How can the deferred interest for 3 years be more than the original purchase amount?

Now you know why stores love to feature "deferred interest". If they charged 24% right from the start, people would see how much interest is being charged each month and they would work hard to pay it off. But with deferred interest, the interest is accumulating invisibly, only to show up if you haven't paid off the amount by the end of the deferred period. Then when it hits your bill, it's too late to do anything about it.

Had you paid off the $968 before the three years were up, you would have paid no interest.

Interest is compounded, you can't simply add it.

Month 1 = you owe $968

Month 2 = you owe $987.36 (2% interest on the previous balance gets added)

Month 3 = you owe $1007.11 (2% interest on the previous balance gets added, but now you're paying interest on the interest you already owe!)

etc.

With an initial purchase of $968. by the end of the 3 year deferral period, your balance was growing over $38 a month just in interest.

The interest was still accruing that whole time but it was in a deferred state so you were not making payments on it but making payments on the original amount you owed. If you had paid off the amount prior to the 3 year mark, you would not have owed the interest but you didn't so you got hit with the accrued interest amount.

You can claim ignorance about never using credit cards but the wording is in the contract. If you did not understand what you were signing then you never should have agreed to the credit card. Also if you never used credit cards like you claim then how do you have one and a balance to pay off? hmmm......

Okay here is a break down by year. The numbers might not add up exactly due to subtle calculation differences (how often it is compounded by your CC and rounding) I am using compounded yearly. Since most CCs compound sooner than that, this will be a lower estimate.

After your first year assuming you made no payments, your balance would be equal to:

968(1.24)= $1200.32 They must not have added interest on your account but it seems like they are still compounding it.

So after year two your balance would be

1200.32(1.24)= 1488.40

year 3:

1488.40(1.24)=$1845.61

This gives you an interest expense of about $877.61. You indicated you used the card during this time, and likely accrued more interest on that balance, so that would explain the extra ~$200.

You can always call the card company and have them go over it with you.

Because the interest is compounding, probably every month. Deferred doesn't mean you don't have to pay it, it just means you don't have to pay it right now, but it's still adding up the entire time.

You are completely out of your mind to buy so much as a stick of gum on a 24% credit card. Please do yourself a favor and cut that up and throw it out right now.

If you can't afford to pay cash for something, don't buy it. Failure to live by that rule is why your credit sucks, and that's why you just got scammed out of a $1000.

If you have interest compounding at 2% per month, you'll end up owing more than double the original amount borrowed. $968 would turn into a debt of $1,975