Gebuhrenfrei MasterCard Gold ► clever use or scam trap?
Over and over again, I have been asked by readers to write a report on the “Gebührenfrei MasterCard Gold” (fee-free MasterCard Gold) of the Advanzia Bank. Actually, we only present providers on our special portal that one can unreservedly recommend …
Mix of warning and instructions!
This article of exception is a mix of warning and an instruction of how to use (or take advantage of) the system of the Advanzia Bank cleverly!
2. Here you can go directly to the credit card provider ► www.gebuhrenfrei.com (thrilling offering for educated bank customers).
1. How does the credit card company earn money?
In order that the MasterCard of the Advanzia Bank really remains free of charge for you, you should know how this provider earns money. Following applies:
- unusual high lending rates
How to avoid them can be read in the 3rd part of this article. - fees at late payments
Again, the banks does little to avoid these for the disadvantage of the customer – more on that later. - interchange-fees
These are the costs that the payee of your credit card payment has to pay – just with any other credit card.
Points 1 & 2 are avoidable, point 3 does not matter!
The points 1 and 2 can be avoided, if you know the rules (Terms & Conditions) of the bank well and fulfil them. Point 3 should not matter to you, because this fee is triggered though your card use, but is not borne by you.
2. The ingenious ad of the provider!
Just to say it upfront: the product name “Gebührenfrei MasterCard“ (fee-free MasterCard) is coherent. Especially if one is looking at the extolled product feature of the ad:
Ad for the MasterCard Gold, Source: www.gebuhrenfrei.com.
-
No annual fee
The savings banks (Sparkassen) charge even for a grey credit card often Euros 25 per year.
-
No cash fee
Sticking to the comparison to the savings bank, they often charge Euros 5 per withdrawal. However, this is already the first “trap“ for inattentive customers. More about this further below in the article!
-
No foreign transaction fee
The card use in foreign currencies often costs at other banks 1-2 per cent in fees. This is really a smart move of the Advanzia Bank, since the interchange fees outside the European Union are often 3 per cent (within the EU only 0.3 per cent).
It is clever to attract customers, who like to use the card abroad in a foreign currency (we recommended this change of condition already strongly to the DKB!).
Additionally, there is the fact that one has an interest-free payment period of up to 7 weeks. This only applies to card payments, not to cash withdrawals.
Let’s go into detail now
3) The System “gebuhrenfrei / fee-free“-MasterCard
3a) Interest-free period versus “usury”-interest
The fee-free MasterCard advertises a 7-week interest-free loan period. That is true. In order to use it completely, one must understand the system of the Advanzia Bank.
It works as follows:
-
You make payments from the 3rd day of the month, which are accumulated without interest on the credit card account until the 2nd day of the next month.
-
Now you receive an email in which the credit card statement is included.
-
Then you have time until the 20th of the month to fully offset the credit card balance via bank transfer.
If you do it that way, you do not pay any fees nor interest. On the contrary, you even had a 3 to 7 week long free loan – depending on the day of payment!
At clever use: interest-free loan!
Let’s take a look what happens, if you do not settle the credit card account on time:
-
If your transfer is received between the 21st and until the 3rd day of the following month, then a loan rate of currently 19.94% per annum is charged from the day of card payment until the date of full repayment.
This is comparatively unusually high, but no legally unfair usury. That is why we wrote the word in the title in quotation marks. 😉
-
If you cannot or do not want to settle the entire balance, you should make at least a partial payment of Euros 30 – or from a debt of more than Euros 1,000, it should be 3 per cent of the loan amount.
This way, you pay high interest rates, but the following enforcement consequences will not apply!
- If until the 3rd day of the following month no or insufficient payment goes into the credit card account,
- you will receive an overdue notice (fee currently Euros 4.09) and
- the card is blocked, you cannot make any further payments nor cash withdrawals.
Interest rates will, of course, continue to be charged for each day on which the credit card account is in the red.
From the bank’s perspective the occurrence of this case is not bad, because money is now earned!
Advanzia should love instalment customers 😉
If you should encounter this situation, it is not that bad, because you can unblock the credit card again through an immediate payment of the invoice amount plus interest and notice fee and the game starts again.
In principle, it would even be enough, if you made a partial payment (instalment)!
However, then interest continues to accumulate! This is not recommendable as a permanent condition, because there is no interest-free period of 3 to 7 weeks in the instalment mode. This only applies, if one settles the balance on the credit card account to zero repeatedly!
Important: no interest-free period at instalments!
Moreover, the Advanzia Bank makes it “easy” to miss a payment date, because:
-
the card statement is sent by e-mail
Tip: Call and say that your e-mail address no longer exists, and ask for the delivery of the card settlement by mail. This is free of charge (not even postage!), unlike other credit card companies.
You can also classify the e-mail sender as non-spam, so that e-mails are not eventually filtered, or you write a note in the calendar.
-
there is no possibility of direct debit
For example, you can set up at Barclaycard that the entire credit card balance is debited from the current account by direct debit always at the due date. Therefore, no cent of loan interest will ever apply!
If this should not be possible due to a financial squeeze, you can also adjust at Barclaycard that the minimum rate or another freely selectable rate will be debited, so that at least no notice fee is charged and the account will not be blocked.
Unfortunately, this is not possible with the “Gebührenfrei-MasterCard”!
