No payments & No Interest for 3 months on store card

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone. I just opened an account with Zales and they're offering no payments or interest for 3 months. If this is not a good way to go, I have the option to switch to a regular billing cycle. I bought my wife a Valentine's Day gift when my account account was opened at the store so there's a current balance. I have a couple questions that hopefully someone can answer. When will they report to the credit bureaus? Next month or after the no payments for 3 months offer?  Second question, does accepting no payments or interest for 3 months hurt your credit score since your payments are being deferred? I heard from somewhere that lenders can tell if your payments are being deferred on your credit report. Not sure how true is that. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[mphan]

No. There is nothing wrong with deferred account. But depend on your debt to credit/ debt to income ratio, it will effect your overall credit score. Either way you will own that money, no payments or interest for 3 months is great. Take it.

I think lenders can tell because it says "Loan is not in repayment" in your credit report.

[Anonymous]

Just make sure that it's not a "if you don't have it paid off in 3 months they backcharge you all the interest from day 1" plan. 

Many store plans that are no interest for X amount of time end up backcharging you all the accrued interest from day 1 if you don't have it paid off within that X amount of time.

[Anonymous]

What Woopah said!  99% of these "deals" require payment in full prior to the end of the "free" period, or you pay HUGE interest from day one, so heads up!