I have learned a lot from Diaries posted here on like subjects, so I thought I would share what happened to me today.
About a 19 months ago, my old Maytag Neptune washer would not spin up to speed. I replaced a pump and a control board, but to no avail. After a few weeks of doing laundry in sweltering laundrymat, I finally broke down and bought a new washer, for supposedly for $800.00, but $1350.00 with the maintenance guarantee. I proceeded to pay it off at twice the minimum payment amount, even though I was laid off a few months later.
Now the credit terms under which I bought the washer were that if it was paid off in 18 months, there would be no interest. I foolishly lost track of the time, so when the 18th month rolled around, I still owed less than 300.00 But I had lost track. I made by customary 50+ payment. My online payment screen did not indicate to me in September that if I did not pay the balance off then, I would be charged deferred interest that would more than double what I owed. Imagine my surprise when went to pay my bill this month and found that it is now over $750.00 Now this account has been transferred to several different financial institutions and Capitol One just got it, and online statements are an uninformative 50 characters long, ("this is the amount you paid, thank you"). I finally found and opened my paper statements, and found out what was going on. I called and ask if I could pay the >300$ balance. No. They said it had been more than a month since the expiration date of the 18 months same as cash offer. So fair warning. Keep an eye on the time and pay if off if you can, before they double your balance.
Oh and the interest rate is 24%. Considering that Cap One is doing fractional reserve lending and their cost of funds is practically zero, this is just absurd. We need usury laws reinstated in the worst way.
(Later I figured out that fabric softener and the calcium in the local water makes a thick scum that collects between the drums of a front loading washer, and gums it up. The remedy is to use a cup of vinegar with each load, however I had not figured that out before I gave up on my Neptune, or I would still be using it.)