-
The idea with the standing order (deposit balance reserve)
It would be clever to set up a monthly standing order or generally “park” a balance reserve on the MasterCard.
Previously, this was also possible. At least I got the tip from a reader some years ago regarding the cash withdrawals (we will take a look at the pitfalls in a second).
In the course of researching this article, I contacted the Advanzia Bank staff several times, who gave me the information that too many transferred amounts are transferred back automatically. Balances could only be set up through credits. So for example, if you have returned an order of a mail-order business. This is, of course, no purposeful strategy in our favour!
Interim conclusion: if you pay the card balance on time, everything is free of charge for you! If you exceed the period, it will be expensive. This is good for the bank, as it earns (your/its) money by this.
3b) The “trap” with “€ 0 cash fee”
Although you may be tempted to think that withdrawing cash is free of charge in any case, it is not a proper case of trap, because you can read the exact terms and conditions on the homepage of the bank.
For withdrawing cash, the Advanzia Bank does actually not charge any fee. Thus, the statement “€ 0 cash fee” is correct.
However, loan interest for cash withdrawals apply from the first day (there is no interest-free period of 3 to 7 weeks). Additionally, the interest rate with currently 22.90% per annum is even higher than for credit card transactions.
Since you can actually not “park” any balance on the card, you can only start a transfer for the settlement, when you have withdrawn the money. Considering the posting runs, even very experienced bank customers will find it difficult to avoid loan interest of less than two days. I am looking forward to read your feedback on this subject via the comments feature!
Loan interest instead of withdrawal fee!
Summary!
The offering of the “Gebührenfrei MasterCard Gold” is directed to a wide audience of credit card seekers. The conditions are such that clever bank customers can use the service completely free and thereby gain benefits that they do not get in many other credit cards.
People, who do not deal in detail with the offer or miss due dates … well, the bank will potentially earn very good through them!
Ideal for people, who have good control of their finances!
It is not my intention to criticize the Advanzia Bank for their conditions or the configuration of the terms. Personally, I am glad that there are many different providers and various strategies. I even love this variety on the market!
… and it is up to us smart bank customers, whether and what we use from such an offering.
For example, the use in the foreign currency abroad is very interesting, as no foreign transaction fee is charged. Moreover, the golden colour design is especially in non-European countries practical, because one normally has to pay a high annual fee in many countries for a Gold Card or has to earn such a card colour through regular and high payments.
At the Advanzia Bank, one gets “Gold” for free!
I am looking forward to learn what you think of the “Gebührenfrei MasterCard Gold” of the Advanzia Bank. Whether you may even apply for it due to this article? Or perhaps you are already a customer and can share experiences, tips and tricks? The comments box is activated!
“Perfect for people, who dominate their finances well”
Note for our readers in Austria: At a place of residence in Austria, the card with almost the same conditions is called “free MasterCard Gold“. Find the direct link here ► https://www.free.at/.
In Austria, the fee-free MasterCard Gold is called ► free MasterCard Gold. Source: www.free.at.
Further exciting articles about credit cards:
- Data sheet of the Advanzia Gold MasterCard (German language)
- How to increase the credit line of the Barclaycard to Euros 9,500
- Basics article about credit cards in Germany
Thanks a lot for the review it was very helpfully.
I didn’t completely understood the cash withdraw part.
dose that mean that there is no possible way to completely avoid the interest on cash withdraw?
thanks again
If you plan the cash withdrawals, with a bit of luck you might be able to avoid the interest on credits.
Try a scheduled transfer for the planned day of the cash withdrawal or make a transfer immediately after the cash withdrawal.
Within the SEPA area, a transfer takes 0-1 days (statutory).
Good luck, and thanks for your great feedback and the compliment!
Please let me know if this is possible for withdrawing cash from Advanzia.
Preconditions: If You have already made transactions of €500 using Advanzia.
1. Keep your normal Filiale bank and Advanzia, both in PayPal.
2. Go to ATM and withdraw cash with Advanzia MasterCard (e.g €100)
3. Immediately transfer money from Filiale bank to Advanzia using PayPal. (€100)
4. when the bill comes at the end of the month, I pay €500 which is the pending amount now.
If You do so, will You still be charged interest on your final bill or on cash? How the calculations are done for this bill?
“You cannot transfer money between two cards which are connected to same Paypal account.” Or “you cannot transfer money to yourself” That’s what Paypal says.
The Santander 1 Plus Visa card follows pretty much the same model. In fact it’s even worse in some areas. The billing date is 9th of the month and payment date is 21st. Also you don’t get a email statement. You are expected to login online and check the statement and make the payment.
Hi,
Thanks for your informative website. I have suggested your website to couple of friends and it was very helpful and decisive!
I would like to know what is the meaning of 19.94% P.A.
Can you correct my exemplary scenario if I am wrong?
For Example I purchase something for 1000euros online at 3rd of first month.
and I pay it in 5 instalments (each 200euros). at the end of 5th month how much is the interest? 1000*19.94%= 199.4 euros for a year? and 199.4 / 12 = 16.61 for each month? and the end of 5th month when I fill the total overdue I should pay 16.61*5= 80 euros as interest?!
Is this tight?!
