What Is APR and What Does It Mean for Your Credit Cards?
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APR (annual percentage rate) is the yearly cost of borrowing money. If you borrow $1,000 for a year at a 20% APR, the total to pay back would be $1,200.
Although that's a straightforward explanation, APR can be more complicated when it comes to credit cards. And despite how often the terms "APR" and "interest rate" are used interchangeably, they aren't quite the same thing. To better understand how credit card companies calculate interest charges, here's a guide to what is APR and how it works.
An interest rate is a charge imposed by a lender to borrow money. It's most often expressed as an annual percentage. A 10% annual interest rate means you pay 10% of the outstanding balance per year until it's paid off.
APR is the total cost of borrowing money, and it's always expressed as an annual percentage. While it includes the interest rate, it also includes any other fees the borrower must pay.
Mortgages are an easy way to explain this, because they have other fees besides interest. A mortgage could include closing costs, private mortgage insurance, and application fees, to name a few potential extras. A mortgage's APR includes those extras. That means even though a mortgage may have an interest rate of 6.7%, the mortgage APR could be 6.8%. Use our mortgage calculator to calculate your monthly payment.
However, with credit cards, APR and interest rate are interchangeable. Even if your card charges an annual fee, that's not a cost associated with borrowing money. The only borrowing-related charge your credit card uses is interest, which makes the APR and the interest rate the same thing.
Credit card companies generally determine APR using a few factors:
Credit cards can have multiple types of APR. These may include:
Interest calculations using APR are straightforward if the amount you owe remains the same day after day. It's more complicated with credit card APR, because your credit card balance can change often.
To calculate credit card interest, credit card issuers typically use one of two methods:
To find out which method your credit card company uses, check your card's pricing and terms. There should be a section called "How We Will Calculate Your Balance." This section provides your card issuer's method for calculating credit card interest charges.
LEARN MORE: How Credit Card Interest Works
Credit card APRs are usually high -- much higher than what you'd find with a mortgage APR or auto loan APR. Because of that, the smartest option is to avoid credit card interest entirely.
Fortunately, there's an easy way to do this. Only use your credit card for purchases, and pay the statement balance in full every time you make your monthly payment. Credit card companies don't charge you interest on purchases right away. They charge interest on your remaining statement balance if you don't pay it all off by the due date.
Keep in mind that this only applies to purchases. For other types of transactions, such as cash advances, the card issuer can start charging you interest immediately.
There's one other way to avoid interest charges on your credit card balance -- take advantage of 0% intro APR offers. If you have purchases you won't be able to pay off in full, open a card with a 0% intro APR offer on purchases. If you have credit card debt that's costing you money every month, look for a balance transfer card with a 0% intro APR on balances you bring over.
APR stands for "annual percentage rate." It's the rate you pay per year when borrowing money with a loan or credit card.
Credit card companies charge interest monthly based on the APR of the card and the balance. There is a grace period, and if you pay off your card's full statement balance by the due date, then you won't be charged interest on your purchases. Lenders also normally charge interest monthly. You can check how often interest is charged in the terms of your credit card or loan.
To avoid interest charges on your credit card, pay off the statement balance on or before the due date.
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