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The best alternative is the “no interest if paid off in ‘x’ months” plan. |
Yes, but....
If you are ONE DAY LATE on any one payment - you're screwed. They immediately recalculate the entire contract at the 21% rate and retro-actively assess the interest on your balance adding tens even hundreds of dollars to what you owe.
You gotta be carefull. I've taken advantage of the "no interest if paid ...." deals. But only by paying early, ahead of time, extra over and above the minimum, and paid off well before the final month.
Exactly....I made sure to pay the monthly payment online literally the day the statement came out.
And I paid off the balance two months before the end of the x months, to give me one statement that clearly showed the entire balance was paid.
Usually I have used that in anticipation of a tax refund.
Exactly, and not everyone qualifies for that no interest option... you have to meet credit and income requirements.
And you are absolutely right, if you don’t pay it off before the free interest ends or are late on a payment, you get hit with retroactive interest to the start of the loan.