Hi! The interest would be lower than what you calculated. When you purchase something for 1000 € and pay back 200 € monthly, it is as if you had borrowed 200 € for 1 month, another 200 € for 2 months, another 200 € for 3 months, another 200 € for 4 months and finally 200 € for 5 months.
That would make an interest of about
0.1994 × 200 € × (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5)/12 = 49.85 €
It should even be a tiny bit less than that, because interest is actually cleared monthly. 19.94% is what the monthly interest would accumulate to, compound interest included, for a whole year. But as you plan to pay the money back sooner, there’s less compound interest and you need to pay less.
Hi,
My friend was studying in Germany and had a Gebührenfrei Mastercard Gold (Advanzia Bank S.A.). He has debt for 3500 euro. Unfortunately his father died and he return to India. Even couldn’t finish his study. Now he is totally unable to pay the money back. If he visit any EU country / USA /Australia in future, what will happen?
Should he contact with company and tell them, that he can’t pay back?
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
Tragic circumstances are a possibility – but if they occur, it is not a good idea to then not meet one’s obligations, since there is always the danger of thus obstructing one’s future. We recommend contacting Advanzia Bank and possibly find an agreement of paying back the money in installments. For people still residing in Germany, it might be a good idea to try to get an installment credit and pay it back step by step in installments, since the interest rates there are much lower than at Advanzia Bank.
I have sent the signed post card via post. How long would it take the card to activate. Its been a week and haven’t received any mail from them. Thank you
Usually, once the postcard regarding the activation of your card arrives at the bank, you’ll get notified via e-mail regarding the impending activation. It is of course always possible that a postcard is delayed in the mail. The best would be to contact the bank to make sure that your post card has actually arrived there.
Thank you for the very useful summary on this credit product.
I just signed up and now waiting for them to send over the card.
As far as I understand I should also receive a postcard to sign in and send it back to activate the card, is that correct? Can this activation be done online? As for the monthly payment, as far as you know, is it possible to pay before the natural expiring of the 20th of the month?
Thanks again and my compliments for your very useful work.
Thanks for the compliments!! 🙂
The activation of the card can unfortunately not be done only, it needs to happen by sending the postcard.
Regarding the monthly payments – yes, as soon as you know the minimum amount that needs to be paid that month, you can take care of the payment, even if it is before the 20th of that month.
I will like to know after activation can I withdraw the money with an online banking without the pin is not yet send to me is this possible
Hello, This is a really nice platform. Good work. I have a card since February this year with a credit limit of 500 euro. I withdrew the whole fund in February. Since then, I have paid above the minimum amount that has to be paid monthly and I have about 150 euro left to be paid. My question is, at what stage can I request for an increase in credit limit? Or how does the credit limit increase work?
Thanks! The limit raises happen automatically. Two months, or a bit less, that’s of course a rather short time. If the limit is not sufficient, one can of course call them. Personally, I would wait for the next statements, most of the time the limit raises come without further inquiry.
Hi,please I have a credit limit of 800 and I have purchase things with the card of about 450.00euros and I was ask to pay 30 euros per month.my Question is what if I want to pay more like if I have 100,or 200 euros is this ok by the bank?
Hi,
yes, the payment of 30 Euro per month is simply the required minimum payment. You can of course pay back with bigger amounts as well. Furthermore, if you pay back the whole owed amount until the date stated in your invoice, you will save the interest for the credit amount.
Hi, If it is not possible to park a balance at the card, then what will happen if my monthly bill is 150 Euro and I transfer 200 Euro? Will they return the 50 Euro or adjust it with next month’s bill?
I have tried it. I had due around 167 euro and I paid 170 euro. So it shows about -3 euro in the statement which will adjust to the next months bill.
This however has no effect on interest, for example when taking money out of ATM.
Great information. Thank you.
I have a question. I used the card in a ticket machine in Copenhagen. Should I pay any interest on the amount or should I just pay the ticket cost equivalent in Euros next month?
You get a statement once a month via e-mail. If you play the complete amount by its due date or earlier, the whole things was interest-free for you. That is smart, isn’t it?
Unless you take cash out from ATM everything else is interest free. Every purchase from ticket machine, stores or online shops are interest free. I used the card in Dubai airport and it was interest free. You have to pay by the due date which is around 20th of the next month.
When purchasing in foreign currency or taking money out of foreign ATM, let the credit card do the currency conversion. It will give you the best rate.
Which date of the month the bill statement will be sent to me? Thanks!
thank you so much for this info…This is really indeed very helpful… i have just received my card and i have few questions..
1. How long does it take to increase your credit limit??
2. in regards to installment payment– If i pay higher than the required minimum payment (which is €30) does it affect the interest rate???or how does it work??…
Many thanks 🙂 – it makes sense to us to help people with their smart banking.
1) It’s individual. The best is you use the card closely up to its limit and then transfer the whole amount in time for its due date. You can find that easily in your credit card statement (via e-mail).
2) You can always pay more than the minimum amount, but that does not change the interest rate. If you can manage it financially, pay back the complete amount in time for the due date, because then there will be no interest for the credit at all. The credit duration was free of charge for you! Exception: cash withdrawal. Here, the interest is accrued starting with the day of the withdrawal. You can shorten the duration of the interest accrual by transfering/paying back earlier.
