ea Castlégar News Jonvary 6, 1988 Answer to Sunday Crossword Puzzle No, 294 Rial RIO} mT EM Alt Hi aah itl i i ful Hi as a= Zsa a Credit-card users misled [CTH] ue aa eae al 2 iS] m ae Veal DITA! CEMECIO om ar: ne Bion mt All IAIVIA| IRIE aie Mix BIN OR 101.10 ols) oat IN| NI BIA tt R ni ras SAIN Answer to SAID THE PL FINALLY CAME NUMY CED JANUARY SEWING SPECIAL TWO BASIC SEWING MACHINES SINGER JANOME By BRENDA DALGLISH Canadian Press Paul Odette was astonished when he looked at his credit-card bill. His bank was charging $38 interest on an unpaid balance of just $18. The Toronto stock brocker calculated that at the advertised interest rate of 16.5 per cent on the card, he should only owe about 51 cents in interest. When Odette complained to his bank, he learned a lesson which other credit-card users can profit from. lost bank and trust-company credit cards are free of interest only if the balance is paid in full each month. Card users who pay only a portion of their balance each month — about 50 per cent of users are in this category — are charged interest on all transactions from the day the transactions are recorded. NO FREE PERIOD In other words, contrary to what many people think, there is no interest-free period on credit-card transactions for a customer who doesn't pay his balance in full each month. In Odette's case, this meant that even though he paid $1,843 of his balance by the due date, leaving only $18 unpaid because he knew there was a credit coming to the card / account, the bank charged him interest on the full balance until his payment was received. He complained, the bank reversed the charge. Spokesmen for the banks and trust companies say such reversals are only granted in special circumstances, usually to customers who generally pay their bills in full. This billing practice, which was introduced by most financial institutions at the same time