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Grace Period
Explanation:
The time during which you can pay your monthly credit card bill before interest begins to accrue. The Grace Period generally lasts for 20-30 days after your bill is assessed. Not all credit cards offer a Grace Period, and none do when you are revolving a balance, in which case purchases begin to incur interest immediately.
Be wary of credit cards that do not have a grace period (i.e. 0 days) because even if you pay your bill in full every month, you will accrue interest charges every day that you have a balance on the card.
Only purchases have a grace period. Cash Advances and Balance Transfers do not have a grace period and interest charges therefore get assessed immediately.
Our Thoughts:
If you do not plan to pay your credit card balance in full every month, then you should not care about the grace period since you will get assessed interest charges based on your daily balance, regardless of what the grace period is. If you do plan to pay your credit card balance in full every month, then you should care about the grace period since it represents the number of days you will have to pay your bill in full without triggering a interest charge.
The Grace Period also represents a prime reason why you should use separate credit cards to revolve debt and make everyday purchases. Doing so lowers your average daily balance (what your interest rate gets applied to) and allows you to avoid incurring unnecessary interest costs on purchases that you will pay for in full within the billing period.