You can find the interest rate on the provider’s website. We don’t post them here, because they are subject to change. They are not cheap though, but it is easy to get a card as well as – in time – a large line of credit.
Best of luck!
Nice platform, I submitted an application for the credit card and they reply me with the card to sign a form together with my passport, before they can send me the code. I wanted to ask, if this this normal process?
There are always changes in the application process from time to time (optimizations or particu-lars due to the credit check). The best would be if you call Advanzia Bank directly and ask about your application.
Hi,
Very nice platform. I made a cash withdrawal and they sent the invoice which I paid the total amount plus the interest rate but one month later they send me another invoice with interest and claimed I suppose to pay.
Below is the response I got after sending them an email.
“thank you for your message.
Due to our GTs & Cs, we always do not have any interest in cash transactions, even if you pay the entire balance.
We charge interests from the day of the transaction (14.08.) Until the invoice (03.09.) – 11.97 € and in addition from the invoice (04.09.) Until the day you pay in / clear the balance (11.09.) – 3.99 € ,
This is not the case, but it’s a good idea.
Please inform us, if you do not have any limits for your credit card anymore.
Yours sincerely,”
They sent me an invoice with interest rate of 11.97euro which I paid on the 11/09 but the due date was the 20/09. After few weeks they send another for 3.99euro for the same loan.
Thanks
Hello,
Thank you so much very kind info.
I’d like to ask about interest.
I used the card with purchases 600 euro then I paid back 200 euro then after I used it next month 500 euro again.
They added interests all of amount previous left amount 400 euro and this month’s new amount 500 euro. The total 900 euro plus 1.53% interests. Is it normal?
They said purchase interest is 1.53% per month. But the new bill has not still 1 month.
Thank you.
There is no interest at all, if one settles the account in time for the due date. This is a great advantage, which man smart banking customers use. However, if one does not settle the complete amount, interest is charged beginning with the accounting/booking date. One does not have any “interest-free” weeks. That can get expensive. We recommend to our readers to always settle, in so far as it is financially possible, the account in time for the due date.
Can I borrow more money even when I haven’t settled the old balance
You can make use of the whole credit line, the amount of which you can find on your monthly credit statement. If you reliably repay the minimum amount, the complete amount or an amount in between, the credit line will be increased in the following months, and you can make use of more credit. Anyway, this is the way it normally works.
As a specialty portal for smart banking customers, however, we recommend having a look at the interest rate and to not stay in the credit longer than necessary.
Hello please let me know how can I pay back advanzia MasterCard the balance which I used? Regards
You can find the account details for the transfer on each credit card statement, which is sent by you via e-mail each month.
Very informative
Is it necessary to have minimum amount transaction per month (in total)? I mean if we don’t do any transaction per month and we don’t have any previous due, so will it cost something?
Previous month I use ATM and withdraw 300 Euro, I can’t see any additional incurring charges in this month statement, will they send me another letter etc to pay ?
Great article! On a side note, I called Advanzia Bank today to ask the following situation:
15 Nov – purchase an item for EUR500
20 Nov – pay the full amount to the bank
25 Nov – return the item and the merchant refunds EUR500
I was told that:
1) I will have a positive balance (naturally)
2) I can either use this balance to offset the next month invoice, or;
2) I can withdraw this positive balance without any interest!
When asked if I could create a positive balance via bank transfer, they said it is not possible (which is in line with this article).
But if the positive balance is due to a payment (e.g. refund), I could withdraw the money without any interest.
Therefore if I plan to withdraw money using the card, I could buy an item using the card, pay the whole amount, and return the item!
Could anyone foresee any problem doing that?
Ok, I get that normal day to day transactions if paid on time then there will be no extra charge.
But I didn’t understand about the cash withdrawal.
Is withdrawing cash not a good idea at all when you don’t want to incur any extra charges?
And before the 20th if following month if we pay everything then do we still get charged any interest?
Thanks,
Aryan
Hello, thanks for the useful information, I am new with the Gebuhrenfrei Gold Card and had my first purchase yesterday, and i want to pay back, how should i transfer the balance via Sparkasse Bank in Germany?
Regards,
After one month you will get the statement about all card transactions, and a deadline for when the whole amount needs to be paid back, in order for it to be interest free for you. The best is if you save the bank/account details, so that you will be able to make transfers onto the credit card account, before the month is over.
Hi, I have a credit card with Advanzia with a starting amount of 500 Euro, which I used up in the same month that I got it (December) and my deadline for repayment is 22 of January, which I missed.
If I pay back the 30 Euro before this week runs out, will I pay interest or will it affect my credit history?
On Next month you will pay interest on remaining unpaid amount of invoice
Yes, interest is incurred – that is, after all, how Advanzia Bank make their living. When the minimum amount has been received, it all should be fine.
The payment after the deadline does not have an effect on the external credit history. As to how Advanzia evaluates this internally, that is something they do not disclose.
HI!Thanks for your great clarification. Unfortunately I couldn’t understand What we have to pay until 20th every month. Could you explain it clearly?
Hi. I spent 750 euros this month and only manage to transfer 250 euros back. So my question is, how much interest must I payon remaining unpaid amount of invoice ? Many thanks
The interest rate on credit with the Gold Card is rather high: 19.94% p.a. for purchases and 22.90% p.a. for cash withdrawals. We recommend our readers to forego cash withdrawals with this card, because the interest is incurred immediately. For purchases it is sufficient to pay back the complete amount in time for the deadline. In such a case, it’s interest-free!
