Those enticing credit card promotions just landed Lowe's and the Home Depot in the middle of a class action lawsuit.

It started with a local man who discovered what he says makes no-interest promotions a very bad deal.

John Kaminski says he was duped. Instead of saving him money, he says Lowe's and Home Depot tricked him. His attorneys say he's not alone.

Kaminski hired Seattle attorneys to challenge the way Lowe's and The Home Depot bill consumers who take advantage no-interest promotion.

The promotions offer no payments or interest on certain purchases. Non-promotion purchases still accrue interest.

John made a big promotion purchase at The Home Depot, then later made a non-promotion purchase for $285.

Since he knew that would mean interest charges, he paid the $285 off right away.

Or so he thought.

"What they did was they took my payment for the $285 dollars and applied it to the interest free part and I started generating interest at the same time," he said.

And at 21 percent no less. "I mean, this is ridiculous!"

The lawsuit claims the promotions are designed to make it hard to take advantage of the no interest deal.

Say you buy a $500 washing machine on the no-interest promotion, and have a previous balance of $300.

You make a $200 payment on toward your old balance. But that money is applied to your interest-free purchase.

So you still have the old balance plus interest.

John's attorneys call it a classic bait and switch.

"What Home Depot and Lowe's do is entice people to take out these credit cards on interest free loans," said attorney Nick Styant-Browne of the Seattle firm Hagen-Berman, "and if they make a regular purchase they can't get the benefit of the interest-free loan."

"This just had class action written all over it because there are so many people that have those types of credit cards," said private practice attorney Simeon Osborn who filed the suit along with Styant-Browne.

John says the payment policies are never disclosed. He thinks practice is illegal and should be stopped.

"I don't think it should be allowed by Home Depot, Lowe's or anyone. And I think there are plenty of other retailers in America that are duping their customers the same way," Kaminski said,

John's attorneys say they've been inundated with calls and e-mail from consumers claiming the same thing has happened with other retailers.

For now, they're focusing on Home Depot and Lowe's with class action suits in Washington and California.

Buyer Beware contacted both companies at their cooperate headquarters after the suits were filed Monday and again on Tuesday.

Representatives for both companies said they had not yet received the complaint and cannot respond until they have a chance to review the 12-page document.

For More Information:

www.hagens-berman.com.