Credit-card guides

Keep the statement balance, minimum due and spending limit distinct. Define a repayment plan for the purchase and include charges before comparing it with a personal-loan quotation.

Find the statement closing balance, minimum payment and due date before looking at the available limit. These figures answer different questions: what the statement records, what payment the issuer requires and when it is due. Compare payments and purchases with your own records before deciding how much to repay.

An advertised interest-free period is conditional, not a promise that every transaction receives the maximum number of days. Read which purchases qualify and the balance that must be paid by the due date. A purchase late in a statement cycle has a different interval to the deadline from one made near the start.

A minimum payment is not a payoff plan by itself. To see the balance left, add posted interest, fees and new spending, then subtract the payment. Even a payment made on time can leave substantial debt. Use the actual statement figures and stop adding hypothetical future purchases to an otherwise fixed repayment estimate.

Count rewards you can actually redeem from spending you would make anyway. Subtract account costs, relevant interest and extra spending undertaken to qualify. An advertised maximum reward percentage is not the return on every rand you spend. Start with your own transactions and programme rules, then calculate a net amount.

Compare a personal-loan quote with a credit-card repayment plan for the same purchase and date. Add all required payments and charges, and state whether the card balance will be cleared or carried. A fixed loan instalment and a revolving card minimum are not directly comparable monthly prices.

Use your statement and the official product terms. Keep the date of each document. The examples in this section are labelled fictional, and named bank rules apply only to the cited product. No bank ranking, approval outcome or future rate is implied.

If you are comparing a loan with a card-funded purchase, first build both repayment plans. The table below lists loan provider destinations, not card offers or a bank ranking.