So that means I must pay extra 19,94% on the remaining unpaid amount of invoice. Is that correct ?
Calculating percentages in the credit area often is a challenge 😉 It’s best if you always pay exactly the invoiced amount from the statement. Then you never have to pay any interest for these purchases with the card. In case you do not do that for one month, the interest rate per month is 1.53%. After all, it’s is hardly likely one leaves the invoices unpaid for a whole year.
hello, i intend sending money from my gold card to my home country, is it advisable to transfer from the card or withdraw cash? does transferring also incur more interest as withdrawing? thanks
Hi
I have one of these cards and all has been fine. The one thing that I am lacking is an App to know what I have spent and what is left.
Is there one available as I hate having to login all of the time via the site
Hi i will like to know how to transfer money from Luxemburg bank account. I am new to this credit card i will like to know how to do that step by step thank you
That is easy. You get a monthly statement via E-Mail. This contains your personal account number in the form of the IBAN. This is the account, to which you please do the transfers.
Hi I’m new to the gold card…a mail was sent to me that i will be credit 1500euro..what i want to know is how much will I be paying every month and when is the dead line is it a year or a month tnx
Please have another look at the article, it contains the answers. Individual responses regarding the individual situations can of course be obtained from Advanzia Bank’s customer service. As a web portal, we of course cannot provide that.
I want to withdraw *cash* my entire credit limit but might not be able to pay the entire amount back next month. Will it be OK for a while to pay only the interest? Obviously they will be earning a lot of money from me in the interim?
Yes, that is possible. On the monthly statement it always shows the minimum amount to be paid. That is approximately as much as the interest for using the whole line of credit. One can do it, and it will make the credit card provider happy, because the interest rates are rather high.
Maybe you would like to look for a favorably priced installment credit or another credit line?
Thanks, for a very good review. Cards that does charge a fee for cash, charges much more in fees than you pay in interest on this card. Even if you wait for your invoice, best is to pay as quickly as possible if withdrawing cash 🙂
Yes, 100% correct and smart! Thank you. 🙏
Thank you so much.
I used this card from February 2018 I took withraw money from ATM 860 and pay the payment every month before 20 of the month,so is that really have still more interest or it’s a just free interes because of due date I made the payment?
Thanks
Thank you for the precious review.
I recieved this card via mail but found out that I do not need it. Is there any penalty or so if I decided not to activate it?
thank you 🙂
The card is completely free of charge. For the sake of fairness, simply send the card back with a friendly cancellation notice. A card that is not in use costs the bank money on a monthly basis, and that is unnecessary after all 🙂
Please…. I just wanna know,my credit limit is 1,500€, but if I pay back upto 500 can ask for another loan like 6,000€, coz I need loan urgently… and I want to be paying back this time 100€ monthly.
Hello Gregor,
I’m a little confused with the due date. Can you please explain this to me?
Scenario 1
Let’s say, I purchased an item in Japan or charged my card for a service (eg. Eyebrow tattoo) on the 15th of August. Do I only have 5 days interests free period to settle my bill? My card is due on 20th every month. How bout the exchange rate? I live in Germany and my card will be charged in JPY, do they have an internet site/app which I could refer to for the current exchange rate before my purchase?
Scenario 2
For example, I have withdrawn a total of ca. 200 Euros (in foreign currency eg. SGD) on 15th of Aug. Do I receive any free interests period to settle my credit? Or once I’ve withdrawn cash, the interest starts immediately? If I don’t have the bank details which I could pay my bills, then there is no chance to avoid the interest?
Thanking you in advance.
Xara
Maybe someone from our smart community wants to take this on?
Situation 1:
Expenses between 3rd July – 2nd August are due on 20th August.
Expenses between 3rd August – 2nd September are due on 20th September.
So if your card is charged on the 15th August, it will be due on 20th September.
The exchange rate will be shown on your online statement, normally a few days after the card is charged.
Situation 2:
The interest starts immediately after you have withdrawn the cash. No free interest period for cash withdrawal.
Hi,
Is the interest rate flat for one month? Or is divided between the days of the month?
Example: If I withdraw 400 euros cash on 28th of the month and payback 400 euros by 31st of the same month, will I be charged flat 1,49% interest on 400euros or will it be 1,49/30= 0,049% per day?
Per day
Interest occurs on a daily basis
Hey guys
I want to withdraw 3000 Euros from my Gebuhrenfrei Mastercard Gold, I need money only for 15 days. Could you guys tell me how much interest I have to pay for these 3000 Euros if I return the whole amount in 15 days?
Thanks
Hey Guys,
Please, what if I ordered the card, activate it and keep it for when I will be in need to use the card, would I be charged any fee for not using the card for sometime?
Classic fees – such as annual or monthly fees – do not apply, no matter how often or not you use this MasterCard. That is also an advantage of this provider!
Same case though, I received the card a month ago and haven’t activated it yet. I don’t really need it, but it seems promising to activate. Waiting for some guys to answer this question as well
You won’t be charged any interest as long as the amount on the invoice at the billing period is zero. So you can not use the card at all or even use it but repay the full amount before the billing period (which is usually the first week of the next month), as long as you have zero credit before the billing period no interest will be charged to you and you will not be required to pay any fee.
