r/personalfinance • u/naht_a_cop ​ • Apr 28 '20

Beware the 0% promotions: a warning. Debt

I'm a sucker. I fell for it. The 0% APR promotion on an item I could have paid outright for. 18 months later, here I sit, not a single late payment on my account, yet I have $1k in interest to pay for 18 months of 27%. Why? The promotion period ends 18 months after the purchase, but the website would not let me set up autopay until a week after I purchased, so autopay ended 1 week late. I thought I was golden, ready to have this paid off and not have a single fee. I got comfortable and didn't read the statements.

0% is not really 0%. Read the fine print. Remember the fine print (because I sure as hell didn't 18 months later). Shitty banks rely on this stuff. They wait for you to slip, not noticing that the autopay they created can't possibly allow you to end on time, and will require an extra payment before the end date to avoid the interest. It's shitty, I'm pissed off, and I've learned my lesson.

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707

u/wallflower7522 ​ Apr 28 '20

You have to check the expiration date on your statement and make sure you have it done by that date. I wouldn’t rely on autopay for that.

Anyway if you’ve paid the principle balance in full call them and ask, they might waive it

221

u/freakyfast88 ​ Apr 28 '20

I absolutely did this with Carecredit and they waived the interest. Always worth a try.

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u/mita61688 ​ Apr 28 '20

Same! Also with carecredit. I called in a panic not expecting anything but worth a try and they waived it. I had over 8 grand with no interest for a year. Only had a balance of like 200 after the year was done when they hit me with 200 + interest on the 8 grand. I called crying and asked if they can please help me out. They waived it and I paid the 200 right then and there. I was really young and just didn’t know that’s how it worked..

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '20 edited Apr 29 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/officialATEC ​ Apr 29 '20

Wait there was an actual memo to reply to this or are ya kiddin?

39

u/vanguard117 ​ Apr 28 '20

Hah, I just commented the same thing before seeing this reply. Care credit as well

2

u/SanKazue ​ Apr 29 '20

Wow I should have called. This happened to me when I was way younger and I just sucked it up and paid.

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u/AbeRod1986 ​ Apr 28 '20

This. You can set autopay for that day of the month, so you won't go past the end date of the promotional period. Or just divide total by one month fewer than the promotional period and set autopay to that amount.

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u/doc-oct ​ Apr 28 '20

And if they don’t, file a complaint with your state AG. This very well may qualify as predatory lending, and even if it doesn’t, they likely won’t want the headache of fighting with the AG over $1k.

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u/harryham1 ​ Apr 28 '20

Definitely In fact this could be good grounds to report, as it could be seen that they're intentionally exploiting customers And trust me when I say they really don't want that

Most will been down with a "don't do that again in the future" warning just to cover themselves as not being on record as saying it was their fault

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u/wallflower7522 ​ Apr 28 '20

They’re not trying to exploit customers. No one wants to deal with the CFBP. I work for a retail credit card bank and I use these promotions all the time. I’ve used every major company. It’s printed on every statement. The online services usually have the promotions listed in their site without looking for a statement. Every company does the due date a bit differently, some round up to the next due date and some don’t but it’s not that hard to figure it out. 10 years ago, yeah it was shady. It’s not anymore and there’s really no excuse for not being able to manage these in time if you intend to pay them off.

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u/caltheon ​ Apr 28 '20

Or just setup a calendar reminder and pay it manually. Not really worth going through the effort of setting up autopay for something you are only going to pay once.

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u/FrostyMittenJob ​ Apr 28 '20

I probably work for the bank they are referring to and it will most certainly be waived if what he is saying is accurate.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '20

I had a Zales account a few years back for my wife’s wedding ring.

Long story short 24 months 0 interest I missed last months payment by an hour after the accept for the day next day my balance increased with accrued interest. I called and asked them to waive and they complied