I applied for a Kay’s Comenity Credit Card for my wife’s ring set and got the 18 months 0 percent option. First off the credit card company didn’t start withdrawing payments that I automatically set up until 3 months later and then they started lowering the payments. Once I figured it out I did some quick math and thought I calculated the right amount to pay it off within the 18 months, but I was off by 2 months because they started charging me later than when I bought it. Well, I had $282 dollars left to pay and just got hit with a $1088 dollar interest charge because “I didn’t pay it off before the promotion ended” so they charged interest on the initial cost of the ring set instead of what I owed. Is there anyway SCRA benefits can help me out or am I screwed?
Posted by pennyman08
4 Comments
That is how those promotions work. You pay all the interest from the beginning of the promotion period.
Did you have the card after you went active duty?
When did you join the military? When did you purchase the ring? If the ring was purchased prior to you joining then SCRA could help by lowering the interest from XX to a max of 6%.
Biggest take away should be that when you sign up for any promotion you need to ensure you are educated on exactly what you are setting yourself up for and what you need to do to not find yourself in the situation you are.
You can take your contract to legal assistance for review, but payments are your responsibility and almost all those contracts are deferred interest not actually 0% interest. SCRA doesn’t cover this situation.
SCRA only applies to debts your incurred prior to joining the service.
You should have read to terms of the promotion before you agreed to the terms. This is a common practice, “no interest if outside off within XX months” (which the trend would have called “deferred interest”. If you don’t pay it off before that period all the deferred interest is tacked back on to the loan.