I am new with the Gold Card with a limit of 1500 Euro and I have spent 1300 Euro from it including a cash withdrawal of 100 dollars while I was in the US, and my due date is 20th of September 2018. And it’s not sure that I can pay in the entire credit as and when due, could you kindly help me with completely detail of consequences of interest if I decide to pay next month? I can pay in the minimum 36 or 50 Euro now just to meet up.
It is quite simple: If the credit card account is completely settled on the due date, there will be no interest at all. It’s been all free for you!
If only 1 cent remains open, the interest will be calculated on a daily basis for the period used. That’s why our recommendation is: Always balance when you can. If not, you will probably be glad that you got time against interest. 😉
Exception: With cash withdrawals, the interest is always calculated from the first day. For cash withdrawals, this card is not so optimal.
Advanzia Mastercard Gold identifies Revolut top up as a cash withdrawal and therefore it incurs interest. Today I confirmed it with Advanzia’s customer service.
My question is:
let’s say I withdraw 20 Euros on 12/12/2018 and deposit 20 euros on 13/12/2018 on my Advanzia account in order to repay the cash transaction.
1- I am not sure if on the upcoming billing I should pay interest for this transaction or not?
2- How much interest I should pay in order to clear off this transaction?
3- Does further transactions for example payments in the shops, etc are affected by this withdrawal? what I mean is that if I purchase something in this billing period worth let’s say 200 Euros do I still have the interest-free period for this transaction? Or total billing amount bears interest until paying off?
Yes, that’s correct. Interest accrues overnight. That means, in your case, it would be EUR 0.01 for one night. Card transactions that are not considered cash sales are interest free until the date specified in your billing.
So in the next billing cycle Advanzia will give me a cumulative interest of both cash withdrawal and card payments? What I mean is that if i choose to repay the partial amount, how Advanzia will know if I am paying off the cash withdrawal or card payment?
I emailed your question to Advenzia because I also had this doubt.
Reply they sent to me back is:-
Dear Mr GARG,
thank you for your message.
Interests are calculated if you do not pay the full amount of your bill, every transaction is individually and retroactively charged with interest, until the day of your payment. That means that some interest may be charged on the next months bill if that is the time that you finally paid back the whole amount.
You can avoid such retroactive interests if you pay until due date and in full amount.
If you make partial payments, interests will be calculated on the whole amount of your balance e.g. if you have a balance of 1517,00 EUR and you make a payment of 1500,00 EUR, interests will not be calculated only for 17,00 EUR but for 1517,00 EUR.
The interest rate for cash withdrawals, crypto currency and money transfer transactions is 1,73%/month or 22,90%/year. These transactions are always being charged with interest fees from the day of transaction until the full payment of the amount.
The interest rate for purchases is 1,53%/month or 19,93%/year. Purchases are not being charged with interest fees, if the full amount of the invoice is paid until the due date stated on the invoice. If you make partial payments, purchases are charged with interest fees as noted above.
If you take some money from an ATM and you also purchase something, the money you pay back will cover a transaction that was done first. That means if you purchase something and you take some cash a few days later, the payment you make (considering it was a partial payment) will cover the purchase since that transaction was done before and you will still receive interest for the cash withdrawal until you pay the full amount back (You will receive interest for the whole balance and not only for the amount that was left).
You have been provided with this information when you received your card.
Please also read our General Business Conditions which are available on our homepage http://www.gebuhrenfrei.com.
The card is free of annual charges and other handling charges – gebührenfrei.
Please feel free to contact us for any further questions.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Good evening! I have opened an account and today, the card has arrived. I live in Hamburg and want to repay the loan every month on time. In the bank, it was promised to me that I can increase the loan limit by Euros 1,500. When can I withdraw the full amount?
Good evening! I have opened an account and today, the card has arrived. I live in Hamburg and want to repay the loan every month on time. In the bank, it was promised to me that I can increase the loan limit by Euros 1,500. When can I withdraw the full amount?
Hi,
Thank you for the article and nice info. I would only have one question – does this account have a minimum transaction amount per month? (Since I might not use the card every month, would I be charged if there is no bill to settle?)
Thank you in advance.
The card (and the card account) are completely free of charge, regardless if you use it or not.
Hey Guys,
Advanzia Card is not a scam. I was also hesistant to use it at first but so far, it was so good! my credit limit at first was 500, but just after 1 month (i had only 2 transactions with this card, total of 200+ euro) upon activation they immediately increased my limit to 1500. whats so good about this card is they dont have annual fee and foreign transaction fee. i always buy stuffs from my home country and send my family some gifts. Advanzia will just have it converted from your home currency to euro rate based on the date of transaction, unlike other credit cards who will have you pay additional foreign transaction fees. ive been a credit card user since i was in my homecountry, and have 5 cards from different banks which are still active until now (incase of emergency) and was able to successfully negotiate to wave my annual fees even though ive been transparent that i wont probably use them here in Germany. What Ive learned ist that, although banks earn from credit card interest, they still prefer customers who always pay on time. On time means before the due date (before 20th of the month for Advanzia) . And my personal rules about using credit cards: always pay before due date and never withdraw money from it (cash advance), these gave me a good credit stand.
