Not about sales but about shopping

Credit Cards: How to maximise your interest free credit period

I am a very careful spender because money is so hard to earn and so easy to spend! More so in these recent times which have seen most of us tightening our belts.

I thought I’d offer a little tip on how I maximise the use of my credit cards’ interest free credit period.

The next time you get your credit card bill, look at the date the statement was issued. Let’s say its June 11. This bill will be for all your credit card charges in the month of May until 11 June.

Now, take notice of the due date for payment. This is usually about 20 days after the date the statement is printed and sent out to you. So, in our example, the due date for payment will be July 1.

There are 2 things to bear in mind:-

(1) The date the statement is issued is fixed. It might differ by one or two days but its usually about there.

(2) The due date for payment is also relatively fixed differing only by a day or two.

Therefore, the date of issue of the credit card bill is your cut off date for billing.

Therefore, in our example, if you make a purchase after 11 June you will fall into the next billing cycle which will be issued only on 11 July and due for payment on 1 August. This effectively gives you nearly 2 whole months of interest free credit!

What I do is note all my cut off dates for my credit card bills and make my purchases accordingly. iF I have a big purchase to make, I do it this way because I then then up with 2 pay checks to cover my purchase. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself and see! :)

It takes a while to get a grip of the system but once you do, its easy to maximise the interest free period of your credit card. Of course, this only works if you pay off your total outstanding every month. If not, you’re back to paying interest from day one! There are benefits to paying off your bill every month - you save on interest rates too. But I’ll write about it another day :)

September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Finances | 4 Comments 

Free Stila gifts from Strawberrynet!

Strawberrynet has received a top 3 rating on BizRate and they are sharing the good news by offering free gifts with every order!

That’s right, on top of the free shipping and free gift for new orders, every order will now be entitled to receive a free Stila Push Up All Over Colour, Stila Lip Glaze Stick or Stila Mineral Matte Powder Eyeshadow with every purchase over US$50.

Remember, loyal customers get your loyalty discounts and if you purchase over 3 products you get an additional 5% off!

Now, whats there to stop you from shopping at Strawberrynet?! :) Click on the banner below to be taken to the site. While stocks last and valid until 30 September 2008


September 23, 2008 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Free Rice and Cooking Oil?

Nearly free anyway.

If you are an Esso Mobil Smiles card member, you can now redeem a 5kg pack of rice (900 Smiles points) or 2kg bottle of cooking oil (400 Smiles points) from Mobil and Tigermart. So, if you have enough points, you are getting the rice and cooking oil practically free!

I’ve got my points so I’m heading out to a Mobil or Tigermart soon. While stocks last and until 31 October 2008 only so hurry!

September 19, 2008 | Filed Under Promotions & Offers | 2 Comments 

Do you accept all pre-approved credit cards?

I recently received an unexpected upgrade to one of my credit cards from a regular run of the mill card to a gold card. It was unsolicited and in my mind, unwarranted but it came anyway with an upgrade to my credit limit too. All I had to do was to call up the card issuing company and activate the card. Perhaps, I keep Excellent Credit with this bank as I pay off all my bills on time most of the time.

So, did I accept it? No I did not. The reason is simply because I have no need for yet another gold credit card nor for a rise in my credit limit. Also, I was unhappy that the bank was only going to transfer across a certain percentage of my accumulated points. It would seem therefore that I was using my points to “buy” an upgrade to my credit card which any other bank would have offered without restrictions anyway!

This isn’t the first time I’m receiving a pre-approved credit card. I’ve rejected all previous cards too for various reasons. The key reason for all my rejections is that I already have sufficient credit cards for my needs and I want to control my credit spending limits. Do you accept all the pre-approved credit cards you receive? It sure is tempting!

September 15, 2008 | Filed Under Finances | Leave a Comment