Which Credit Cards that offer interest free purchases for up to 55 days?

One of the more commonly found features on modern day credit cards is interest free days on purchases.

In it’s simplest form, this feature gives the card holder a certain amount of time after a purchase before they start incurring interest on the amount.

How the principle of an interest free credit card works

For example, on an interest free credit card, if John buys a shirt for $60 dollars, and has an interest free period of 55 days, he will then have 55 days in which to pay back the $60 dollars to the card, before he has any interest added.

It is very important to remember when using an interest free credit card, not to spend more than you can pay back within the allotted interest free period. As tempting as it may be to “splash the cash”, do remember that although this feature gives you a bigger window of opportunity in which to pay off the bill, it is rendered useless if you do not pay off the amount in full before the end of the interest free period. This is because if you fail to pay the full amount back in time, you then have to pay the interest, as well as the original balance.

One very important thing to note with an interest free credit card, and one thing that often catches people unawares is that even though you may have an interest free period of say 55 days, it s rare you will ever have the maximum 55 days to pay off your purchases. This is because the interest free period begins at the beginning of the billing period. So for example on day 1 of the billing and interest free period you buy something, and on the 30th day of the period you buy something else, BOTH purchases will have only 25 interest free days left.

In other words, the interest free period starts at the beginning of your billing period and not at the point you make each purchase. For that reason be sure to make a note of the beginning of each period so you know how long you have left at 0% interest.

Lets have a look at the top 10 cards available at the moment, and see what they have to offer in terms of their interest free periods:

• Aussie MasterCard – 55 Days interest free reverting to a
  9.99% p.a. for 12 months (reverts to 13.29% p.a.) purchase rate.
• St.George Vertigo MasterCard – 55 Days interest free reverting to an
  13.24% p.a. purchase rate.
• Citibank Clear Card – 55 Days interest free reverting to a
  15.99% p.a. purchase rate.
• Citibank Clear Platinum Credit Card – 55 Days interest free reverting to a
  11.99% p.a. purchase rate.
• HSBC Credit Card – 55 Days interest free reverting to a
  17.99% p.a. purchase rate.
• ANZ Balance Visa Credit Card – 55 Days interest free reverting to a
  14.49% p.a. purchase rate.
• ANZ Low Rate MasterCard - 55 Days interest free reverting to a
  0% p.a. for 3 months (reverts to 13.24% p.a.) purchase rate.
• AMEX Gold Ascent Credit Card – 44 Days interest free reverting to a
  0% p.a. for 6 months (reverts to 20.74% p.a.) purchase rate.
• ANZ First Visa Credit Card – 44 Days interest free reverting to an
  0% p.a. for 3 months (reverts to 19.24% p.a.) purchase rate.

Check out today's featured offers:

Westpac Low Rate	Citibank Clear Platinum	Qantas AMEX Discovery	ANZ Platinum
0% p.a. for 6 months on purchases & balance transfers	2.9% p.a. for 12 months on balance transfers	$0 annual fee Up to 10,000 Bonus QFF Points	0% p.a. for 6 months on purchases & balance transfers

Subscribe to our newsletter and get "The Ultimate Guide to Balance Transfers"

Popular Credit Card Offers

			Interest Rate (p.a.)	Balance Transfer Rate (p.a.)	Annual fee	Cash Advance Rate (p.a.)
	Westpac Low Rate Card - 0% Offer	A credit card with a low rate offer on both balance transfers and purchases, plus a low annual fee.	0% for 6 months (reverts to 13.49% )	0% for 6 months	$45	21.49%
	Citibank Clear Platinum Card	Competitive interest rate on purchases and balance transfers offer.	11.99%	2.9% for 12 months	$99	21.74%
	St George Vertigo	Take advantage of this great offer from St.George with a low rate on purchases and a low balance transfer offer.	13.24%	0.99% for 12 months	$55	21.49%
	ANZ Platinum Credit Card	An introductory interest rate offer on balance transfers and purchases, plus a $0 first year annual fee.	0% for 6 months (reverts to 19.24% )	0% for 6 months	$0 annual fee for the first year( $87 thereafter)	20.99%