Many thanks for this up-to-date and comprehensive description of you experiences, and we wish you much enjoyment with the MasterCard
Making use of the credit card to send money via Western Union will you be charged like cash withdrawals.
Thanks
Yes, that makes sense, since the recipient can get the money in cash right away. As customer, one has to pay attention, because cash withdrawals or, like in this case card sales marked as cash payments, incur credit interest immediately. Many thanks for this tip for our readers!
Do you have any idea how much interest is charged per day.
That’s easy: Simply divide the monthly interest rate by 30.
I want to order this credit card. How high is the credit line initially? I know that everything depends on a regular income, but I am rather interested in the estimated amount… I also take the credit card of my main bank (Deutsche Bank) into account, but I have to pay an annual fee there. I kindly ask for your advice.
No one can say this upfront, because a computer determines that based on your statements and the creditworthiness check.
The lowest credit line is at Euros 50 and upwards also Euros 10,000 are possible.
The beautiful thing about this credit card is that the credit limit automatically increases with the use of the credit card. You can even “train” the limit upwards 😊
Where can I find the account number to deposit money (I mean to repay) into my Advanzia Gold credit card?
It is written on the monthly credit card statement. You can simply check last month’s statement that has come via email.
Is there any monthly fee for all transactions?
No. Transaction on the card account are free of charge.
How long does it take for a payment transfer to reflect on your Gebuhrenfrei account?
Usually 1-2 days, sometimes even the same day. After all, payment transactions within the Euro zone are becoming quicker and quicker.
Hello, my payment deadline in 22nd of this month, I made a transfer from my account to Advanzia since 8th of this month but unfortunately my bank didn’t make the transfer, I got to know yesterday (17th) and I was able to make the transfer today but my bank said they will process it tomorrow (Friday, 19th) because they have lots of transactions to make today, please I want to know if Advanzia bank will receive the money I transferred on the Monday 22nd which is the payment deadline. Thanks
Yes, that is very probable, because a SEPA transfer is not supposed to take longer than 1 banking day.
Hi
I found your article quite informative. Thank you. However, I have noticed if I want to cash out with my Advanzia Gold Card in Sparkasse ATMs (in Kiel-Germany), I would be charged for 5 Euro. Isn’t it in contradiction with “No fees for cash withdrawals”?
Were you really charged 5 euros on the bank statement of Advaniza or have you been unsettled by the Sparkasse sticker? These stickers are used to discourage Sparksse customers from switch-ing. The Sparkasse does not have the power to determine the conditions of other credit card com-panies 🙂
I see. I cancelled the order and didn’t cash out at the end. Their trick worked on me 😉
Anyway, it is important to mention I have had quite many problems with Advanzia Customer Service recently. In last 2 weeks, they have left 4 messages and several calls of mine with no reply. This convinced me that Advanzia is not something trustworthy.
Do Advaniza cards always come with credit
Yes.
Good day. How about if I withdraw my credit and can I pay it back within one month and get an increase of credit immanently
Interesting idea 😉
Cons:
– My card has been blocked 3 times in ~3 years. One time I was in a foreign country outside EU, and you don’t want to be out of money in such situations.
Once blocked, you cannot unblock it until you speak to support by phone, which can take hours (because of long queue) and you have to pay international call rates. And there is no guarantee it will be unblocked immediately.
– Second, they are very strict about addresses and you cannot use c/o until you have official documentation.
Nice to have:
– It would be nicer if they support direct debit using SEPA Mandate or something.
Pros:
– Works everywhere.
– Customer service is slow but if you hold on for 30 minutes on phone, you will be connected to someone eventually.
– English speaking support.
– I got credit limit of €5000 eventually in sometime.
Hello, there!
Im highly thankful for this website. It helps me a lot with all the provided information.
However, i do have a question.
I got the card and today sent them my signature, photo of my ID and passport and residence permit via email AND via post office. I live in Germany.
My question is how dow do i withdraw money from my card? When do i receive PIN code from them? Do i receive it via email or via post?
Thank you so much for for your answer and i wish you a great day!
I also have a another question. Is it possible to communicate with them in English every time when something is necessary (anything in general)? The answer is sent everything in German until now and my German is not so good at the moment.
Thanks!
Hi Larisa,
as far as I know all communication with this bank, although it is actually based in Luxembourg, happens in German.
I received all letters in German and the call center operates in German in Germany. I only had to call them a handful of times, but they’ve always been quite helpful. However, I never asked for English, not sure if they’d search for someone who’s comfortable speaking English.
Q: How dow do i withdraw money from my card?
A: By paying in the shop (better option) or by withdrawing cash at any ATM (beware of fees and interest, which is being charged immediately)
Q: When do i receive PIN code from them? Do i receive it via email or via post?
A: All via “real” mail only.
Hope this helps,
Rgds, Christian
In case of lost or theft how can one block the card immediately without calling customer support center?
The quickest way is calling the customer service, which is exactly what I would do as well. As far as I know, there is no app here yet where you could take care of this yourself.
Hi there.
I want to ask that I’m using that card from last 3 years and I have credit limit 6000 Euro. Now my credit card date going expire. And at di moment I’m live in Spain for my work project. So it is possible to you send me new credit card to Spain?
Yes, they can.
