I'm so fiscally uneducated and I have been worried about this for a couple of weeks so maybe someone can explain it to me so I don't have to call Chase and get upset and/or confused:
We charged the 11 day Christmas cruise on our Rewards card a couple of weeks ago, with the 6/0% a big reason we did it. We had a balance on the card, not huge but a balance nonetheless. When I make my payment next week, will they apply the payment to that balance so I can knock down that interest charge or will they automatically apply it to that big promotional charge?
Hey miatamel - we will see you on the cruise.
I called Chase to figure out exactly how they would apply payments if there was only one promotion (not the same scenario as the OP, since there were two promotions at the same time).
What they told me is you must make the minimum payment on the card, and that payment went against the promotion. Any payments above the minimum would be applied against the balance with the highest rate. So to not have any interest, I needed to pay the prior month purchase amount plus the minimum payment. My next statement had the original promotion amount less the minimum payment.
So if the promotion was $5,000, other purchases were $3,000, and the minimum payment was $200, I needed to make a payment of $3,200 to avoid interest.
I still don't think I completely understand how they do it, but I do know that I have not had to pay interest using this method.
The agent also warned me that as I got closer to the promotion end date, to call back to make sure I understood how payments were to be applied. As others have noted, if it is less than 60 days, then they use different rules to apply payments.
The good news is that we all have each other to help figure this out. While we are not getting the promotion that we thought (no interest for 6 months), I am getting some benefit, plus the Disney Rewards.
I would also recommend that you call them to make sure you get the same story. That way in case there is an issue, you can say you spoke with XXX on a certain date, and followed those rules. Credit Card companies usually don't adjust your balance if you told them you read it on the internet. Good luck to all.