I was talked into getting 24 month "interest free" financing on a $3000 purchase 2 years ago. I could have paid cash, but I decided that I would rather collect interest than pay it. I knew that the finance company (American General Financial Services) would charge the entire 21% interest if I was late on any payment, so I made it a point to pay ahead of time every time. I also asked the salesman to be sure that the payment schedule would have the last payment on the 24th month. He assured me that it would. I trusted him - big mistake. The payments were set up to take 25 months. So now, I owe over $700 because I did not check the math and went 1 month past the 24 month "Promotional End Date".
If you should get pulled in by interest free financing offered by a merchant, be sure to check the payment schedule. Paying 4% per month takes 25 months, not 24 to complete the payments
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