Credit Cards
Canadian credit-card terms such as statement balances, grace periods, minimum payments, and day-to-day account use.
Credit Cards explains the language readers encounter on card statements, application pages, and cardholder agreements. It connects everyday card use to broader credit concepts such as utilization, revolving borrowing, payment timing, and delinquency risk.
This section is the right place to start when a reader is trying to understand what a balance really means, why paying only the minimum is risky, how a grace period changes interest cost, how pricing changes across purchases, transfers, and cash advances, or how secured, supplementary, and joint card arrangements differ.
Start Here
In this section
- Credit Card
A credit card is a revolving credit account that lets a borrower make purchases up to an approved limit.
- Grace Period
A grace period is the interest-free purchase window that can apply between a card statement date and its payment due date.
- Cardholder Agreement
A cardholder agreement is the contract that sets the credit card's rates, fees, payment rules, and account terms.
- Minimum Payment
A minimum payment is the lowest amount the issuer requires by the due date to keep a card account current.
- Statement Date
Statement date is the date when the card billing cycle closes and the statement snapshot is produced.
- Statement Balance
A statement balance is the amount shown as owing when a card billing cycle closes.
- Purchase Interest Rate
A purchase interest rate is the credit-card rate that applies to ordinary purchases when the balance is carried.
- Annual Fee
An annual fee is the recurring yearly charge attached to some credit cards.
- Current Balance
Current balance is the live amount currently owed on a credit card after recent purchases, payments, and credits.
- Over-Limit
Over-limit means the card balance has moved above the approved credit limit.
- Balance Transfer
A balance transfer moves debt from one credit account to another, usually to change the rate or repayment structure.
- Promotional Balance Transfer
A promotional balance transfer is a limited-time offer that applies special pricing or terms to transferred card debt.
- Cash Advance
A cash advance is a credit-card transaction that gives access to cash or a cash-like amount instead of an ordinary purchase.
- Cash Advance Fee
A cash advance fee is the charge applied when a credit-card transaction is treated as a cash advance.
- Secured Credit Card
A secured credit card is a card account backed by a security deposit or other pledged support.
- Supplementary Cardholder
A supplementary cardholder is an additional person allowed to use a primary card account.
- Chargeback
A chargeback is the reversal process used when a card transaction is challenged and the issuer takes the dispute back through the payment system.
- Joint Card Account
A joint card account is a credit card structure shared by two borrowers at the account level.