---
title: "What is Carrying a balance? | Benefit Systems"
description: "Carrying a balance means leaving part of a card bill unpaid so that it rolls into the next month and accrues interest."
source: "aus dem gebauten HTML abgeleitet"
---
# What is Carrying a balance?

Carrying a balance means leaving part of a card bill unpaid so that it rolls into the next month and accrues interest.

Also called: Revolving balance.

## How it works #

Credit card interest sits far above other forms of borrowing and outweighs the value of any points earned several times over. That inverts the whole calculation: anyone revolving a balance pays more for their points than any redemption can return. It is the clearest case in which collecting points is not worth it for anybody.

## Not to be confused with #

Carrying a balance is not the same as having unbilled purchases: spending inside the interest-free period costs nothing, only the amount rolled over is charged interest.

## In German #

The German term is Revolvierender Saldo. [German version of this term](/de/glossar/revolvierender-saldo)

## Related terms #

- [APR](/en/glossary/apr): APR is the price of borrowing on a card account, expressed as an annual percentage rate.
- [Credit utilization](/en/glossary/credit-utilization): Credit utilization is the ratio between the balance on a card and its credit limit, expressed as a percentage.
- [Credit score](/en/glossary/credit-score): A credit score is a number a bureau uses to express how likely a person is to meet their payment obligations.

## Articles that use this term #

- [What does carrying a balance actually cost you?](/en/knowledge/carrying-a-balance)
- [When collecting points isn’t worth it](/en/knowledge/when-points-arent-worth-it)
- [How much credit limit do you need?](/en/knowledge/credit-limit)
- [What is a foreign transaction fee and when does it apply?](/en/knowledge/foreign-transaction-fee)
- [hard-pull-vs-soft-pull](/en/knowledge/hard-pull-vs-soft-pull)
- [credit-utilization](/en/knowledge/credit-utilization)