Fact Checker — PK in Washington said this recently: “My Best Buy account previous balance was $532.47. My latest bill shows interest charged of 344.66 raising the bill to $827.13. What is this? I haven’t bought anything for quite some time. I was also charged $25.00 for a late payment reversal even though the payment was not late.”

It seems Bestbuy and their finance department has not changed in over ten years. This is a common complaint, and many customers thought protection under new credit card laws would stop abuse.

Under current law, if a payment is late – a debatable issue with Bestbuy – interest is not automatically charged unless two payments are late in twelve months. Amazon.com financing respects that rule of law. Does Bestbuy?

Perhaps we do not have all of the facts. On the other hand, a late payment fee was reversed. Why wasn;t the interest reversed at the same time? We report so you can decide…