Just figured out something tricky on my GEMB card

[Trishco]

CCC's also make their money when a consumer charges on a card AFTER putting on a balance transfer at a special rate.  In the T&C they always apply payments to the lowest apr. 

Its all in that fine print that requires a darn magnifying glass to read!

[FretlessMayhem]

HTSU,

The sign in the store said "0 percent for 12 months*", and I looked for the * in the fine print and saw that. I'm glad others have taken notice also. That's a sneaky little trick.

Message Edited by FretlessMayhem on 05-13-2008 02:26 PM

[FretlessMayhem]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Me too, HTSU... thank goodness for it. I went back and re-read the terms, and indeed, the 26.99% APR would be retroactive to the entire balance, not just the remaining unpaid portion. Yikes...

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Yeah. That's pretty sneaky. Glad you got it paid off!

[Anonymous]

It is actually uncommon for CCC's not to charge all interest once the terms of 0% are finished.  This gets alot of people =)

Its not surprising, considering we all know that even if you have $1 charged after your grace period, you will get charged financing on the average daily balance, rather than just the $1.

Message Edited by fender on 05-13-2008 03:21 PM

[Anonymous]

I knew about how sneaky GEMB (WalMart) could be from the very start. I paid off almost 90% of my balance in the allotted 6-month no-interest plan that I had within 3 months. Then I miscounted the number of months and went way past the 6-month mark. Partly because I ignored it thinking it was well handled.

So for the remaining balance of $75 that I let slip, I got hit by a whopping $44.48 finance charge. It's good that it does not reflect on the CR, but still, the wallet hurts. I panicked, paid the balance off, then had the account closed.

Then here came myFICO forum that made me realize that keeping this account is still a good thing. Called GEMB and they re-opened the account, keeping the CL intact, without a hard pull. I'll just wait and see how my score flickers.

Message Edited by ericksond on 05-13-2008 06:54 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

Wow, I'm a babe in the woods on all this, since I'm such a compulsive PIF'er!

Thanks for everyone's info! I'll be sure to pass it on. Good stuff, guys and gals.