Thanks for the great platform it is indeed helpful. Assuming that I have borrowed 3000 Euro, now the question of interest would be if my following questions depend on the number of the payment months or not?
1 How the minimum monthly payment is calculated? in my case how its calculated?
2.How much of interest-fee would apply for this amount?
it would also be appreciated to clarify how I should specify the number of the payment months..
Thanks in advance
Dear Ramin,
1. the amount is 3% of the overall due, with a minimum of €30. Hwever, it is strongly recommended to pay back in full, as the interest otherwise charged is very high!
2. Interest is just under 20%/year, but this can change at any time. If you withdraw cash, it’s calculated from when you withdraw (immediately), otherwise only after the bill was due.
You can always pay back as much as you want; there’s no requierement to pay back at any specific time. So especially when withdrawing, it’s recommended to pay back in full immediately.
Rgds, Christian
Hi,
2 days ago someone used my credit card and made a transaction of 1068 Euro. I have already informed my credit card company Advanzia about this and also blocked my credit card. Are they refund my money and yes what are the procedure how long this will take. If anyone knows about this please let me know, I am quite worried after this incident.
I guess that this challenge can only be solved with the bank’s customer service. Unauthorized debits can of course be booked back.
Hi , I have a Advanzia MasterCard with 5000 euro. I withdraw all the money and I can not return it now. I am in Macedonia. Whats gonna happen after 2-3months. I dont want go to prison.
Thank you for the deatailed explanation. Very useful text!
Unfortunatly, my boyfriend had made a withdrawal on the first day. Does that mean that we have to wait now for the next 3rd until they send us a bill or we can make a payment before? If not, does that mean we have to count all days (in this case 30) × the interest rate of 22,90% per day? Or hoe does it work?
Thank you very much.
Kind Regards
Hello,
Thank you for your great website. Could you please explain about Payment protection service of MasterCard Gold. How it works? And how someone cancel it?
Hi,
(I have read all the conversations, but couldn’t find my answer)
This is my Scenario:
– at the end of 1st month (03.2nd month) I have purchased sth for 200 euros.
– I pay only 100 euros (before 25th);
– Immediately, I purchase sth else for another 300 before end of 2nd month (03.3rd);
– This time I completely repay the whole credit before 25th.
What is the amount of interest (for any rate you like) I have to pay (or add to 400 if it exists already)?
+ My intention is to know HOW interest works when we pay a part of our debt (e.g. half of it) and not all of it.
Thanks a lot for your valuable information above
Best regards 🙂
What do you mean by not possible to park money in the bank?
I have transferred 500 to the card my limit increased to 5500 and my balance is -500.
So I think I can get the 500 cash with no interest…
Isn’t it so??
My question is about Payment protection. It says the monthly contribution for payment protection is 0.89% of the monthly negative balance used and is collected with my credit card statement.
Does it work?
Is it good to take insurance ? or
Should I avoid?
Could u clear this point please?
Hi
Assuming that I want to make a cash withdrawal of 1000 today and i wanna pay it back in the 5th day. if the annual interest rate is 22% . the interest rate for this interval would be :
1000*0.22 = 220 ==> /12 = 18.33==> /30 = 0.61
so at the end of the 5th day I have to pay the amount of 3.05 (0.61*5) as the interest. is this calculation correct ?
Regards
Thanks for this article, it was very helpful. However, I have a question for the Gebührenfrei MasterCard Gold. I plan to withdraw 1000 euros with the card and payback the money in full within 2 weeks after the withdrawal, please how much interest will I be charged?
Thank you for the kind words of appreciation. With a current interest rate of 19.44% p.a. that would be 0.54 euros per day. For two weeks, around 7.56 euros. There may be rounding differences. The answer is to be understood as “roughly”.
Hi,
Nice platform. Learned a lot. I have been using the Mastercard for 3 months now. I’ve been wondering if my boyfriend can make payments for my credit through his account.
Your boyfriend can make deposit from his account but you will most likely be asked to verify your identity because of payment which will not be sent from your own account. They have procedures when payments like that arrives, one needs to be identified in order to stop your credit card to be temporarily blocked due to unfamiliar payment.
Hi
Its really very helping platform
I got my card today
You wrote that if we transfer the loan amout between 21st and 3rd of next month then we have to pay interest of 19.94%.
Now if i transfer 1000€ from advanzia card to my personal bank account on 24th of following month and return the whole amount on 29th of same month, do i still have to pay the interest of 19.94% ?
And suppose if i transfer 1000€ from my advanzia card on 4th and return the whole amount on 2nd of next month, then is there any interest rate ?
Thanks
Best Regards
Saleh Muhammad
Hi,
One of my friend has a debit of around 5000 Euros from this credit card and due to some uncertainty he went back to his country (India) in 2018.
Now he is planning to come back for Europe for his work.
What will be the complications?
On the other hand in Europe every account will have an insurance in case of bad credit, the insurance will pay the bank but what will be the consequences for the borrower?
From other sources due to bad credit the borrower will be banned to enter Europe from 6 to 36 months.
Is it true ?
Please give your valuable suggestions,
Thanks in advance.
Running away from debt is never a good idea. My recommendation is to contact the provider and ask for the current balance. It is best to pay the outstanding amount immediately. If one can’t do that, one agrees to pay in installments.