They're basically the same thing. The finance charge is the amount of interest you're charged for any given month or year. If you have 0% interest, you should have 0 for a finance charge. The minimum finance charge of $1 sometimes only applies if you carry a balance that doesn't have the 0% interest. The only way you can confirm that is by looking at the 'fine print' to verify...or by writing or calling the company you're looking to do business with. 0% interest rocks, but be very aware that sometimes interest will still accrue during the promotional period. Meaning that if you don't pay off the entire item within the 12 month period, you'd still owe interest for the whole year anyway (even though you got 0% at the time....). So be sure to pay it off in the 12 month period. But again, read the fine print or contact them..***:D
Interest is calculated purely by a percentage.
Finance charge means the cost of borrowing the money and it may not relate directly to a fixed percentage. For example, if the interest rate is 1% per month with a minimum of $5 plus a $10 transaction fee...if you only charged $100 you'll pay a whole lot more finance charge than 1% interest.
Does that make sense?
I was looking at purchasing an item that I need to have financed, and one of the promos is no interest for 12 months, but Im wondering is interest different from the monthly finance
