Nope! If you pay off your credit card each month in full, you'll pay no interest. You'd be surprised how many people think this!
These rules are in place to help you understand the cost of borrowing. So don鈥檛 get mad at us. But yeah, we agree: there鈥檚 room for improvement. So we鈥檙e trying to do a better job explaining what this all really means so you know exactly what you鈥檙e getting鈥攊n clear, simple terms. No surprises. Fewer angry comments online.
Good question. We get this a lot. It鈥檚 all pretty confusing. That big number you鈥檙e seeing, it鈥檚 called a Representative APR. It鈥檚 an annualised percentage that includes the interest rate and fees, and it鈥檚 designed to reflect the total cost of borrowing for a majority of people. It鈥檚 a bit of a mouthful鈥 so here it is broken down:
Here鈥檚 an example using some imaginary numbers. Let鈥檚 say you borrow 拢100 with a 20% interest rate. Now, you might think that means you鈥檒l pay 拢20 every month, but that鈥檚 not how it works. That 20% is annualised, meaning it鈥檚 spread out over the whole year. So if you borrow for just one month, they take that rate and turn it into a monthly one, which is about 1.5%. So, that鈥檚 拢1.53 in interest, not 拢20.
Really can't un-see it, can you?聽Sorry about that.