Under federal regulations governing retail revolving credit, card issuers must grant consumers a minimum 21-day grace period between the date a statement cycle closes and the date the minimum payment is due. Comenity Capital Bank provides a 25-day grace period on the Ulta Beauty Rewards Mastercard.
This grace period provides an interest-free loan exclusively on purchases, but only under one condition: your statement balance must be paid in full each month. If you carry over even $1.00 of unpaid debt into the next billing cycle statement, you lose your grace period entirely.
Losing the grace period introduces trailing interest. Interest charges begin calculating immediately on new purchases from the exact moment they swipe at the register. Cardholders often discover this dynamic after paying off what they believed was their full balance, only to receive a subsequent monthly statement showing an unexpected balance of $4 to $12 in residual financing fees. To re-establish the interest-free grace period, you must pay the total balance in full for two consecutive billing cycles.
Paying only the minimum payment due will preserve your account's on-time status with credit bureaus, but it does nothing to prevent standard revolving interest from accruing across your remaining balance.
