Comet - Santander Interest free credit

sammysecer

I have purchased a television from Comet some 7 months ago on a 9 month interest free agreement. Basically I was told you don't have to pay anything until 9 months time if you pay off all the outstanding balance its free of interest. This I did and I am now in the period when I should start to think about paying the loan off in full. The first letter I received from Comet on 25/05/2011 said and I quote "Welcome to Santander Cards Ltd. Your first payment is deferred until 24/03/2012 and no interest will be charged on your loan until this date. No problem I thought! However, the second letter I have received fro Santander direct is different in many ways. It starts by apologising for not sending out a welcome letter at the time I made the purchase. It goes onto say The first payment of £40.13 is due 24/03/2012. The second part says the loan will only start to charge interest from 21/02/2012 (end of the deferment period). Again no problem, I rang Santander to get the balance which I already knew was £900 to confirm this amount. I was obviously put through to there call centre and I asked Why the dates had seemed to change from 24th March to 21st Feb 2012. I was told that was the date of the end of the agreement and if I paid it by 21st I would be subject to an early settlement admin fee of £25.00. I said I did not think this was correct, she confirmed it was saying you have to pay either way. Either you pay the early settlement fee on the 21st February 2012 or you pay the interest charges from 21st February until the 24th of March 2012. I do not believe this to be a correct way of conducting a financial transaction its either a free 9 month period of credit or not it should not be shrouded in hidden chargers. Your opinion is welcomed

YorkshireBoy

I think you're getting confused with statement dates, end of promotion dates, and payment due dates.

If you pay the balance by 21/2/12 there will be no interest chargeable on your next statement (which has a payment due date of 24/3/12).

Any £25 admin fee will have been made clear to you on your original agreement.

skintdad

it will have been in the original agreement you signed. sneaky but perfectly legal and as you signed to say you read and agreed then i'm afraid you'll have to pay it

sammysecer

I agree with you however, the £25.00 admin fee is for early payment, as I am paying it on time 21/02/2012 I should not incur any early payment charge. But if I leave it until the 24/03/2012 I will pay interest for the month. Its a catch 22 situation.

YorkshireBoy

sammysecer wrote: »

I agree with you however, the £25.00 admin fee is for early payment, as I am paying it on time 21/02/2012 I should not incur any early payment charge. But if I leave it until the 24/03/2012 I will pay interest for the month. Its a catch 22 situation.

You are paying it early.

Here's an example from Comet's website...

http://www.comet.co.uk/static/services/payment-finance/finance

The deal is 42 months. The first 6 months is payment and interest free. After that, the rate is 31.5% APR. The aggregate is 24.9% APR.

If you settle after 6 months you are most definitely settling early...in this example, some 36 months early.

Clear?

MrMooster

If its simply interest accrued from 21/02 until 24/03, could you not pay £899.99 on 21/02 and the remaining £0.01 plus interest on 24/03?

YorkshireBoy

MrMooster wrote: »

If its simply interest accrued from 21/02 until 24/03, could you not pay £899.99 on 21/02 and the remaining £0.01 plus interest on 24/03?

Their website says all offers may change from time to time, so the OP will have to refer to their own paperwork.

However, if they have the same deal as shown in the above example my guess would be that the £25 fee would be charged anyway...in addition to the interest accrued...because they are still settling early.

sammysecer

Thanks for your advice I understand where you are all coming from, it must be me that has not grasped it correctly (I thought it was interest free for 9 months and that was it, however, I have realised that the promotion was for a long term loan, which I did not pick up on)