Great Universal BNPL interest

gh4662

We made the 'mistake' of taking out 100 wks buy now pay later terms with Great Universal, all seemed good at the time until I worked out how much it increased the cost of goods by, almost 40% over the term.
Whilst it is clear from T&C's that if you pay off the items before the BNPL offer kicks in that no interest will be charged, what is not clear is what you would pay if you cleared the balance after it has started i.e. in month 1 of the 100 weeks.

The T&C's are below and are not clear on this point


1 Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Purchases: Selected purchases may be available on one of the following BNPL offers as published from time to time:

1. 1.1 No interest during the BNPL period: Interest will be calculated at the interest rate applicable to the specific BNPL promotion for the duration of the applicable extended plan, but not for the BNPL period prior to the commencement of the repayment period of the applicable extended plan. The first repayment will be due after the BNPL period has expired.

• 1.2 Interest accruing during the BNPL period: Interest will be calculated at the interest rate applicable to the specific BNPL promotion from the date of purchase and will therefore be charged for the duration of the BNPL period plus the repayment period applicable to the extended plan. The first repayment will be due after the BNPL period has expired.

1. For all BNPL purchases, if you pay the cash price of your BNPL purchase before the expiry of the BNPL period you will not be required to pay any interest on the BNPL purchase. The total amount (including interest) owing under a BNPL purchase will be deducted from your credit limit when we calculate the amount you have left to spend.
2. We may from time to time allow you or offer you the option to transfer purchases or balances between 20 weeks, extended plans, BNPL and promotional offers.
3. The credit under this agreement is to be used by you to purchase goods/services from retailers, outlets and brands agreed by us from time to time. We may debit your account on each occasion upon which you provide us with authority to do so, including verbal authority.
4. Payments made by you under this agreement up to the minimum payment due will be allocated as described in the "Other Financial Information" section. Any payment applied to an extended plan will be allocated to the final scheduled payment at the end of each plan, therefore reducing the duration of each plan. Any payment to the account in excess of the minimum payment then due will be allocated between the different ways of drawdown in the following order:
5. 20 week purchases
6. The shortest of your extended plans. If you have more than one plan of the same duration we will apply payments to the highest interest rate plan, and if there are more than one of equal duration and equal interest rate, we will apply to the oldest plan.
7. If you have more than one agreement with us, then unless you notify us to the contrary, we may appropriate any payments received from you to sums due under this agreement or under any other agreement you have with us as we decide.

I have also asked for clarification from GUS but their response is not at all clear. Does anyone have experience of doing this with Great Universal or any other catalogue company in the same group

jwil

I am interested in this too, as I have a hefty BNPL bill coming later this year from Littlewoods. I *think* if you pay off after the interest free period, you will only pay interest on the period between the interest free period and your payment date.

However, it does state above that they will prioritise payments, so if you have other things on the catalogue account, it may pay those in preference to the 100wk terms item.

I do know that Littlewoods say that if you want to make a payment towards a specific item you can contact them and ask them to do so - they won't do it automatically - which seems to be what they are saying in point 7 above.

Hopefully this bump will mean someone who knows more will see this!

bottleofred

Hi,

I had a buy now pay later with Marshall Ward and had cleared the balance prior to the end of the interest free period. They still tried to charge me £65 as I had not stated I wanted the money to be taken off the buy now pay later item, but when I called them, they removed the interest. You could consider trying this, but I suppose you'll need the money to clear it. They send me £30 off a £60 shop occassionally and if I need anything I use it, but clear the account before I get the statement. It is a rip off at 40%

Hannah_10

Strikes me as a good way to find out might be to pay the exact amount of the original item and then see what your next statement looks like?