Grace Period
A grace period is the window between a credit-card statement's close and its due date — usually about 21 days — during which you can pay the full balance and owe zero interest. Carry a balance past it, and interest starts accruing, often erasing the grace period entirely.
The detail that costs people money: on most cards the grace period only exists if you paid the previous statement in full. Carry a balance once and you generally lose it, so new purchases start accruing interest from the day you make them rather than from the next statement — and the grace period does not return until the balance has been cleared in full again. This is why “I am paying it down gradually” is more expensive than it looks. Cash advances have no grace period under any circumstances. The term also covers the months after leaving education before student loan payments begin, though interest may still accrue on unsubsidised loans during it.
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