Fees and interest on using “the entire card balance” without paying by the due date

Two bankers said that banks impose fees and interest on credit cards whose owners use “the entire balance” available on them, without making payment before the date of issuance of the account statement.

They confirmed that this procedure is within the terms and conditions that the customer signs, whether he chooses to pay 100% of the available balance or the minimum of 5%.

They advised to take into account the specified dates for payment to avoid fees and interest, or to contact the customer service center and request that the card be paid in fixed installments due to the inability to pay regularly, as the last solution avoids the customer being charged any fees or interest that were not agreed upon during the installment plan.

This came in response to complaints from bank customers, who told Emirates Today that their banks impose exaggerated fees starting from 280 dirhams to 750 dirhams, and sometimes a deducted percentage of the value of the card balance is imposed, which is deducted directly on the day of the due date itself without waiting for the end of the month. today.

They confirmed that these fees appear in the account statement as the full balance usage fee, demanding that banks calculate the full due day and not impose the fee until the next day, as transferring the amount to the card account sometimes takes time despite transferring it on the same due day to make the payment.

The banker, Tamer Abu Bakr, said: “If the customer uses 100% of his credit card balance and pays the full amount before the new account statement is issued, no fees or interest will be charged. As for delaying the last day or exceeding the specified date, it is normal to impose fees and interest that vary from one bank to another, and according to the value of the card.”

He added: “The customer must avoid delaying the payment of the payment due for the last day, and do so before sufficient time to ensure that the amount is credited to the card account. If the customer is unable to pay, he can contact the customer service center and request the card to be paid in installments for easy payments, for a specific period, which should not be long to avoid imposing fees or interest, the longer the payment period.

For his part, the banker, Mustafa Ahmed, said: “The customer signs the terms and conditions that the bank sets for using the credit card, including the fees imposed if he uses the entire card balance and does not pay on time, but some customers are late in paying, so he must inform The bank was given a period of time beforehand so that it could develop a suitable installment plan, avoiding imposing fees or interest.”

He added: “There is also an important point, which is that the customer should not wait for the last time and make the payment or wait for the day the account statement itself is issued, because many transfers take time to appear in the card account, especially if they are between two different banks, so customers must pay close attention to this point.” .

He pointed out that “the specified due date is considered the last day of payment, and the customer has a period of more than a month during which he can pay, so why should he wait until the last due day until he makes the payment?”

• The procedure comes within the terms and conditions that the customer signs.