Alice Musyoka is a B2B Content Strategist, Copywriter, and Children’s Author. She’s been writing professionally for over 10 years and has worked with some of the world’s top brands. Her superpower is writing compelling content that resonates with rea.
Alice Musyoka ContributorAlice Musyoka is a B2B Content Strategist, Copywriter, and Children’s Author. She’s been writing professionally for over 10 years and has worked with some of the world’s top brands. Her superpower is writing compelling content that resonates with rea.
Written By Alice Musyoka ContributorAlice Musyoka is a B2B Content Strategist, Copywriter, and Children’s Author. She’s been writing professionally for over 10 years and has worked with some of the world’s top brands. Her superpower is writing compelling content that resonates with rea.
Alice Musyoka ContributorAlice Musyoka is a B2B Content Strategist, Copywriter, and Children’s Author. She’s been writing professionally for over 10 years and has worked with some of the world’s top brands. Her superpower is writing compelling content that resonates with rea.
Contributor Toni Perkins-Southam Lead EditorToni is a points and miles enthusiast who has been leveraging loyalty programs to travel around the world (for nearly free) with her husband and their four young children. She’s passionate about sharing travel tips so that others can not only feel in.
Toni Perkins-Southam Lead EditorToni is a points and miles enthusiast who has been leveraging loyalty programs to travel around the world (for nearly free) with her husband and their four young children. She’s passionate about sharing travel tips so that others can not only feel in.
Toni Perkins-Southam Lead EditorToni is a points and miles enthusiast who has been leveraging loyalty programs to travel around the world (for nearly free) with her husband and their four young children. She’s passionate about sharing travel tips so that others can not only feel in.
Toni Perkins-Southam Lead EditorToni is a points and miles enthusiast who has been leveraging loyalty programs to travel around the world (for nearly free) with her husband and their four young children. She’s passionate about sharing travel tips so that others can not only feel in.
Updated: Jun 17, 2024, 1:49pm
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Getty
Want to avoid paying interest on your credit card purchases? Get a credit card with a grace period. As long as you can cover the bill every month, you’ll never have to pay interest fees again.
The credit card grace period is the time window between the end of a billing cycle and the payment due date. If you pay your full balance by the end of the grace period, you won’t get charged interest on new purchases made during that time. But your grace period can also be forfeited if you pay your bill late or carry a balance now and then.
Check your credit card agreement to find out if your card offers a grace period. The information is usually included in the section titled “interest rates and interest charges.”
No single credit card is the best option for every family, every purchase or every budget. We've picked the best credit cards in a way designed to be the most helpful to the widest variety of readers.
Grace periods vary by card issuer, but the legally required minimum is 21 days. Some card issuers give you more time; say 24 days. Some cards may even have a grace period of 55 days, but they all will vary between issuer and card type.
The grace period starts on the day your billing cycle closes (when your statement is generated) and ends on the payment due date.
During the grace period, you won’t get charged interest on purchases if you pay the full balance by the due date. But if you carry a balance each month, you’ll pay interest on it.
It’s worth noting that not all credit cards have a grace period. And even if your card has one, you may still pay interest on some transactions, such as cash advances, from the day of purchase.
Credit cards usually have monthly billing cycles. The billing cycle is the period between billing statements and varies by issuer. It ranges between 28 to 31 days and has two important dates:
If you fail to pay your full credit card balance, you’ll lose your grace period and rack up late fees and interest charges—due to sky-high interest rates. This money can quickly add up and make it harder to pay off your debt.
If you consistently fail to pay your full balance, your credit score will go down and your account may be sent to a collection agency. This will negatively impact your credit for years to come.
Pay your full credit card balance every month and you’ll owe zero interest. If you can’t, try to pay as much as possible over the minimum payment due , as this could save you a substantial amount of money in the long run.
Pay your bill in full and on time every month to maximize the credit card grace period. Don’t pay one month and default the next. You’ll lose your grace period for the month you don’t pay in full and at least the month after.
If you can’t make the full payment by the due date, make at least the minimum payment, but more if possible. You’ll lose the grace period and start paying interest, but you won’t pay a late fee.
No single credit card is the best option for every family, every purchase or every budget. We've picked the best credit cards in a way designed to be the most helpful to the widest variety of readers.
Was this article helpful?
Share your feedback Send feedback to the editorial team Thank You for your feedback! Something went wrong. Please try again later. Find the Best Credit Card
By Jon Nickel-D'Andrea
By Kelly-Ann Franklin
By Elina Geller, CPA
By Ajay Jain
By Jenn Underwood
By Chris Butsch
Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. Your financial situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances. We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals or to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.
ContributorAlice Musyoka is a B2B Content Strategist, Copywriter, and Children’s Author. She’s been writing professionally for over 10 years and has worked with some of the world’s top brands. Her superpower is writing compelling content that resonates with readers and ranks on search engines. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
© 2024 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Are you sure you want to rest your choices?The Forbes Advisor editorial team is independent and objective. To help support our reporting work, and to continue our ability to provide this content for free to our readers, we receive compensation from the companies that advertise on the Forbes Advisor site. This compensation comes from two main sources. First, we provide paid placements to advertisers to present their offers. The compensation we receive for those placements affects how and where advertisers’ offers appear on the site. This site does not include all companies or products available within the market. Second, we also include links to advertisers’ offers in some of our articles; these “affiliate links” may generate income for our site when you click on them. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impact any of the editorial content on Forbes Advisor. While we work hard to provide accurate and up to date information that we think you will find relevant, Forbes Advisor does not and cannot guarantee that any information provided is complete and makes no representations or warranties in connection thereto, nor to the accuracy or applicability thereof. Here is a list of our partners who offer products that we have affiliate links for.
