Citifinancial Scammed me to the tune of $750, Internet

..I would actually not be too surprised that a financial institution would pull something like this in hopes the customer makes a late payment. I mean everyone should be aware that a no interest deal is great....that is until you miss a payment and you get slammed with all the interest.

But at the same time I am surprised someone with a Masters degree in economics..or even a high school degree would think it is okay to purchase a product..and not investigate why month after month statements are arriving that have a zero payment due. I mean how long did you expect this to go on before you would have to start paying?..regardless of the zero interest? One does have to take that into consideration.

I have noticed sometimes when I open a new CC account, that the first statement will sometimes have zero due. But I always call them anyhow and ask when will the first payment be due. Why do I do this? Because I am not going to trust them, the mail, or the billing system to care about my credit rating, interest rates, or late fees. An old saying goes "I may have been born at night, but not last night". Would I be pissed off of this happened to me? Heck yeah..so I don't let it happen.

You can try to fight or dispute this..I am not sure of the laws regarding billing errors or loss in mail..which you know is what Citi will claim..but personally I don't think it looks too good.

Read the original financial agreement. Does it state that interest will be accrued from the date of the agreement if the principal is not paid off within one year?

If I recall, I filed a complaint with the FTC as well. It was acknowledged, but I was informed of no further action.

No, that was per the terms of "a year of no-interest payments." I presumed the "zero balance due" statements were being sent simply to show that there was no payment due yet. Credit card companies typically operate this way.

Please this is a perfect case to consider writing a complaint and sending to this agency:

http://www.ftc.gov/reports/index.htm

Granted I do not have a masters in economics, but I certainly know the difference between "interest free" and "payment free".

Weren't you curious why you were receiving statements with zero payment due?

I do agree if this was an error or intent on the banks part to screw you it should be investigated..but I would have been on the phone to them right away..not waiting months for this disaster to happen. I would have asked them simply "why are my statements informing me zero payment is due when the appliance is not free?"