You can use a credit card with interest-free days to make purchases without being charged interest for a set period in your billing cycle. To use this interest-free period, you usually have to pay your credit card balance in full by the due date on your statement each billing cycle.

Read on for answers to the most common questions about interest-free days, key factors to be aware of when using an interest-free card and available 55 days interest-free credit cards on the market.

What does “interest-free days” mean?

This term refers to a period in your credit card billing cycle when you can make purchases without being charged interest. Interest-free days begin on the first day of your statement period and end on the payment due date.

For example, if you made a purchase on day 1 of a statement period, you could have 55 days to pay it off before interest is applied to the balance. A purchase made on the second day of that statement period would get 54 days interest-free. A purchase made on day 30 would give you 25 days to pay it off before interest is charged.

Keep in mind that interest-free days are only offered if you pay off your balance in full each billing cycle.

Comparison of 55 days interest-free credit cards for 2023

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Name	Product	Interest Free Period	Purchase Interest Rate	Cash Advance Rate	Annual Fee		Reward
Business Platinum Card from American Express		up to 55 days	20.99%	N/A	$499	Apply now More Info	Earn 1.25 Membership Rewards points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases.	Earn a Welcome Bonus of 90,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $10,000 within the first 3 months. That’s $900 in statement credits that can be reinvested in your business.	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
American Express Business Gold Rewards Card		up to 55 days	20.99%	N/A	$199	Apply now More Info	Earn 1 Membership Rewards point for every $1 spent on purchases charged to the Card.	Earn up to 110,000 Membership Rewards points. Earn a Welcome Bonus of 70,000 points after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Plus, earn 10,000 bonus points when you charge $20,000 in net purchases to your card each calendar quarter (that's a total of 40,000 points a year).	Compare	loading Fetching your data...

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Answers to the most common questions about interest-free days

• How do I receive interest-free days?

  To be eligible to receive interest-free days, you must repay your account’s outstanding balance in full by the due date on your statement. Usually, you’ll need to pay the full balance for the statement prior to the start of that billing cycle as well as the statement issued at the end of it.

• Why does it always say up to 55 days?

  The number of interest-free days available depends on what day of your billing cycle you make the purchase. While you would get 55 days interest-free on purchases made on the first day of the billing cycle, you’d get 54 on the second day and only 1 day interest-free if you made a purchase the day before your statement was issued for that billing period. So “up to” is used to refer to the maximum number of days you can get interest-free in your billing period.

• Is a credit card with interest-free days suitable for me?

  If you pay off your credit card balance in full by the due date each month, a card with interest-free days will allow you to make purchases without paying interest. This is ideal if you use a credit card to earn rewards or for short-term cash flow such as spending between monthly paydays. But if you think you might not be able to pay the account’s closing balance in full each month, you may consider low interest rate credit cards.

What else do I need to know when using a credit card with interest-free days?

You can use a credit card with interest-free days to save on your account costs when you meet specific requirements. Here are the key details to keep in mind so you can use your interest-free days:

• Minimum monthly payments. You usually can’t get interest-free days for purchases if you only pay the minimum amount required on your statement. Most credit cards only offer this benefit when you pay your balance in full by the due date.
• Eligible purchases. Interest-free days are only available for “eligible purchases” made on your card. While this includes everyday spending at the grocery store, gas station, restaurants and so on, exclusions apply for cash advance transactions, government payments and some bill payments. Check with your credit card provider for details on what is considered an “eligible purchase” for your card.
• Dates vary. Don’t expect all your credit cards to come with similar billing cycle dates and due dates. These dates can vary from one card to the next, even when issued by the same card provider.
• Balance transfers. If you have a debt on your credit card from a balance transfer, you won’t be eligible for interest-free days on new purchases. If you want to transfer a balance and make purchases without interest, you could also consider a card with an introductory rate of 0% for balance transfers and a low purchase rate.

Diagram: How do interest-free days work?

Interest-free days can be tricky to visualize, so check out our handy diagram below to understand how it works. It shows the interest-free period (in green), when purchases are made, when the statement is issued and what happens if you pay less than the full amount for a billing cycle (the middle one in this case).

Credit cards that come with 55 interest-free days allow you to make purchases and not pay any interest towards them as long as you make timely repayments. These cards can come with a number of other features as well, so it’s important that you choose a card that suits your needs and spending habits.

Keep in mind that just about every credit card issuer provides cards with interest-free days on purchases, so it is in your best interest to compare as many as possible before making a decision.

More questions about credit card interest-free periods

• What is the maximum number of interest-free days I can get?

  With Canadian credit cards that offer interest-free days, the maximum interest-free days you can take advantage of varies between 35 and 55 days, depending on the card you use.

• Do additional cards also get interest-free days?

  Additional cards linked to your primary card follow the same billing cycle as the primary card and offer just as many interest-free days on purchases.

• I can't pay my account's closing balance in full this month, but I can in the future. Will I ever get interest-free days again?

  Once you start paying your account’s balance in full each month again, you can start making use of interest-free days on purchases.