Has Circuit City Rewards done this to you?

I bought a laptop with the Circuit City Rewards card because (a) I didn't have the money up front and (b) it promised to charge no interest for the first year. I started with a balance of $1600 and over the last several months I had whittled it down to under $1000. I was feeling really good about myself for managing my debt until today when I noticed they charged $487.62 in "Accumulated finance charges." What was I paying them all these months for? I'm practically back where I started. This is nothing less than extortion, and why should I do the responsible thing if they're just going to throw arbitrary charges at me that keep me owing them money indefinitely? Has anyone else experienced this?

I know some people would tell me that I should have read the fine print, but even taking that into account, this is absurd. I'm going to call them tonight and tell them that if they don't remove this charge, I won't send them another dime. I'm NOBODY'S indentured servant.

Every single time there is a no payment, no interest loan it is spelled out pretty clearly that interest will accrue from date of purchase if not payed off in a certain amount of time, usually a year. If you want to ruin your credit record then don't pay them. Since they know where you live, don't be surprised if they show up with a couple of sheriff's deputies to take back the laptop. And be very sure that they'll turn you over to a collection agency if nothing else.

Yes, usually with those kinds of deals they don't charge you interest for a certain period of time. Usually its called deferred interest Once that time period is up, if its not paid off you have to back pay all the interest. It should show up on your statement every month how much interest was deferred.

I bought an HDTV there in Jan. 12 months, same as cash.

My bill says the same thing.

I am under the impression I don't have to pay the deferred interest charge IF I pay the total balance before the 12 months is over.

My advice would be to check with them, AND continue paying so as not to trigger any interest rate jumps.