- APR for debt transfers from other credit cards and loans: This rate applies to balance transfers from other credit cards and loans.
- Introductory APR: This rate is only available for a limited time and is not available from all lenders, but cardholders who obtain an introductory APR often pay no interest on purchases or balance transfers for 15 to 21 months.
- APR for cash advances: This rate applies when you use a credit card to obtain cash and is frequently higher than the purchase APR.
- Penalty APR: This rate occurs if you do not pay your credit card bill by the due date and is often more significant than the other interest rates charged by your credit card.
What factors influence the interest rate on a credit card?
If a credit card has a variable APR, which is nearly usually the case, the interest rate is almost certainly linked to the prime rate. The prime rate is used by credit card companies to calculate a range of APRs for their card products. Then, based on your credit score, credit history, and other characteristics, interest rates are given to you.
When you apply for a credit card, your issuer will do a hard credit inquiry (also known as a “hard pull”) and check your credit score. This will allow it to view your payment history, quantities outstanding, number of credit accounts, and other important information about your credit usage.
Your issuer will use this information to determine whether or not to offer you a credit card and your credit limit and interest rates. Higher credit scores typically qualify for reduced loan rates. A decent credit card interest rate is often lower than the national average, which is approximately 18 percent.
How to Work Out Credit Card Interest
If you want to do your own arithmetic, here’s how to calculate credit card interest:
- On your monthly credit card statement, you may find your current APR and amount.
- To calculate your daily interest rate, divide your credit card APR by 365 (the number of days in a year).
- Divide your balance by the daily interest rate.
- Calculate your daily interest rate by multiplying it by the number of days in your payment cycle.
Assume you have a 16.99 percent APR on your card and owe $2,000 on it. When this APR is divided by 365, the daily interest rate is 0.046 percent. When you increase your $2,000 credit card debt by 0.00046, you get $0.92. That’s how much interest your lender charges every day on your current debt – throughout the length of a 30-day payment cycle, you’ll pay $27.60 in interest charges.
These calculations, of course, are only valid provided you do not add to your credit card amount. If you make new purchases on your credit card before the end of your billing cycle, you must calculate your average balance throughout the whole billing cycle.
How to Pay Less Interest on Credit Cards
Using a credit card offers numerous advantages, especially if you are attempting to establish credit or receive incentives – but interest charges may cost you a lot of money in the long run.
With that in mind, your best chance is to prevent or reduce the impact of interest costs.
The following tactics will help you save money on credit card interest now and in the future:
- Each month, pay your credit card balance in full. Most credit cards have a grace period that begins on the final day of your billing cycle and ends on the day your payment is due. You will not be charged interest on purchases if you pay off your bill balance before the grace period expires. Most credit cards allow you to set up auto-pay so you never have to worry about missing a payment.
- Pay your bill in advance. You do not have to wait until the end of your monthly cycle to make a payment. In reality, you may decrease revolving balance interest costs by paying your credit card account on time and lowering your average daily balance throughout the month.
- Apply for a balance transfer credit card. Do you already have high-interest debt? Consider shifting your amount to a credit card with a 0% introductory APR term. The top debt transfer credit cards provide 0% interest for up to 21 months before the usual APR kicks in.
- Choose a credit card with a low-interest rate. Before applying for a credit card, consider the various interest rates. Look for cards with lower-than-average interest rates, or even a 0% APR credit card that allows you to avoid paying interest on purchases for a limited period.