Here's what my card agreement says:
"In general, interest charges begin to accrue from the day a transaction occurs. However, we will not charge you interest on any new transactions posted to the purchase Segment of your Account if you paid the total balance across all Segments of your Account in full by the due date on your statement each month."
I guess my confusion lies in whether or not it's considered that I've paid in full if I have paid the balance to $0 but then charge additional purchases.
The short answer is, "NO, it is not considered that you have paid in full if you have paid the balance to $0, but then charge additional purchases."
The credit card billing cycles are rigid. So the remaining "total balance" ($15 your wife spent) must be paid in full by the due date on your statement each month.
You can imagine the confusion that would exist if the credit card company restarted your billing cycle every time you paid off your current balance. Tyranny would ensue.
I'm going to give this a shot at explaining it in very basic terms for you, as I too found myself contemplating this a few years back. (Grid gave you the correct answer, but it may have been confusing to you).
We'll start with the facts. Your billing cycle ends on the 12th of the month. Now imagine the following.1) Imagine you charge $1,200 dollars on your credit card during the month leading up to January 12th.
2) You're billing cycle ends on Jan 12th and you have a $1,200 balance on your card. This is called your statement balance, and it represents the previous months purchases.
3) You're bill comes (or you look at it online) and it shows that you have a minimum payment due of $30.00 by the 7th of February.
4) You have to pay your bill and you now have 2 options. You can pay the minimum payment of $30, and therefore accrue the interest charged, starting from the date of the earliest transaction. OR pay the statement balance of $1200 in full on Feb. 7th and avoid all accrued interest for that billing cycle.
Obviously you will pay the bill in full so as to avoid any interest charges.
Now we'll use your situation as an example to better facilitate understanding.
1) You charged $1200 to your card. You don't want to pay interest on it, so you paid off the card early on the 8th of January. You expect your credit card bill to show a $0.00 balance owed when it arrives.
2) BUT then, dear wifey uses the card and charges $15.00 on the 10th of January two days before your billing cycle ends.
3) The bill comes and it shows that you have a balance on your card of $15.00.
4) You now have to pay your bill. You can pay the minimum payment due. Or you can pay the statement balance in full to avoid the interest charges.
5) You must pay the total amount of the statement balance in full on Feb 7th as to avoid your interest charges.
Now we'll give you a more complete scenarioWhen you check your credit card balance online. It shows you three things (most likely). It shows you #1 The statement balance. #2 The current Balance. #3 Minimum payment due.
You want to make sure that you pay your bill in full so that you don't accrue any interest. But you're not sure exactly what that means.
You check your online banking and you see that last month you charged $1200 to your credit card in the months leading up to Jan 12th. You know this because the credit card statement says, STATEMENT BALANCE: $1200.00
However, your Current Balance reads : $1215.00. You quickly realize that this is because your wife charged $15.00 on January 13th, the day after your billing cycle ended. The Current Balance reflects the previous months billing cycle, and all purchases up to the current date.
Now you're confused. You don't want to pay ANY interest at all, so what do you do? Do you pay off only the statement balance? Or do you pay the current balance in full?
To avoid any and all interest payments, the minimum necessary action is the following.
You must pay your statement balance in full on the due date, each and every month. So, you pay $1200. And no interest charges are charged to your credit card.
Now, between the end of your cycle on Jan 12th and the end of your new current cycle of Feb. 12th, you charge another $1000. (Your wife already spend $15.00, remember?)
Your bill comes and it reads:
Statement Balance: $1015.00
Current Balance: $1015.00
Minimum Payment Due: $30.00 on March 7th.
This reflects the $15.00 your wife charged, and the $1000.00 you charged.
You must now pay the Statement Balance of $1015.00 in full on the statement due date to avoid interest charges.
Simply pay the statement balance every month, and you'll never accrue interest charges. It may feel odd to you, because you know that you have an outstanding balance on your card. But this is ok.
Does that help?