Many people truly understand how credit card interest is calculated. When they do learn how their purchases incur interest, it often strikes them as unfair. Chase Blueprint, which is available on a number of their most popular credit cards including Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire and Chase Slate, aims to help consumers better manage credit card debt by giving them more vision into and control over interest expenses.
How Credit Cards Normally Work
When a customer first charges items to a credit card, interest payments can be avoided by paying the entire balance in full and on time. Technically, interest is being incurred, but it is forgiven when the full balance is paid off during the grace period; the time before the due date.
However, if a customer fails to pay the complete balance, even by one cent, that customer will owe interest on each purchase from the day of the transaction. From then on, interest continues to accrue on all new and existing purchases on the account until they are completely paid off. Only then is the customer eligible to re-establish an interest free grace period on his or her purchases.
How Chase Blueprint Changes Everything
By enrolling in the optional, no fee Chase Blueprint program, holders of eligible Chase credit cards can have their interest payments calculated in a vastly different manner. Customers can designate certain purchases to pay in full, while carrying a balance on others. In this way, a portion of their balance will retain its grace period while another portion will incur interest with the standard terms.
Customers can select specific purchases or entire categories of transactions to be paid in full without interest or over time. By selecting just a portion of their transactions to be paid in full, the cardholder will substantially reduce his or her interest payments. The ability to choose which charges are paid in full and which charges are paid over time can help consumers prevent interest expenses from piling up on everyday purchases, while only opting to pay interest on specific charges that cannot be immediately repaid.
Beyond the fundamental altering of the way interest payments are calculated, the Chase Blueprint program offers other features that can be helpful. Customers can use online tools to set payment goals, such as a target for a payoff date for individual purchase or their entire balance. Chase will then calculate the monthly payment amounts necessary to meet these goals. Finally, Chase offers tools to track spending by category and to match these trends against a target the customer creates, essentially creating an easy to use budgeting tool that helps keep users from overspending.
Conclusions
It is an unfortunate truth that the majority of credit card holders in America regularly carry a balance. With Chase Blueprint, these consumers have an alternative to always paying interest on all charges until their balance is paid off. By utilizing the valuable payment options, and powerful budgeting tools, Chase customers can use Blueprint program to save money on interest payments and eliminate credit card debt.