tl;dr : Took out a "12-mo, no interest, same-as-cash loan" for house repair last month. A portion of my first payment has been applied to interest. Their BBB reviews are horrible. I am afraid I'm stuck.
Every article I read about same-as-cash loans describes it similarly to a deferred interest loan, which I understand quite well: if you pay the principal before the 12-mo period ends, no interest will be charged. What a wonderful way to build credit for someone confident they can make all payments within the year!
Well, that's not what my loan is, apparently. These terms say they will "waive" my interest, if balance paid in full within the 12-mo window. Someone please explain this: If they apply some of each payment toward interest, how is that "No Interest" for a year, and how can I pay my balance in full if they keep paying themselves first with my payments? Am I supposed to pretend and trust that the portion they're applying to interest right now will later be applied to principal as their "waive" of interest?
Added stressors: 1. Interest accrues daily at 17.99% per annum. Real balances are not provided on statements or online (must call). 2. Statement shows a "principal balance" with asterisk: "not a payoff amount. for payoff amount, call us." Called, requested payoff statement so I could view my REAL balance. 3. It will be emailed and it will not include my account # or identifying information (which I suspect makes it invalid as a real payoff statement). 4. BBB reviews show it's near impossible to receive a payoff statement from them and 5. that they have previously refused to apply people's additional payments towards only principal upon request.
I'm usually so good about reading and understanding the fine print and now I feel full of chump. Maybe I should just trust that a year from now, they'll move all that interest over to my principal. Does any of this sound right?
Submitted October 15, 2020 at 08:36PM by blicktunduroo https://ift.tt/3k48own
