A grace period is a time past the deadline for an obligation during which a late penalty that would have been imposed is waived. Grace periods, which can range from a number of minutes to a number of days or longer, depending on the context, can apply in various situations, including arrival at a job

Employment

Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

, paying a bill

Bill (payment)

A bill or invoice is a document requesting payment for an order previously supplied. Presentation of a bill is common practice on the part of credit card companies, utilities, and other service providers...

, for meeting government or legal requirement, or in many other situations.

In law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, a grace period is a time period during which a particular rule exceptionally does not apply, or only partially applies. For the grace period in patent law

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

, see novelty (patent)

Novelty (patent)

Novelty is a patentability requirement. An invention is not patentable if the claimed subject matter was disclosed before the date of filing, or before the date of priority if a priority is claimed, of the patent application....

.

Types of grace periods

Some companies and organizations do not view one who fulfills an obligation within a grace period any differently. In these situations, a subject who is past due, but who meets the obligation within the grace period receives equal treatment and no penalty or negative reputation.

Other clients may receive a partial, less severe penalty. For example, many utility

Utility

In economics, utility is a measure of customer satisfaction, referring to the total satisfaction received by a consumer from consuming a good or service....

 companies will charge a small late fee

Late fee

A late fee, also known as a late fine or a past due fee, is a charge levied against a client by a company or organization for not paying a bill or returning a rented or borrowed item by its due date. Its use is most commonly associated with businesses like creditors, video rental outlets and...

 for those who do not pay their bill by the stated due date. However, the utility service provider will wait a longer time period before cutting off service

Turn-off notice

A turn-off notice, cut-off notice, or shut-off notice is a warning letter sent out by the provider of a service for a residence or other building, such as utility, phone service, or cable television, that if payment is not sent by the date indicated in the notice, the service will be interrupted...

.

Some companies may suspend certain privileges during a grace period. For example, self storage

Self storage

Self storage is an industry in which storage space is rented to tenants, usually on a monthly basis. A self storage business provides rooms, lockers, containers, and/or outdoor space in which tenants can store and access their goods. Self storage tenants include businesses and individuals...

 services will often waive a late fee if the rent is not paid for up to several days past the due date, but will deny the tenant access to his/her unit until the bill is paid.

Advantages and disadvantages

Grace periods can provide some advantages. For example, people who habitually are on time for their obligations, but due to occasional unforeseen circumstances are late on a rare occasion, can avoid a penalty for being late within the grace period and maintain their reputation for timeliness.

However, habitual procrastinators may come to view the grace period as the actual deadline, and if, due to unforeseen circumstances, they are occasionally late beyond that, they might complain about the applied penalty.

Credit cards

In personal finance

Personal finance

Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future...

, a grace period is the period during which no interest is charged on a credit card. See Credit card interest

Credit card interest

Credit card interest is the principal way in which credit card issuers generate revenue. A card issuer is a bank or credit union that gives a consumer a card or account number that can be used with various payees to make payments and borrow money from the bank simultaneously...

for further information.

A time period after a payment due date within which the fee can be paid without penalty. For example, late charges may not be incurred for rental payments due on the first of the month if they are paid on or before the 10th of the month.